Box Score

        Box score, play-by-play (HTML)
 
SEATTLE – The effort and intensity was they want to get in every match.
 
They just didn't get the result they wanted to go along with it on Saturday afternoon.
 
Lexi Biondi had 23 kills, and Hannah Lautenbach recorded a double-double of 17 kills and 17 digs, but Northwest Nazarene used  a 4-1 run in Game 5 to go ahead for good and get past Seattle Pacific in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball contest.
 
Scores in Brougham Pavilion were 25-17, 26-28, 24-26, 25-16, 15-10.

 

Sophomore outside hitter Biondi (Albuquerque, N.M.) now has 20-plus kills in two of her last three matches. She pounded a career-high 27 in a four-game victory against Montana State Billings last Saturday.
 
Sophomore opposite / middle blocker Lautenbach (Portland, Ore.) put her third double-double of the season and fourth of her career into the books for Seattle Pacific (6-12, 4-6 GNAC).
 
"I was very proud of the way we played throughout the day," SPU coach Chris Johnson said. "We had good focus, we were dialed in, good energy, good communication. For the most part, our hitters were making good choices. … We played a great match and came up short."
 
SPU is on the road for a pair next week, starting with a visit to Western Oregon in Monmouth on Thursday as the second half of the conference schedule begins.
 
Freshman setter Symone Tran (Portland, Ore.), who missed Thursday's match against Central Washington with an illness, was back in action, logging 51 assists and 12 digs for her seventh double-double.
 
Senior outside hitter Ellie Britt (Orange, Calif.) added 11 kills.

 

SPU had a season-best 16 total blocks. Senior Luisa McInnis (Santa Rosa, Calif) had a career-high 10, with nine block assists and one solo. The six block assists for freshman Shaun Crespi (Camarillo, Calif.) were a career high, as were the five for Biondi. Lautenbach had seven block assists, just one away from her career high.
 
"That's maybe one of the best performances I've ever seen from Hannah – she was three blocks away from a triple-double," Johnson said. "We were much improved on the block. Luisa had 10, which is awesome to see."
 
Senior libero Breanne Wiekamp (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) was one of four Falcons with double-digit digs, coming up with 28. Sophomore defensive / serving specialist Sophie Kuehl (Vancouver, Wash. / Columbia River HS) had a career-high 16 digs.
               
Seattle Pacific finished with 83 digs, its second-highest total of the season. In several instances, the point on a rally seemed about to go to the Crusaders, only to see a Falcon come up with a dig to keep the ball alive.
 
The deciding fifth game was tied four times, the last of those at 6-6. That's when NNU went on its 4-1 run, leading 8-6 at the changeover and extending it to 10-7. The Crusaders (11-7, 8-2 and now on a six-match winning streak) eventually made it 12-8 on the way to closing out the match.
 
SPU trailed the entire first game except for a 3-3 tie. One chance to close out Game 2 slipped away at 24-23. The Falcons then fought off Crusaders game points at 25-24 and 26-25, tying it at 26-26 on a dunk at the net by Crespi. Back-to-back Biondi kills provided the points to take the game.
 
A 14-11 deficit in the third game was turned around with a 7-2 run for an 18-16 advantage. That grew to 24-21 before Northwest Nazarene climbed back into a 24-24 tie. Seattle Pacific set up another try at game point after a combined block by Biondi and McInnis for 25-24, then clinched it with a combined block by McInnis and Lautenbach.
 
The Crusaders led for all of Game 4.
               
"We can build on this," Johnson said, "knowing that we were that close to a team that beat Alaska Anchorage (the Crusaders downed UAA in four games on Oct. 8 in Nampa, Idaho).This is only the third or fourth match we've had all of our starters in. When everybody is good to go like this, it's way better."


NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Northwest Nazarene 3, Seattle Pacific 2
 
Game scores – 25-17, 26-28, 24-26, 25-16, 15-10.
 
Service aces – NNU 7 (Kendra Bodine 2, Hailey Cook 2), SPU 3 (Hannah Lautenbach 2).
Kills – NNU 67 (Jenna Caywood 20), SPU 60 (Lexi Biondi 23, Lautenbach 17, Ellie Britt 11).
Assists – NNU 63 (Cook 59), SPU 54 (Symone Tran 51).
Digs – NNU 95 (Linnea Phillips 25), SPU 83 (Breanne Wiekamp 28, Lautenbach 17, Sophie Kuehl 16, Tran 12).
Block assists / solo – NNU 22 / 0 solo (Taylor VanValey 7 / 0 solo), SPU 30 / 1 solo (Luisa McInnis 9 / 1 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – NNU 67-28-186--..210 (Caywood 20-2-29--.621), SPU 60-31-206--.141 (Lautenbach 17-4-62--.210).
Attendance – 126.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 6-12, 4-6 GNAC. Northwest Nazarene 11-7, 8-2 GNAC.
 
Next match --      Seattle Pacific at Western Oregon
                                Thursday, Oct. 22, 7:00 p.m.