Box Score


         Box score and stats

ELLENSBURG, Wash. – At times, the Seattle Pacific Falcons had things going very much their way on Thursday night … not consistently, however, and that wound up being costly at the end.

SPU fought back twice from one-game deficits, but Central Washington sprinted to a 5-1 lead in the deciding fifth game to pull out a 3-2 Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball victory.

Scores in Nicolson Pavilion were 25-17, 19-25, 25-14, 22-25, 15-10.

Sophomore outside hitter Ellie Britt (Orange, Calif.) had 14 kills to lead the Falcons (7-7, 3-3 GNAC), and made it a double-double – her fifth of the season and of her career – with 11 digs. Senior middle blocker Nikki Lowell (Claremont, Calif.) had 10 kills, pushing her past 900 for her career (908). She also had a team-leading six block assists.

Junior setter Kendall Langdon (Irvine, Calif.) put her fourth season and career double-double into the books, logging 23 assists and 13 digs. Junior libero Brianna Leenders (Gresham, Ore.) led SPU with 22 digs, and junior outside hitter Madi Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) added a career-high 19, beating her old high of 13. The Falcons had a season-high 82 digs altogether, with five players in double figures.

Central Washington (7-8, 3-4 GNAC) put down 60 kills against SPU, and hit .168 for the match. The Falcons had 43 kills and hit .117.

"We just didn't execute well," head coach Chris Johnson said. "We got up 9-5 in the first game, then just didn't have our mentality the rest of the time. We made some mistakes at bad times and let them off the hook a few times when we were on a run. We were inconsistent in every phase of the game, and we need to be better throughout."

SPU returns to action on Saturday night against Northwest Nazarene in Nampa, Idaho, at 6:00 p.m. PDT.

After falling behind by four early in Game 5, the Falcons got within two points on three occasions, the last time at 12-10, before Central scored the final three.

It was the third straight time the teams played all five games. Both of last year's matches went the distance, each team winning on the other's home court.

The early four-point lead in the opening game quickly vanished after a Central Washington timeout. The Wildcats ran off seven straight points as part of a10-2 run to take a15-11 advantage and never looked back.

Seattle Pacific responded in kind to take the second game with an 8-1 surge to expand an 8-7 lead to 16-8. Central came as close as 18-16 before the Falcons ran off four in a row, and wound up hitting .333 in that game.

The Wildcats put five straight on the board to take early command of Game 3. SPU forced the deciding game by scoring the last three points of Game 4 to snap a 22-22 tie on a kill by senior outside hitter Nicole Schwend, a kill by Britt, and a Wildcats hitting error.

Sophomore middle blocker Jackie Arnold played an error-free match for the Falcons, hitting .381 (8-0-21). She also had four of SPU's 20 block assists. Schwend had four, as well, tying her career high.

In limiting Central Washington to .168 hitting, the Falcons kept their opponent below .200 for the seventh straight match and the 12^th time in 14 matches this season.

"We held them under .200, and that's good defense for us," Johnson said. "There were some good things that happened, but not enough."


NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Nicholson Pavilion / Ellensburg, Wash.

Central Washington 3, Seattle Pacific 2

Game scores – 25-17, 19-25 25-14, 22-25, 15-10.

Service aces – SPU 4 (4 players with 1), CWU 8 (Jordan Deming 5).
Kills – SPU 43 (Ellie Britt 14, Nikki Lowell 10), CWU 60 (Rachel Hanses 15).
Assists – SPU 41 (Kendall Langdon 23, Sara Biondi 16), CWU 56 (Catie Fry 46).
Digs – SPU 82 (Brianna Leenders 22, Cavell 19, Langdon 13, Britt 11, Breanne Wiekamp 11), CWU 99 (Kaely Kight 26).
Block assists / solo – SPU 20 / 0 solo (Lowell 6 / 0 solo, Jackie Arnold 4 / 0 solo), CWU 12 / 5 solo (Linden Firethorne 5 / 1 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 43-23-171--.117 (Arnold 8-0-21--.381), CWU 69-29-185--.168 (Firethorne 8-3-18--.278).
Attendance – 295.

Records – Seattle Pacific 7-7, 3-3 GNAC. Central Washington 7-8, 3-4 GNAC.

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