Box Score
        Box score, play-by-play
 
SEATTLE – Madi Cavell and Nikki Lowell helped the Seattle Pacific Falcons put an emphatic finish on the first half of the volleyball season Saturday afternoon.
 
Cavell hammered 12 kills, and Lowell added nine while hitting a season-high .615 to help SPU sweep past Montana State Billings in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match.
 
Scores in Brougham Pavilion were 25-18, 25-22, 25-14.
 
Not only are the Falcons (7-6, 3-2 GNAC) back above the .500 mark, they are three wins ahead of last year's 4-9 mark through 13 matches.
 
"Overall, I'm really happy with our effort offensively and defensively today," head coach Chris Johnson said. "Madi and Nikki were both phenomenal. Both of them did a good job of minimizing their errors, which we talked about this week in practice. And we served really well today."
 
After three straight home matches, the Falcons are back on the road next week, visiting Central Washington in Ellensburg on Thursday at 7:00 p.m., then heading to Idaho for a contest against Northwest Nazarene next Saturday at 6 p.m. PDT.
 
Junior outside hitter Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) hit at a solid .333 on Saturday, with just three errors on 27 total attacks. Senior middle blocker Lowell (Claremont, Calif.) had just one error on 13 swings. Her previous season-high hitting percentage was .467 in a three-game victory at Alaska Fairbanks on Sept. 21.
 




Lowell also had seven block assists on Saturday, part of yet another solid SPU defensive performance. The Falcons limited Montana State Billings (3-10, 1-4-GNAC) to .010 hitting (28 kills, 27 errors, 96 attacks). That is the lowest a Seattle Pacific opponent has hit this fall, and is the third time the Falcons have kept a team below the .100 mark.
 
"Defensively, we're thrilled," Johnson said. "Their big hitter (Monica Grimsrud, who came in with a team-high 142 kills) hit negative (minus-.200 with just three kills for the day). Krista Norris was doing well for two games, so we talked about shutting her down, and she hit zero in the third game, so I'm happy we were able to focus on her and take her out."

SPU hit .212 (32-14-85), its third-highest percentage of the season and its second-lowest error total.
 
"It's just a steady improvement," Lowell said of the team's progress through the first half. "Everyone is working on their own things, and it definitely showed in this one. People are making the right moves, hitting a little smarter, and right now, we're focusing on our offense and getting our (hitting) percentage up on offense."
 
Junior setter Sara Biondi (Sacramento, Calif.) had a team-high 16 assists also had three blocks, one of them a solo. Junior libero Brianna Leenders (Gresham, Ore.) led with 14 digs.
 
The Falcons were up 12-10 in Game 1 when they put together a 9-3 run to take command. Montana State Billings (3-10, 1-4 GNAC) had a pair of three-point leads midway through Game 2, the last one at 13-10. SPU ran off three straight to tie it at 13-13, and the lead changed hands four more times after that. The Falcons went on top to stay at 23-22 on a Billings service error, then got the last two points to finish off the game.
 
Except for a 2-2 tie, Seattle Pacific led throughout the third game.
 
SPU piled up a season-best nine service aces, beating its previous best of seven in the opening match of the year against Cal State Los Angeles on Sept. 6. Cavell had a season-high four of those on Saturday, and sophomore libero Breanne Wiekamp (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) served up two aces.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Montana State Billings 0
 
Game scores – 25-18, 25-22, 25-14.
 
Service aces – MSUB 4 (Monica Grimsrud 2), SPU 9 (Madi Cavell 4).
Kills – MSUB 28 (Krista Norris 14), SPU 32 (Cavell 12).
Assists – MSUB 28 (Kyndal Williams 23), SPU 29 (Sara Biondi 16, Kendall Langdon 12)l.
Digs – MSUB 35 (Sydney Oberstein 8), SPU 35 (Brianna Leenders 14).
Block assists / solo – MSUB 8 / 1 solo (Mikara Ostermiller 3 / 0 solo), SPU 20 / 1 solo (Nikki Lowell 7 / 0 solo, Ellie Britt 4 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – MSUB 28-27-96--.010 (Norris 14-7-29--.241), SPU 32-14-85--.212 (Lowell 9-1-13--.615).
Attendance – 107.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 7-6, 3-2 GNAC. Montana State Billings 3-10, 1-4 GNAC.
 
Next match – Seattle Pacific at Central Washington, Thursday, 7:00 p.m.