Box score, play-by-play
 
SEATTLE – Nothing like building some momentum heading into one of the season's toughest volleyball matches. The Seattle Pacific Falcons certainly did that on Thursday night.
 
Cailin Fellows had 14 kills, Shelby Swanson moved up to third on the school career assist list, and the Falcons hit a season-high .473 to sweep past Saint Martin's in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest.
 
Scores in Brougham Pavilion were 25-13, 25-20, 25-14.
 
Next up: Western Oregon on Saturday afternoon at 2 in Brougham. The Wolves, who swept Montana State Billings on Thursday, have won six straight and seven of their past eight since falling in three games to SPU last month in Monmouth. The Falcons (11-11, 8-5 GNAC) have won seven of their past nine, including their WOU victory.
 
“Offensively, I wouldn't pick another match this season to be coming off of going into Western Oregon,” Seattle Pacific coach Chris Johnson said. “(The Wolves) are definitely a good team, and they've been playing well lately. We beat them last time, and you gotta figure they want their revenge for that. I'm sure they're going to come out firing.”
 
The Falcons are back at the overall .500 mark for the first time since they split four matches at the season-opening tournament in Hawaii. Saint Martin's fell to 6-13, 3-10 in the GNAC.
 





On the way to that .473 hitting mark, SPU topped .500 in the first game (.567) and third game (.519). The Falcons now have hit better than .500 in three of their last seven games, the first of which was Game 2 (.516) in last Saturday's 3-2 victory at Central Washington.
 
“Shelby was making some really great decisions setting-wise,” said sophomore outside hitter Jessica Miller (Fife, Wash. / Fife HS), whose error-free performance (8 kills on 14 attacks) was her second of the season. “Everybody came out here with a mission, and that was to kill (the ball). Seeing Cailin hitting really great and Madi (Cavell) hitting really great on the outside, and the middles doing their job – it was great to see.”
 
Junior middle blocker Nikki Lowell (Claremont, Calif.) set the hitting pace for the Falcon at .611 (12 kills and just one error on 18 attacks). Fellows (Edmonds, Wash. / Edmonds-Woodway HS) wound up at a season-high .387 (14-2-31), and sophomore opposite/middle blocker Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) hit .429 (13-4-21).
 
Freshman middle blocker Jackie Arnold (Anaheim, Calif.) also played error-free (2-0-6, .333).
 
Senior setter Swanson (Kennewick, Wash. / Kamiakin HS) finished with 42 assists, giving her 3,553 for her career. She moved past Katy Higgins (3,549 from 2000-03) on the SPU list, and also passed Higgins to take over the No. 7 spot on the GNAC all-time assist list. Swanson is just seven assists short of No. 6 in the GNAC.
 
“We just had great performances across the board from our hitters, and that speaks very highly of our setter,” Johnson said. “To set a team that hit .473, you have to be doing pretty much everything right. Shelby put the ball in the right place at the right time, and our hitters' jobs were a little bit easier tonight.”
 
Seattle Pacific scored the first four points of the match and never trailed in Game 1. The second game was back and forth all the way up to 20-19 for the Falcons before they scored five of the final six to take it. SPU then built a quick 5-1 lead in Game 3 and never let the Saints closer than two at 10-8.
 
The Falcons made a season-low seven errors, getting 50 kills on their 91 swings. Saint Martin's hit .148 (26 kills, 14 errors, 81 attacks).
  
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Game scores – 25-13, 25-20, 25-14.
 
Service aces – StM 3 (3 players with 1), SPU 6 (Madi Cavell 2, Shelby Swanson 2).
Kills – StM 26 (Kyra Davidson 5, Katy Ferguson 5), SPU 50 (Cailin Fellows 14, Cavell 13, Nikki Lowell 12).
Assists – StM 25 (Halee Hernandez 12), SPU 46 (Swanson 42).
Digs – StM 28 (Kristyn Ross 8), SPU 38 (Breanne Wiekamp 11).
Block assists / solo blocks – StM 4 / 1 solo (Shelby Warner 2 / 0 solo), SPU 12 / 1 solo (Cavell, Jackie Arnold, Lowell all 3 / 0 solo; Swanson 2 / 1 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – StM 26-14-81--.148 (Ferguson 5-1-13--.308), SPU 50-7-91--.473 (Lowell 12-1-18--.611; Jessica Miller 8-0-14--.571).
Attendance – 134.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 11-11, 8-5 GNAC. Saint Martin's 6-13, 3-10 GNAC.
 
Next match – Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific, Saturday, Brougham Pavilion, 2:00 p.m.