Box Score
 
        Box score, play-by-play
 
FAIRBANKS, Alaska – They talked about doing things to improve their hitting. They practiced things to improve their hitting.
 
On Saturday night, the Seattle Pacific Falcons put all of that into action – and came through in a big way.
 
Ellie Britt hammered 15 kills, and SPU hit a blistering .452 to sweep past Alaska Fairbanks in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match.
 
Scores in The Patty Center were 25-16, 25-22, 25-14.
 
That brought the Falcons even both for the season (5-5) and in conference play (1-1) as they wound up a stretch of 10 straight away matches and now prepare for their home opener on Thursday, Sept. 26, against Simon Fraser at 7:30 p.m.
 
The sweep was their first of the season and their first since last year's season finale against Simon Fraser.
 
SPU, which struggled with hitting in its past three matches (minus-.019 with 26 errors against Azusa Pacific, .038 with 35 at Cal State East Bay and .101 with 34 on Thursday night at Alaska Anchorage – all losses) left all of that behind on Saturday. The Falcons had 42 kills and just four errors on 84 attacks. Their .452 mark included an error-free third game of .700 (14 kills on 20 attacks).
 
"We had much better focus and mentality," head coach Chris Johnson said. "We practiced things last night that we thought we didn't do well on Thursday, and that carried over into the match really well, especially with our outside hitters. They did a great job of finding a place to kill the ball."
 
Sophomore outside hitter Britt (Orange, Calif.) was a big part of that with her 15 kills and just two errors on 29swings for a .448percentage.  Junior outside hitter Madi Cavell had an error-free match with 10 kills on 22 attacks (.455). Senior Nicole Schwend (Canby, Ore.), getting a start at opposite in place of junior Jessica Miller, who was out with an injury, had two kills and no errors on seven attacks (.286).
 
Sophomore middle blocker Jackie Arnold (Anaheim, Calif.) also played error-free with five kills on seven attacks (.714), and senior middle blocker Nikki Lowell (Claremont, Calif.) had nine kills and hit a season-high .467.

Previously this season, SPU's best overall match hitting mark was .229 in a four-game victory against Cal Poly Pomona on Sept. 6. Its best single-game hitting mark had been .400 (7-1-15) in the fifth game on Sept 13 to close out a victory against Cal State Los Angeles. Last year's best match was .473 (50-7-91) in a three-game homecourt sweep of Saint Martin's.
  
"I hope this means they just continue to have that improved focus and mentality and kind of that killer instinct," Johnson said. "This was definitely a shot in the arm."
 
Aside from one tie in Game 1 and eight more in Game 2, the Falcons led for the entire match. They quickly built an 8-1 advantage in Game 3 and never let Fairbanks (2-11, 1-1 GNAC) closer than six points after that.
 
The only run the Nanooks made was in the second game when sophomore outside hitter Sam Harthun put down four consecutive kills, cutting a 23-16 SPU lead to 23-20. Alaska Fairbanks also got within two twice at 23-21 and 24-22 before a kill by Britt clinched the game.
 
Except for that, the Falcons kept Harthun in check. She had more than half of UAF's kills (18 of 35) and hit .469 in Thursday's sweep of Montana State Billings. On Saturday, she finished with 13 kills and hit .219.
 
Johnson credited Schwend with having a lot to do with that.
 
"Coly didn't register a block, but she did a really good job of helping to contain (Harthun)," he said. "She had a small streak there (in Game 2), and that was it."
 
In addition to her 10 kills, Cavell served up a season-best three service aces. Junior setters Sara Biondi (Sacramento, Calif.) and Kendall Langdon (Irvine, Calif.) had 17 assists apiece, and junior libero Brianna Leenders (Gresham, Ore.) led the way with 10 digs.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, September 21, 2013
The Patty Center / Fairbanks, Alaska
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Alaska Fairbanks 0
 
Game scores – 25-16, 25-22, 25-14.
 
Service aces – SPU 4 (Madi Cavell 3), UAF 3 (Morgan McCarthy 2).
Kills – SPU 42 (Ellie Britt 15, Cavell 10), UAF 33 (Sam Harthun 13, Keri Knight 10).
Assists – SPU 41 (Sara Biondi 17, Kendall Langdon 17), UAF 31 (Katelyn Camp 25).
Digs – SPU 28 (Brianna Leenders 10), UAF 33 (Harthun 11).
Blocks / solo – SPU 8 / 0 solo (Britt 2 / 0, Jackie Arnold 2 / 0, Nikki Lowell 2 / 0), UAF 2 / 0 solo (2 players with 1 / 0).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 42-4-84--.452 (Arnold 5-0-7--.714, Lowell 9-2-15--.467, Cavell 10-0-22--.455, Britt 15-2-29--.448), UAF 33-20-92--.130 (Knight 10-4-24--.250).
Attendance – 357.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 5-5, 1-1 GNAC. Alaska Fairbanks 2-11, 1-1 GNAC.
 
Next match – Simon Fraser at Seattle Pacific, Thursday, Sept. 26, Brougham Pavilion, 7:30 p.m.