Box score, play-by-play

BILLINGS, Mont. – When the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball preseason coaches poll came out and had Seattle Pacific pegged for third place, nobody in the Falcons' locker room was buying it.

Not coach Chris Johnson. And certainly not senior outside hitter Sarah Risser. In fact, from the season's first serve, the Falcons felt they had the tools to win it all.

On Saturday night, they did exactly that.

Risser and Paige Hoffman both hit for career-high percentages, helping 14th-ranked Seattle Pacific clinch a piece of the coveted crown a 3-0 sweep of Montana State Billings in the regular-season finale. Scores in Alterowitz Gymnasium were 25-15, 25-12, 25-12.

SPU (24-2,16-2 GNAC) claimed its first conference title since 2006. (Western Washington also finished 16-2 after sweeping Northwest Nazarene on Saturday.) And the Falcons can hardly wait to do a little decorating of sorts in Brougham Pavilion.

“If we won tonight, I knew for sure it was a done deal,” Risser said. “Now, 2010 gets to go on the banner in the gym, and people get to see it every day.”

“I never doubted that we could do it. But now that we actually did it, it seems surreal,” Risser said, then added, “I won't believe it until I see it up there (on the banner).”

Johnson likewise had all the confidence that his team not only could rise to the top of the standings, but could stay there this season.

“We came in second last year and were in first for a lot of the time last year,” he said. “Knowing how well we were playing last spring and the way we were playing in the preseason, we knew we could win a conference championship if we were playing the way we can.”

Next up for the Falcons will be the NCAA Division II West Regionals, which begin next Thursday in San Bernardino, Calif. Seattle Pacific will find out its first-round opponent and match time when the draw is revealed on Sunday night at 7 p.m. Fans can follow along online by logging onto this link.

They'll be heading to NCAAs for the second straight year -- and doing so after what, in almost every aspect, was their best overall performance of the season.

Junior opposite Hoffman (Encinitas, Calif.) had 11 kills and no errors on 17 attacks for a .647 hitting percentage. That eclipsed the .625 she hit on Oct. 28 (11-1-16) in a three-game sweep at Alaska Fairbanks. For Hoffman, it was her fifth error-free match of the season.

Hoffman also logged a career-best four service aces on Saturday. Her previous best was three in that same match against Fairbanks.

Outside hitter Risser (Santa Barbara, Calif.) hit .462 with six kills and no errors on 13 swings. Her previous career best was .361 (17-4-36 on Aug. 27, 2009, against Cal State Stanislaus.

Junior outside hitter Lindsey Wodrich (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) added nine kills and had four blocks, including a career-best three solos. Junior libero Anna Herold (Bothell, Wash./Shorecrest HS) had 19 digs, and sophomore setter Shelby Swanson (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin HS) set up 34 assists.

Freshman middle blocker Nikki Lowell (Claremont, Calif.) had yet another outstanding hitting night, finishing at .533 (10-2-15). It was her eight match this season hitting .500 or better.

Seattle Pacific hit a season-high .423 with 40 kills and just seven errors on 78 attacks Saturday night. That was 54 points better than the .369 it hit against Fairbanks on Oct. 28. Montana State Billings was limited to .129 hitting, with just 25 kills and 14 errors on 85 swings.

“We told the team that this is what we've been waiting to see: everyone playing well the whole time,” Johnson said. “To hit .423 as a team and over half of our swings were kills, and to see us taking care of the ball like that was awesome. A lot of credit goes to Anna Herold on serve receive and defense. All of our passes tonight, we just did an awesome job.”

SPU was down 5-3 in Game 1 when it put together a 7-0 spurt, with Hoffman serving the last six of those points, for a 10-5 lead.

The Falcons never trailed again the entire match. Risser served up the first six points of Game 2, and Seattle Pacific later had an 8-0 run for a 15-2 lead. The third game was tied twice, the last time at 4-4, before the Falcons rang up seven in a row for an 11-4 advantage.

“We had a long time to wait to play another match,” Risser said of SPU's quiet week. (The Falcons hadn't played since last Saturday's 3-0 home sweep of Simon Fraser.) “Tonight, we were just real hungry to play again. We just decided we were going to give them everything we had (and show) we deserve to be GNAC champs and leave no doubt in their mind at the end of the night why we won that title and why we deserve it.”

Risser's six kills put her past 900 for her career. She now has 904. Swanson's 34 assists gave her 987 for the season, putting her within 13 of SPU's first 1,000-assist season since 2007. 


 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Alterowitz Gymnasium/Billings, Mont.

(No. 14) Seattle Pacific 3, Montana State Billings 0

Game scores – 25-15, 25-12, 25-12.

Service aces – SPU: Paige Hoffman 4, Lindsey Wodrich 3. MSUB: None.
Kills – SPU: Paige Hoffman 11, Nikki Lowell 10. MSUB: Jennifer Boe 9.
Assists – SPU: Shelby Swanson 34. MSUB: Brooke Tolman 19.
Blocks – SPU: Lindsey Wodrich 4, Lowell 4, Hoffman 2. MSUB: Four players with 1.
Digs – SPU: Anna Herold 19, Risser 9. MSUB: Boe 10.
Hitting (kills-errors-total attacks) – SPU: Angie Pricco 4-0-4—1.000, Hoffman 11-0-17--.647, Lowell 10-2-15--.533, Risser 6-0-13--.462, SPU 40-7-78--.423. MSUB: Nicole Davey 4-0-8--.500, Tolman 2-0-6--.333, Melissa Porter 4-2-10--.200, MSUB 25-14-85--.129.
Attendance – 211.

Records – Seattle Pacific 24-2, 16-2 GNAC. Montana State Billings 5-23, 5-13 GNAC.

Next match – Seattle Pacific at NCAA Tournament, Thursday, Nov. 18, San Bernardino, Calif., opponent and time TBA.