Box score, play-by-play
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SEATTLE – After starting the season with nine straight road matches, Sarah Risser and her Seattle Pacific volleyball teammates were more than ready to play a match at home.

On Saturday night, Risser played better than she ever had on offense. And the rest of the Falcons followed her lead.

Risser had 18 kills and hit a career-high .484, leading 20th-ranked Seattle Pacific to a sweep of Northwest Nazarene in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match in Brougham Pavilion.



Scores were 25-19, 25-12, 25-11 as the Falcons (10-0, 2-0 GNAC) continued their record-setting start. It was Seattle Pacific's 99th victory in GNAC play, with a chance to get No. 100 next Thursday night at Western Oregon in Monmouth.

Senior outside hitter Risser (Santa Barbara, Calif.) made it a double-double by coming up with 16 digs. It was her sixth double-double-double of the season.

“I don't think I came in any different,” said Risser, whose previous best career high was .361 last year against Cal State Dominguez Hills. “I was just excited for our first home match and was ready to work hard. I was just having fun.”





Falcons coach Chris Johnson, who notched his 96th victory at the SPU helm, was having plenty of fun watching her play, as Risser's 18 kills came on 31 attacks with only three errors.

“That was awesome. I think she's capable of that kind of performance every night, and I think she recognizes that, too,” Johnson said. “She had the attitude tonight of, 'I'm going to crush the ball,' and it worked.”

Junior outside hitter Paige Hoffman (Encinitas, Calif.) added seven kills, and sophomore middle blocker Angie Pricco (Briar, Wash./Blanchet HS) had six kills and hit .556.

Sophomore setter Shelby Swanson (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin HS) set up 29 assists, and junior libero Anna Herold (Bothell, Wash./Shorecrest HS) had 13 digs

“We were beyond excited for our first home match and started it off right,” said Herold, whose 13 digs put her at 1,416 for her career as she closes in on the career mark of 1,552. “We had much more aggression tonight (than in Thursday's 3-1 victory at Central Washington). We decided we didn't want to tip one ball over the net. We were going to come out and swing hard all night.”

So dominant were the Falcons that they didn't trail even once during the match. The only times they weren't in the lead were 1-1 ties in Games 2 and 3.

Up just 16-12 in the first game, SPU put together a 6-1 run to take command at 22-13. The Falcons raced to a 9-2 lead in Game 2, never letting the Crusaders (3-5, 3-2 GNAC) get closer than six after that. Likewise in the third game, Seattle Pacific went up 9-3,and NNU never came closer than that six-point margin.

The sweep was a big contrast to the last three Seattle Pacific-Northwest Nazarene matches, all of which went five games, dating back to late in the 2008 season.

“We watched them on film, and (the Crusaders) have a style that's easy to get sucked into, and we said we're not going to do that,” Johnson said. “We wanted to play our game and stay aggressive and swing hard the whole match.”

Northwest Nazarene was led by the five kills of Reisa Fessler. Seattle Pacific, which hit .250 as a team, limited the Crusaders to .000 hitting.



NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

(No. 20) Seattle Pacific 3, Northwest Nazarene 0

Game scores – 25-19, 25-12, 25-11.

Service aces – SPU: Sarah Risser 2, Holly Mueller 2. NNU: One player with 1.
Kills – SPU: Risser 18, Paige Hoffman 7, Angie Pricco 6. NNU: Reisa Fessler 5.
Assists – SPU: Shelby Swanson 29. NNU: Briana Claassen 5, Laticia Lehman 5.
Blocks – SPU: Pricco 2, Nikki Lowell 2. NNU: Becky Flores 2.
Digs – SPU: Risser 16, Anna Herold 13. NNU: Haley Hevern 13.
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU Pricco 6-1-9--.556, Risser 18-3-31--.484, SPU 41-16-100--.250. NNU: Jordyn Glorfield 3-18---.250, Fessler 5-4-24--.042, NNU 17-17-88--.000.
Attendance – 337.

Records – SPU 10-0, 2-0 GNAC. NNU 3-6, 3-2 GNAC.

Next match – Seattle Pacific at Western Oregon, Thursday, Sept. 23, 7:00 p.m.