Box Score


        Box score, play-by-play

NAMPA, Idaho – The Seattle Pacific Falcons had the kind of fast start that they hoped to have. Then, Northwest Nazarene slowed them way down.
 
Madi Cavell slammed 17 kills for SPU on Saturday night, but the Crusaders had four players in double-digit kills to win the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match in four games.
 
Scores in the Johnson Sports Center were 25-21, 25-17, 23-25, 25-15.
 
Junior outside hitter Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) came within one kill of her career high for SPU (7-8, 3-4 GNAC). She moved past 400 career kills, now with 414. Senior middle blocker Nikki Lowell (Claremont, Calif.) added seven kills and four block assists, and sophomore outside hitter Ellie Britt (Orange, Calif.) also had seven kills.
 
Junior setter Kendall Langdon (Irvine, Calif.) came up with 19 assists, and junior setter Sara Biondi (Sacramento, Calif.) had 17. Junior libero Brianne Leenders led with 17 digs. Sophomore middle blocker Jackie Arnold (Anaheim, Calif.) had four block assists, pushing her past 100 for her career (now at 103).
 
The Falcons led for most of Game 1, on five occasions by as many as six points. It was still a five-point advantage at 21-16 when the Crusaders (10-4, 6-2 GNAC) ran off the final nine – including two points on blocks and four on SPU attack errors.
 
"We started out exactly how we wanted to," SPU coach Chris Johnson said. "We were shutting down their middles, serving well, passing well, and hitting well. Everything went wrong at once. We made their block look really good, and it was already really good, and we had a lot of errors toward the end."
 
That momentum carried into the start of Game 2, as NNU went up 5-1. Seattle Pacific eventually got as close as two at 13-11, but the Crusaders answered with four in a row to stretch it back to six at 17-11 and kept control the rest of the way.
 
The Falcons pulled out a back-and-forth third game to stay alive. That one had 12 ties, the last one at 20-20, and four lead changes, as both teams hit .278.
 
"We just had a better mentality, better execution, and we were just making fewer errors," Johnson said.
 
Seattle Pacific forged a 10-8 lead in Game 4, and was up 11-10 when Northwest Nazarene went in front to stay with four consecutive points. The Falcons were still within striking distance, down just 16-13 before the Crusaders effectively sealed it with a six-point surge to make it 22-13.
 
"We were shooting ourselves in the foot and compounding errors," Johnson said.
                                      
Elayna Rice led the Crusaders with 12 kills. Jenna Caywood (who hit .692 for the night), Kaitlyn Tuholski and Andrea Terpstra added 10 apiece.
 
Seattle Pacific kept its opponent below .200 hitting for the eighth straight time, as the Crusaders, who hit minus-.077 in the opening game, but gradually improved the rest of the night, finished at .195 (48 kills, 22 errors on 133 attacks). The Falcons hit just .079 (45-33-152).


NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Johnson Sports Center / Nampa, Idaho

Northwest Nazarene 3, Seattle Pacific 1

Game scores – 25-21, 25-17, 23-25, 25-15.

Service aces – SPU 1 (Cavell 1), NNU 3 (3 players with 1).
Kills – SPU 45 (Cavell 17), NNU 48 (Elayna Rice 12).
Assists – SPU 42 (Kendall Langdon 19, Sara Biondi 17), NNU 47 (Michelle Terpstra 41).
Digs – SPU 52 (Brianna Leenders 13), NNU 64 (Rice 17).
Blocks assists / solo – SPU 16 / 0 solo (Jackie Arnold 4 / 0, Nikki Lowell 4 / 0), NNU 18 / 4 solo (Jenna Caywood 6 / 1 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 45-33-152--.079 (Lexi Biondi 2-0-3--.667, Cavell 17-9-55--.145), NNU 48-22-133--.195 (Caywood 10-1-13--.692).
Attendance – NA.

Records – Seattle Pacific 7-8, 3-4 GNAC. Northwest Nazarene 10-4, 6-2 GNAC.

Next match – Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific, Thursday, Oct. 17, Brougham Pavilion, 7:00 p.m.