Box score, play-by-play

ELLENSBURG – A miles-long traffic jam on Interstate 90 made Seattle Pacific late to the Central Washington gym for Thursday night's Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball opener. Then, the Falcons' offense started a bit slow, too.

But once they got into gear, there was no putting the brakes on them the rest of the night.

Calin Fellows put down a career-high 21 kills, Lindsey Wodrich had her fourth double-double of the year, and Shelby Swanson set up a career-high 58 assists as 16th-ranked SPU bounced back from a first-game loss to beat Central in Nicholson Pavilion, 3-1.

Scores were 23-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-17.

“We actually played really well in that first game – our hitting percentage was high, but our mentality wasn't quite there,” said senior outside hitter Wodrich (Richland, Wash./Richland HS), who finished with 18 kills and 12 digs. “We knew we had it in us, and that's what we came back with in the second game and the third and the fourth.”

Added coach Chris Johnson, “We gave them 11 free points in that first game and we only lost it by two. So there weren't any adjustments that we really needed to make. We felt like we were doing what we wanted to do against their hitters. And we also told them (between Games 1 and 2), 'Hey, we have the momentum now.'”

Johnson was right about the momentum. Seattle Pacific, which had come all the way back from 21-15 down in the opener to get within 24-23 before Central closed it out, used an 8-2 run in the second game to turn a 6-6 tie into a 14-8 lead and never led by less than four after that.

In a tight third game that was tied at 16-16, the Falcons put together a 6-2 spurt to take control at 22-18. Then, they got off to a 6-1 jump in Game 4 and never let the Wildcats get closer than three, the last time at 9-6.

Throughout the lineup, Seattle Pacific enjoyed one of its best offensive performances of the year, all of which added up to a season-high 64 kills and a solid .327 hitting percentage (just 16 errors on 147 attacks).

Junior outside hitter Fellows (Edmonds, Wash./Edmonds-Woodway HS) led by way by setting a career high in kills for the second time in less than a week and the third time this season. Her tally of 21 was three more than she hammered last Saturday in a four-game victory against Florida Southern at the Colorado Premier Challenge in Denver. She hit .306 for the night.

The 18 kills for senior outside hitter Wodrich (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) was a season high, as was her .300 hitting percentage. The double-double was the 23rd of her career.

"I was feeling good. Shelby was doing a great job of distributing the ball, and I was going after them," Wodrich said.

Sophomore middle blocker Nikki Lowell (Claremont, Calif.) sent her first two balls of the match out – then didn't make another attack error all night, finishing at an even .400. Senior outside hitter Paige Hoffman hit .389 with eight kills and just one error on 18 swings.

“That was just a very complete performance by our offense,” Johnson said. “We feel like we've been wanting to get this out of them, and we're getting it out of them now. Our hitters did a good job tonight of moving the ball around. I looked at the chart I keep of where we're hitting the ball, and we were getting kills everywhere.”

SPU was just as solid defensively with 76 digs (25 for senior libero Anna Herold) and a season-high 24 block assists (led by a career-best seven for Lowell).

The 58 assists for Swanson (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin HS) in four games was two more than the 56 she racked up in five games against Western Washington in last November's NCAA West Regional semifinals.

The victory helped the Falcons square the all-time series between the teams at 31-31 – and they did so in Central's gym.

Seattle Pacific returns to action on Saturday at Northwest Nazarene at 6 p.m. PDT

“Every conference match is going to be tough – one down and 17 to go. But it's nice to get one under our belt," Johnson said. 


NCAA VOLLEYBALL
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Nicholson Pavilion/Ellensburg, Wash.

(No. 16) Seattle Pacific 3, Central Washington 1

Game scores – 23-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-17.

Service aces – SPU 2 (2 players with 1), CWU 3 (Chelsie Vea 2).
Kills – SPU 64 (Cailin Fellows 21, Lindsey Wodrich 18, Nikki Lowell 10), CWU 52 (Jordan Offutt 13).
Assists – SPU 62 (Shelby Swanson 58), CWU 52 (Carlee Marble 48).
Digs – SPU 76 (Anna Herold 25, Wodrich 12, Paige Hoffman 11), CWU 53 (Vea 15).
Blocks – SPU 24 / 0 solo (Lowell 7 / 0 solo, Angie Pricco 5 / 0 solo), CWU 5 (Smith 2).
Hitting (kills-errors-total attacks) – SPU 64-16-147--.327 (Lowell 10-2-20—.400, Angie Pricco 4-0-11--.364, Fellows 21-6-49--.306, Wodrich 18-6-40--.300), CWU 52-28-170--.141 (Smith 10-0-23--.435).
Attendance – 285.

Records – Seattle Pacific 6-3, 1-0 GNAC. Central Washington 6-4, 1-2 GNAC.

Next match – Seattle Pacific at Northwest Nazarene, Saturday, 6:00 p.m. PDT.