Box score, play-by-play

 BILLINGS, Mont. – The Seattle Pacific Falcons did everything they could do to help themselves win the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball championship – starting with Saturday night's sweep of Montana State Billings.
 
They also got a little help from some of their conference rivals.
 
Lindsey Wodrich had 14 kills and 10 digs for her 15^th double-double of the season, leading Seattle Pacific past Billings in the regular-season finale, 25-23, 25-19, 25-16 in Alterowitz Gymnasium.
 
That clinched at least a tie for the GNAC title. About 90 minutes later, Western Oregon scored a four-game victory at home against Alaska Anchorage.
 
Just like that, the Falcons had the crown to wear all by themselves.
 
Seattle Pacific (21-6 overall) wound up 15-3 for its fourth GNAC championship and second in a row – all of them under head coach Chris Johnson. This one was the Falcons' second outright title, as was the case in 2006. SPU shared it with Western Washington last season, and tied with Central Washington in 2005, Johnson's first year at the helm.
 
Even with the Falcons' victory on Saturday night, first place could have ended in a tie with as many as three teams: Seattle Pacific, Anchorage and Western Washington. But Western fell out of contention on Thursday with a four-game loss at Central, and UAA's loss at Western Oregon on Saturday officially sealed the deal for SPU.
 
Up next: the NCAA Division II West Regionals, beginning on Thursday at Cal State San Bernardino. The pairings and match times will be announced Sunday night at 7 PST, and fans can follow it online by clicking on this link.
 
Seattle Pacific already was assured of getting in, since it was ranked No. 4 in the West this week (the top eight qualify). The GNAC title makes it official, as that comes with an automatic bid. This will be the third straight trip to regionals for the Falcons. Last year, the went all the way to the West championship match.
 
Senior outside hitter Wodrich (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) now has 34 career double-doubles. She hit .289 for the night with just three errors on 38 attacks.
 
Junior setter Shelby Swanson (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin HS) had 39 assists, giving her 2,595 for her career and moving her up to 12^th place on the all-time GNAC assists list. She has climbed six rungs on that ladder in the past two weeks.
 
Senior outside hitter Paige Hoffman put down 10 kills and hit .321, and senior libero Anna Herold had 30 digs.
 
The Falcons were slow out of the blocks falling into several five-point holes in Game 1, the last time at 18-13. From there, they went on a five-point run to tie it at 18-18, then put a 4-0 run together, turning a 20-19 deficit into a 23-20 lead.
 
“We missed a few serves early in that first game, and we had some unfortunate hitting errors,” Johnson said. “Then we were able to settle down and play some solid defense and pull it out.”
                                                     
Seattle Pacific took charge of Game 2 with a 6-1 surge, extending a 13-12 lead to 19-13. The Falcons were never challenged in Game 3, building a 9-1 lead with the last five of those points coming while Swanson had the serve. Billings never got closer than five.
 
SPU hit .244 for the match (41 kills, 11 errors, 123 attacks) and limited Billings to just .120 (40-24-133). In their 18 GNAC matches, the Falcons kept their opponents below .200 hitting in 17 of them.
 
“Lindsey was great again, and Anna was amazing with 30 digs in just three games,” Johnson said. “We had less than 10 percent hitting errors for the match, and we held another opponent below 200, and saw their hitting percentage go down as the match went on.”
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.
 
(No. 25) Seattle Pacific 3, Montana State Billings 0
 
Game scores – 25-23, 25-19, 25-16.
 
Service aces – SPU 2 (2 players with 1), MSUB 0.
Kills – SPU 41 (Lindsey Wodrich 14, Paige Hoffman 10),  MSUB 40 (Taylor Adams 10, Monica Grimsrud 10).
Assists – SPU 39 (Shelby Swanson 39), MSUB 35 (Brooke Tolman 33).
Digs – SPU 60 (Anna Herold 30, Wodrich 10), MSUB 62 (Erin Compton 21).
Blocks (total / solo) – SPU 12 / 2 solo (Angie Pricco 4 / 0 solo, Hoffman 3 / 1 solo), MSUB 4 / 2 solo (Adams 2 / 1 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 41-11-123--.244 (Hoffman 10-1-28--.321, Pricco 7-2-15—333, Wodrich 14-3-38--.289), MSUB 40-24-123--.120 (Tolman 3-0-5--.600, Grimsrud 10-6-26--.154).
Attendance – 265.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 21-6, 15-3 GNAC. Montana State Billings 11-16, 5-13 GNAC.
 
Next match – Seattle Pacific at NCAA West Regionals, Thursday, Nov. 17, San Bernardino, Calif., opponent and time TBA.