Box score, play-by-play

MONMOUTH, Ore. – In a decade's time, the Seattle Pacific volleyball team has reached a century.

Lindsey Wodrich had 13 kills and made it a double-double with 13 digs, and Sarah Risser posted a double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs as 17th-ranked SPU won its 100th Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match, sweeping Western Oregon on Thursday night.

Scores in the New P.E. Building were 25-18, 25-18, 25-21.

The undefeated Falcons (11-0, 3-0 GNAC) are now 100-59 all-time since the GNAC began play in the 2001-02 school year. They join Western Washington (139-21 coming into Thursday) and Central Washington (108-52 coming in) as conference schools that have hit the century mark.

“That's a nice milestone,” said coach Chris Johnson, who is approaching his own century total on the Seattle Pacific bench, Thursday night's victory being his 97th at the helm.”It will mean a lot to the girls to know that they were a part of that.”

The accomplishment comes two days before SPU celebrates the 25th anniversary of its volleyball program. That will come Saturday night when the Falcon play host to Saint Martin's at 7 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion. In addition to Alumni Night, it also will be Freshman Orientation Night, when the newest group of SPU students gather for their first Falcons sports event together.

Junior outside hitter Wodrich (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) hit .281 for the night in posting her fifth double-double of the season and the 15th of her career. Junior outside hitter Risser (Santa Barbara, Calif.) now has seven double-doubles in 2010 and 25 as a Falcon.

“Lindsey had a great night the whole night, And Sarah was just playing really well,” Johnson said.

Redshirt freshman middle blocker Nikki Lowell (Claremont, Calif.), the GNAC's leading hitter at .354 coming into the match, improved on that number with a .538 performance on Thursday, hammering eight kills – including the match-clincher – and just one error on 13 total attacks.

Sophomore middle blocker Angie Pricco (Briar, Wash./Blanchet HS) tied her career high with six total blocks. Junior libero Anna Herold (Bothell, Wash./Shorecrest HS), who ranks No. 6 in all of NCAA Division II in digs (6.19 per game) came up with 14. Sophomore Shelby Swanson (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin HS), the fifth-best setter in D-2 at 11.22 assists per game, picked up 36 more of those.

SPU trailed just once all night, at 5-3 in Game 2. The Falcons then ran off four straight points to take the lead for good in that game. The third game was tied twice, the last time at 12-12, before SPU put the next three points on the board and stayed in front the rest of the way.

Seattle Pacific hit .250 for the match, which included a .419 performance in the second game.

“Our errors are going down, which is really good to see. And our kills are staying where they should be,” Johnson said. “We're taking better care of the ball.”

Western Oregon was limited to .067, and was at .000 in the first game. It's the second straight time the Falcons have kept a team below.100 hitting for the entire match (Northwest Nazarene hit .000 against SPU last Saturday) and the fourth time this season they have done that. The highest any team has hit against them is .197.

“We're playing great defense,” Johnson said. “We're making it tough for other teams to find a place to kill the ball. We had Western Oregon scouted pretty well, and we did a good job of taking away their weapons as far as what they like to run.”

Although the Falcons led virtually from start to finish, Western Oregon, which already had beaten defending GNAC champion Alaska Anchorage in Monmouth earlier in the season, never fell out of contention in any of the three games.

“They're well coached and they have good weapons in a lot of places,” Johnson said. “They're a tough team to put a run on.” 



NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Thursday, September 23, 2010
New P.E. Building/Monmouth, Ore.

(No. 17) Seattle Pacific 3, Western Oregon 0

Game scores – 25-18, 25-18, 25-21.

Service aces – SPU: Three players with 1. WOU: Three players with 1.
Kills – SPU: Lindsey Wodrich 13, Sarah Risser 11. WOU: Danielle Reese 11.
Assists – SPU: Shelby Swanson 36. WOU: Jorden Burrows 27.
Blocks –SPU: Angie Pricco 6, Wodrich 3. WOU: Krissy Kemper 3.
Digs – SPU: Anna Herold 14, Wodrich 13, Risser 11. WOU: Megan Triggs 14, Reese 11.
Hitting (kills-errors-total attacks) – SPU: Nikki Lowell 8-1-13--.538, Wodrich 13-4-42--.281, Risser 11-3-40--.200, SPU 41-13-112--.250. WOU: Becky Blees 7-2-156--.312, Beeler 4-2-11--.182, WOU 32-24-119--.067.
Attendance – 1,321.

Records – Seattle Pacific 11-0, 3-0 GNAC. Western Oregon 5-5, 3-2 GNAC.

Next match – Saint Martin's at Seattle Pacific, Saturday, Brougham Pavilion, 7:00 p.m.