Box score, play-by-play

 HONOLULU – The Seattle Pacific Falcons rallied enough to get back into a tie. They just couldn't get back into the lead.
 
Cailin Fellows put down nine kills, and freshman Jackie Arnold  played error-free with four kills in her college debut on Thursday night, but SPU, despite a pair of big comebacks, fell short of 24^th-ranked Sonoma State at the Honolulu Invitataional volleyball tournament at Chaminade University.
 
Scores in the season-opening match for both teams were 27-25, 25-13, 25-23.
                        
“We just have to take care of the things that we can take care of,” head coach Chris Johnson said. “We did a great job of fighting back in games 1 and 3. Our execution was lacking in certain areas, but it's all stuff that we can fix.”
 
The Falcons will get a chance to do that on Friday night when they play tournament host Chaminade in the Silverswords' own McCabe Gym at 10:30 p.m. PDT.
 
Senior outside hitter Fellows (Edmonds, Wash. / Edmonds-Woodway HS) also had six digs and two blocks for SPU. Arnold (Anaheim, Calif.), a middle blocker hit .400 for the night and recorded a solo block. Sophomore libero Brianna Leenders came up with 13 digs, and senior setter Shelby Swanson earned 29 assists.
 
Seattle Pacific fought off four game points in the opener. Down 24-21, Arnold slammed a kill, Sonoma had an attack error, then freshman Ellie Britt (Orange, Calif.) had a kill to tie it at 24-24. The Seawolves went back on top, 25-24, but Britt answered with another kill to tie it again. Back-to-back kills then helped Sonoma State close out the game.
 
The Falcons put the first two points on the board in Game 2. But Sonoma ran off five straight and eventually built an 18-8 lead.
 
A 6-0 run snapped a 7-7 tie in the third game and seemingly put the Seawolves in command. They were up 23-19 when Seattle Pacific rallied again. Three Sonoma errors and a kill by sophomore middle blocker Madi Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) deadlocked it at 23-23. The Seawolves then closed out the match with back-to-back kills.
 
Sonoma State hit .239 for the match with 44 kills and 18 errors on 109 attacks. Kelsey Hull led with 18 kills. The Falcons had nearly as many attacks (106) and the same number of attack errors (18), but put down just 33 kills for a .139 percentage.
 
“They have real good hitters on the left and right, and their passing is pretty solid, too,” Johnson said.
 
Arnold wasn't the only freshman shining for SPU on Thursday. Outside hitter Britt finished with eight kills, six digs and two block assists. Libero/defensive specialist Breanne Wiekamp (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) had four digs and two of SPU's four service aces.
 
“Jackie had a great debut. We were only able to get the ball to her 10 times, but I was happy with her performance,” Johnson said. “Ellie and Breanne did a good job for their first college match.”
 
This is the fifth straight year the Falcons and Sonoma have met in a preseason tournament. Seattle Pacific had won the last two, including five-gamer last year in Honolulu.
 
Tonight's match against Chaminade will be the third season in a row that the teams have met in Hawaii. SPU posted three-game sweeps the past two years.

 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Honolulu Invitational
Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012
McCabe Gym at Chaminade University / Honolulu, Hawaii
 
(No. 24) Sonoma State 3, Seattle Pacific 0
 
Game scores – 27-25, 25-13, 25-23.
 
Service aces – SPU 4 (Breanne Wiekamp 2), SSU 7 (Hayley Ross 3). Kills – SPU 33 (Cailin Fellows 9), SSU 44 (Kelsey Hull 18). Assists – SPU 31 (Shelby Swanson 29), SSU 44 (Ross 39). Digs – SPU 42 (Brianna Leenders 13), SSU 51 (Nicola Gragnola 13). Blocks – SPU 16 / 2 solo (Madi Cavell 4 / 1 solo), SSU 12 / 4 solo (Caylie Seitz 3 / 1 solo). Hitting (kills-errors-attacks—percentage) – SPU 33-18-106--.139 (Arnold 4-0-10--.400), SSU 44-18-108--.239 (Seitz 9-3-23--.261). Attendance– 55.
 
Records – SPU 0-1, Sonoma State 1-0.
 
Next match – Seattle Pacific at Chaminade, Friday, 10:30 p.m. PDT.