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SEATTLE – No matter where the Montana State Billings Yellowjackets put up their block on Saturday night, Lexi Biondi found a way around it.
 
Or over it.
 
Or through it.
 
Biondi slammed a career-high 27 kills, and Symone Tran earned 53 assists – also a career high – as the Seattle Pacific Falcons bounced back from an opening-game loss to beat Billings in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match, 3-1.
 
Scores in Brougham Pavilion were 23-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-20.
 
The Falcons (6-10, 4-4 GNAC) have won four of their last six as they head into Thursday's 7:00 p.m. home match against Central Washington.
                                                                           
Sophomore outside hitter Biondi (Albuquerque, N.M.) beat her previous high of 25 kills, earned in a five-game match at Simon Fraser on Sept. 17. She also hit .458 on Saturday (27 kills-5 errors-48 attacks).
 
Freshman setter Tran (Portland, Ore.) topped her old mark of 51 assists, also from that match at Simon Fraser.





"Things just came together. The chemistry just came together out there, and Symone was killing it (with her setting)," Biondi said, adding that after the first game, "We were just playing really hard on offense. Instead of back on our heels and just playing the ball, we were playing to kill it."
 
Falcons coach Chris Johnson has seen some high-quality performances from outside hitters during his 11 years at the SPU helm, and Biondi's night on Saturday ranks high on his list.
 
"That was unbelievable – she just had it going," he said. "For a while there, it was a golden touch. Every single pass she touched was a kill, it seemed like. She really was making some smart swings, putting pressure on them, and just destroyed their block. Her hitting percentage was astronomical."
 
With senior outside hitter Ellie Britt (Orange, Calif.) adding 12 kills with just two errors on 38 attacks, SPU's two outsides combined to hit .372 on Saturday (39-7-86).
 
Tran got the assist on 33 of those 39 kills.
 
"I absolutely love it – it's the best feeling when you can help someone else get a point," Tran said. "It's definitely a team sport, and I'm just glad I can be in the game and help my teammates out."

 

Senior libero Breanne Wiekamp (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) came up with 31 digs, her third match this year with more than 30. She now has 997 digs for her career.
 
Sophomore opposite / middle blocker Hannah Lautenbach (Portland, Ore.) added 13 kills and nine digs. Britt, in addition to her 12 kills, delivered two service aces. The latter gave her 13 for the year, tying her single-season high.
 
With Game 1 on Billings' side, the Falcons used a 12-3 run to take command of Game 2, turning a 10-10 tie into a 22-13 lead. The last six of those points came with freshman Amanda Ganete (Hillsboro, Ore.) serving.
 
"There was a rally or two early in the second set where we all of a sudden turned it on and were really firing," Johnson said. "From that point on, it was like our heads were in it, we were doing what we wanted to be doing, paying attention, and doing things right."
 
MSUB was up 17-14 in the third game when a quick kill by freshman middle blocker Shaun Crespi (Camarillo, Calif.) started a five-point rally that put Seattle Pacific in front for good.

 

SPU scored the first three points of Game 4 – back-to-back kills by Britt and a Yellowjackets error – and led all the way except for a 5-5 tie. Crespi got a hand on back-to-back blocks for the final two points, combining with Britt on the first one and Lautenbach on the second.
 
The Falcons tallied a season-high 64 kills and hit .250 (64-22-168). That was their second-highest mark of the fall, trailing only the .410 against Molloy College on Sept.4.
 

NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Montana State Billings 0
 
Game scores – 23-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-20.
 
Service aces – MSUB 5 (Kimmy Kirk 2), SPU 6 (Ellie Britt 2, Amanda Ganete 2).
Kills – MSUB 51 (Ashlynn Ward 14), SPU 64 (Lexi Biondi 27, Hannah Lautenbach 13, Ellie Britt 12).
Assists – MSUB 47 (Kyndal Williams 41), SPU 58 (Symone Tran 53).
Digs – MSUB 71 (Taylor Sherman 19), SPU 75 (Breanne Wiekamp 31, Ganete 11).
Block assists / solo – MSUB 10 / 1 solo (Audri Marrs 3 / 1 solo), SPU 10 / 1 solo (Lautenbach 3 / 0 solo, Luisa McInnis 3 / 0 solo, Shaun Crespi 2 / 1 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – MSUB 51-21-158--.190 (Taylor Albertson 13-1-28--.429), SPU 64-22-168--.250 (Biondi 27-5-48—.458, Crespi 9-2-20--.350, Ellie Britt 12-2-38--.263).
Attendance – 114.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 6-10, 4-4 GNAC. Montana State Billings 3-13, 2-6 GNAC.
 
Next match –       Central Washington at Seattle Pacific
                                Thursday, Oct. 15 / 7:00 p.m.
                                Brougham Pavilion