Box score, play-by-play

DENVER – Keep 'em guessing. That's what the Seattle Pacific did very effectively to the Florida Southern Mocs on Saturday morning.

The Falcons had four players in double-digit kills – including a career-high 18 from Cailin Fellows – and
Lindsey Wodrich contributed a double-double of 12 kills and 14 digs as16th-ranked SPU defeated the Mocs in the Silver Bracket semifinals of the Colorado Premier Challenge volleyball tournament, 3-1.

Scores in Auraia Event Center at Metro State University were 25-17, 14-25, 25-21, 25-18.

The Falcons (5-2) will take on either No. 6 Southwest Minnesota State or West Florida for the Silver championship today at 4 p.m. PDT at Metro State. Fans can follow along either through free live stats or a pay-per-view Webcast.

Junior outside hitter Fellows (Edmonds, Wash./Edmonds-Woodway HS) surpassed her previous career high of 16 kills, which she recorded last Saturday in a five-game victory against Sonoma State at the Waikiki Beach Invitational. She hit .318 for the day with just four errors on 44 total attacks.

Senior outside hitter Wodrich slammed half of her 12 kills in the match-clinching fourth game. One of them came at 23-18 with Wodrich serving and gave the Falcons a chance at match point. Wodrich served again, and Fellows hit her 18th kill to clinch it.

Wodrich's double-double was her third of the season and gives her 22 for her career. She also had four blocks, two of them solo.

Sophomore middle blocker Nikki Lowell (Claremont, Calif.) had 14 kills. Senior outside hitter Paige Hoffman (Encinitas, Calif.) had another solid hitting day with 10 kills and just one error on 21 attacks for a .429 hitting percentage.

“Cailin had a great match, and they couldn't stop Paige all day – she was on fire from the start, and she's so consistent,” SPU coach Chris Johnson said. “Lindsey got off to a slow start, but she was money in those last two games. They never knew what she was going to do.

“We had 19 kills in (both of) those last two games. (Florida Southern) didn't know what was coming from us.”

Junior setter Shelby Swanson (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin HS) racked up a season-high 47 assists, one more than she had against Sonoma State last Saturday.Senior libero Anna Herold (Bothell, Wash./Shorecrest HS) came up with 16 digs, and freshman libero Brianne Leenders (Portland, Ore.) had a career-high 15 digs, three more than last Saturday at Hawaii Pacific.

Lowell had a season-high seven total blocks (one of them solo), and Hoffman had a season-high six, with her first solo of the season. Wodrich came up with two solos among her four total blocksk.

SPU was down 15-13 in Game 1, but strung together six straight points to take the lead and finished the game on a 12-2 run. But Game 2 got out of hand early, as Florida Southern, at No. 27 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association rankings, put 10 straight points on the board to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 12-3 lead.

The Mocs looked as if they were going to keep it going in Game 3, scoring the first three points. But SPU quickly got back into it, and with the score tied at 15-15, Fellows hammered three straight kills to put the Falcons in front for good.

Seattle Pacific took charge of Game 4 with an 10-1 run to turn a 10-8 deficit into an 18-11 lead, with seven of those 10 points coming on kills. Florida Southern got as close as three at 19-16 before the Falcons scored nine of the final 11 points.

“It was about just changing up what we were doing offensively and what kind of shots we were hitting,” Johnson said of getting back on track after the second game. We did a better job of identifying their defense.”

The Falcons finished with a season-high 59 kills and hit .238 for the match. The Falcons had 19 kills each in Games 3 and 4. Florida Southern finished with 48 kills and hit just .160.


NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Colorado Premier Challenge
Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011
Auraia Event Center/Denver, Colo.

(No. 16) Seattle Pacific 3, Florida Southern 1

Game scores – 25-17, 14-25, 25-21, 25-18.

Service aces – SPU 1 (Wodrich 1), FSC 3 (Ali Skayhan 2).
Kills – SPU 59 (Cailin Fellows 18, Nikki Lowell 14, Lindsey Wodrich 12, Paige Hoffman 10), FSC 48 (Lauren Huber 13).
Assists – SPU 52 (Shelby Swanson 47), FSC 41 (Skayhan 36).
Digs – SPU 65 (Anna Herold 16, Brianna Leenders 15, Wodrich 14), FSC 68 (Kate Stromberg 14, Skayhan 14).
Blocks – SPU 20 / 4 solo (Lowell 7 / 1 solo, Hoffman 6 / 1 solo, Wodrich 4 / 2 solo). FSC 7 / 1 solo (Anne Pietkiewiez 2 / 1, Erin Callahan 2 / 0.
Hitting (kills-errors-total attacks) – SPU 59-20-164--.238 (Hoffman 10-1-29--.429, Fellows 18-4-44--.318, Lowell 14-7-33--.212), FSC 48-24-150--.160 (Huber 13-3-24--.417).
Attendance – NA.

Records -- Seattle Pacific 5-2, Florida Southern 4-3.

Next match -- Seattle Pacific vs. SW Minnesota State or West Florida (at Metro State), today, 4 p.m. PDT.