Box score, play-by-play

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A point here, a point there. When Seattle Pacific needed them, Alaska Anchorage got them.

Nikki Lowell had a career-high 19 kills, and Shelby Swanson's 51 assists was just one shy of her career high, but the13th-ranked Falcons came up short in their Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match against the Seawolves on Saturday night, 3-1.

Games scores at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex were 25-22, 16-25, 25-23, 25-20.

That dropped the Seattle Pacific (21-2, 13-2 GNAC) half a game behind Western Washington (16-2, 13-1 GNAC) heading into its rematch against the Vikings on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion. The Vikings leapfrogged the Falcons into the top spot on Saturday with a homecourt sweep of Simon Fraser.

“They're a good team, and we got beat by a good team,” SPU coach Chris Johnson said. “I think we're both pretty scrappy teams. They hit a lot of good balls. We out-dug them (69-65), but they were putting balls down.

“The first and third games were tight. If a few points go the other way, we might have had another sweep,” Johnson added.

Freshman middle blocker Lowell (Claremont, Calif.) beat her previous career high of 17 kills. She hit .571 for the night, getting her 19 kills with three errors on 28 attacks. Her previous career high was 17 in a season-opening five-game victory against San Francisco State.

Sophomore setter Swanson (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin HS) made it a double-double with by adding 14 digs to her 51 assists. She was one of three Falcons to double-double on Saturday. Junior outside hitter Lindsey Wodrich (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) had 12 kills and 12 digs, and junior outside hitter Paige Hoffman (Encinitas, Calif.) came up with 11 kills and 13 digs.

Senior outside hitter Sarah Risser (Santa Barbara, Calif.) had 17 kills for SPU. Junior libero Anna Herold (Bothell, Wash./Shorecrest HS) came up with 25 digs.

Alaska Anchorage (15-7, 10-4 GNAC) had 20 blocks. Jackie Matthisen hammered 20 kills for the Seawolves.

“We didn't have an answer for her,” Johnson said of Matthisen, who hit .409 for the match after having just eight kills and hitting .250 in September when the Falcons swept Anchorage in Brougham Pavilion. “She was their biggest weapon. She wasn't nearly at that level the first time we played them.”

The back-and-forth first game was tied at 22-22 when the Seawolves (15-7, 10-4 GNAC) ran off the last three points. But then, it was SPU going on an even bigger run to finish off Game 2. The Falcons, up 17-16, scored the last eight points, with Wodrich serving the final seven of those, to even the match at 1-1.

After yielding the first point of the third game, Seattle Pacific went in front and stayed there, building a 20-16 lead. It was still 23-21 for the Falcons when Alaska Anchorage proceeded to put the next four points on the board and close out the game.

A 5-1 Seawolf surge in the fourth game turned a 10-8 deficit into a 13-11 lead. SPU was still close, down 22-20, but back-to-back kills by Matthisen set up match point, and Courtney Lundberg finished it with her 11th kill of the night.

Time after time, both teams dug up balls they seemed destined to hit the floor. And Anchorage, the fourth-best blocking team in NCAA Division II at 2.57 per game, showed why: four solo blocks, and 12 blocks in total.

The Seawolves hit .240 for the match (53 kills, 17 errors on 150 attacks), just the third time this season a team has hit better than .200 against SPU. (Alaska Anchorage did it the first time at .229 in the Sept. 30 match.) The Falcons hit .208 (63 kills, 28 errors on 150 attacks).

“It was a great match to watch – it was good volleyball played at a very high level,” Johnson said. “It was good for our players to get that kind of a challenge, even though we came up short.”



NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, October, 30, 2010
Wells Fargo Sports Complex/Anchorage, Alaska

Alaska Anchorage 3, (No. 13) Seattle Pacific 1

Game scores – 25-22, 16-25, 25-23, 25-20.

Service aces – SPU: Shelby Swanson 2. UAA: Adriana Aukukitino 2.
Kills – SPU: Nikki Lowell 19, Sarah Risser 17, Lindsey Wodrich 12, Paige Hoffman 11. UAA: Jackie Matthisen 20, Courtney Lundbergh 11.
Assists – SPU: Swanson 51. UAA: Siobhan Johansen 29.
Blocks – SPU: Lowell 2, Swanson 2. UAA: Lundberg 6, Robyn Burton 6, Marie Borowikow 5.
Hitting (kills-errors-total attacks) – SPU: Lowell 19-3-28--.571, Hoffman 11-2-26--.346, SPU 63-28-150--.208. UAA: Matthisen 20-2-44--.409, Lundberg 11-2-23--.391, UAA 53-17-150--.240.
Attendance – 592.

Records – Seattle Pacific 21-2, 13-2 GNAC. Alaska Anchorage 15-7, 10-4 GNAC.

Next match – Western Washington at Seattle Pacific, Thursday, Nov. 4, Brougham Pavilion, 7 p.m.