Box Score

        Box score, play-by-play
 
SEATTLE –The Seattle Pacific Falcons have always known they can play as well as they did on Thursday night.
 
They'll need every bit of that when they return to the court on Saturday night.
 
 Madi Cavell tied her career high with five service aces and also hammered 12 kills, and Jackie Arnold played error-free with seven kills and six block assists as SPU swept Alaska Fairbanks in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match.
 
Scores in Brougham Pavilion were 25-14, 25-18, 25-14.
 
"It definitely feels good. I hope it instills that much more confidence in our players," Falcons head coach Chris Johnson said after his team boosted its record to 15-10, 11-6 in the GNAC by winning for the eighth time in the past 10 matches. "I told them in the locker room, 'If you play that well, you can beat anybody.' We had great passing, great hitting, great setting … When we play as a unit with a great mentality like that, it breeds success every time."
 
While Fairbanks (4-24, 3-14 GNAC) has endured a tough season, Alaska Anchorage has had an outstanding one that likely will land the Seawolves (20-9, 14-3 GNAC) in the NCAA West Regional tournament. But first, they visit Brougham on Saturday to face Seattle Pacific at 7 p.m.
 
A victory on Saturday, or a Central Washington loss to Western Oregon clinches fourth place in the standings for the Falcons.
 




Junior outside hitter Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) hit .370 for the night. Her five aces matched what she served up against Montana State Billings on Oct. 20, 2012.
 
Sophomore middle blocker Arnold (Anaheim, Calif.) had her second error-free match against Fairbanks this season. On Thursday, her seven kills came on 14 attacks. In SPU's sweep on Sept. 21 in Alaska, she had five kills on seven swings.
 
Senior middle blocker Nikki Lowell (Claremont, Calif.) had five block assists and one solo to move past Gaylene MacDonald into No. 4 on the all-time SPU blocking list. Lowell now has 416 total blocks heading into Saturday's season finale She needs seven blocks to take over the No. 3 spot from Ali Lindberg (422 from 1991-94).
 
In the GNAC stats, Lowell remains three block assists behind Western Oregon's Becky Blees for the all-time record. Both players had five on Thursday, so Blees is still ahead with one match left for each player, 381-378.
 
The Falcons (15-10, 11-6 GNAC) led throughout Game 1. The second game was tied at 16-16 when SPU ran off three points in a row. The Nanooks (4-24, 3-14 GNAC) got as close as 19-18 before the Falcons put up six straight points to finish it, the last five of those with Lowell serving.
 
A six-point streak also swung Game 3 in Seattle Pacific's favor, turning a 7-7 tie into a 13-7 lead.
 
Lowell tied her career high with three service aces. Altogether, the Falcons had 11 aces, two more than their previous season-best of nine, set on Oct. 5 at home against Montana State Billings.
 
Junior setter Sara Biondi (Sacramento, Calif.) had three kills and hit 1.000, the third time in her career she has done that. She also had six blocks, with one solo.
 
The Falcons hit .343, with 31 kills and just eight errors on 67 attacks. They kept Fairbanks to negative hitting at minus -.013 (23 kills-24 errors-75 attacks). Their previous best defensive effort this season was .010 by Montana State Billings on Oct. 5.
 
"We served really well and had them out of system most of the match," Johnson said. "Madi had five aces, and four of those went straight to the floor. Our hitting was fantastic. We've been talking about being aggressive when we can be, and making good choices when we don't have an ideal situation."
 
Saturday's match will be Senior Night in honor of Lowell and outside hitter Nicole Schwend. The ceremony  will take place prior to the first serve against Anchorage.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Alaska Fairbanks 0
 
Game scores – 25-14, 25-18, 25-14.
 
Service aces – UAF 2 (2 players with 1), SPU 11 (Madi Cavell 5, Nikki Lowell 3).
Kills – UAF 23 (Sam Harthun 10), SPU 31 (Cavell 12).
Assists – UAF 22 (Katelyn Camp 17), SPU 30 (Kendall Langdon 19).
Digs – UAF 24 (Samantha Hesterman 6), SPU 25 (Breanne Wiekamp 7).
Block assists / solos – UAF 8 / 1 solo (Lilah Hudson 4 / 0 solo), SPU 23 / 2 solo (Lowell 5 / 1 solo, Sara Biondi 5  / 1 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – UAF 23-24-75—minus .013 (Camp 4-1-6--.500), SPU 31-8-67--.343 (Sara Biondi 3-0-3—1.000, Jackie Arnold 7-0-14--.500, Cavell 12-2-27--.370).
Attendance – 138.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 15-10, 11-6 GNAC. Alaska Fairbanks 4-24, 3-14 GNAC.
 
Next match – Alaska Anchorage at Seattle Pacific (Senior Night), Saturday, Brougham Pavilion, 7:00 p.m.