Box Score

        Box score, play-by-play

SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific Falcons came up tall on the block, but fell just short on the scoreboard Thursday night.
 
Shaun Crespi had her first collegiate double-double, recording 10 kills and 10 block assists, and SPU got 20 points off of the block, but dropped a five-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match to Alaska Fairbanks.
 
Scores in Brougham Pavilion were 18-25, 27-25, 21-25, 25-18, 15-13.

 

Freshman middle blocker Crespi (Camarillo, Calif.) easily beat her old career high of six block assists / total blocks, as well as topping her old career high of nine kills, which she had reached three times.
 
Also coming up with a career high for total blocks was sophomore opposite / middle Hannah Lautenbach  with nine. Her total included two solos, setting another new personal standard. Lautenbach (Portland, Ore.) added 11 kills.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Lexi Biondi (Albuquerque, N.M.)  also slammed 11 kills. Freshman setter Symone Tran (Portland, Ore.) logged her fourth straight double-double, this one with 39 assists and 13 digs. She now has 10 double-doubles for the season, and joined the block party with four total, tying her career high.
 
The 20 total blocks was the most in a match for SPU since posting 19 in a five-game victory against Western Washington in Brougham on Oct. 8, 2011.
 
"We were playing fantastic defense right from the start," coach Chris Johnson said. "We haven't had that many blocks since I've been here. (Johnson is now in his 11th year as head coach after one year as an assistant). We had 11 after the first two games, and just kept going."
                     
The Falcons are back in Brougham on Saturday against No 11-ranked Alaska Anchorage at 7:00 p.m.
 
Seattle Pacific (6-15, 4-9 GNAC) limited the Nanooks (3-17, 3-10 GNAC) to just .098 hitting. But the Falcons wound up at just .096.

 

Senior libero Breanne Wiekamp had 33 digs. It was the fourth time this season Wiekamp (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) has gone for more than 30 in a match.
 
In the deciding fifth game, the Falcons used a four-point run to go up 7-4. Alaska Fairbanks responded with four straight for an 8-7 lead. It was tied three more times, the last one at 13-13, before the Nanooks put the final two points on the board.
 
Having won the first game, SPU was down 7-2 early in Game 2, but stormed back to take a 21-16 lead. Fairbanks responded with five straight points to tie it, then went up 24-23. Back-to-back kills by Biondi the Falcons a 25-24 lead. The Nanooks then got the next three on a kill, a block, and a Seattle Pacific attack error to level the match at a game apiece.
 
The Falcons led all the way in Game 3. Alaska Fairbanks strung together five straight points in the fourth game to turn a 9-8 deficit into a 13-9 lead, and stayed in front the rest of the way, thanks in large part to .342 hitting in that one (15 kills, just two errors on 38 attacks). That forced the deciding Game 5.
 
"We have to be able to execute in the clutch," Johnson said. "We had a set point in the second set, we were up 7-4 in the fifth. We have to be able to finish out teams. They hit .098, which is fantastic for our defense. But it stinks to lose to a team that hits .098. It's the same offensive problems we've had for a while, and like I said, we just have to execute."
 
Sam Harthun had 27 kills for UAF, which beat Seattle Pacific in four games earlier this month in Alaska.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Alaska Fairbanks 3, Seattle Pacific 2
 
Game scores – 18-25, 27-25, 21-25, 25-18, 15-13.
 
Service aces – UAF 7 (Miranda Greiser 3), SPU 5 (Sophie Kuehl 3).
Kills – UAF 58 (Sam Harthun 27), SPU 44 (Hannah Lautenbach 11, Lexi Biondi, 11, Shaun Crespi 10).
Assists – UAF 57 (Greiser 55), SPU 42 (Symone Tran 39).
Digs – UAF 73 (Meagan Olsen 22), SPU 80 (Breanne Wiekamp 33).
Block assists / solo – UAF 23 / 3 solo (Lilah Hudson 5 / 1 solo, Kensey Mix 5 / 1 solo), SPU 36 / 4 solo (Shaun Crespi 10 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – UAF 58-39-193--.098 (Lilah Hudson 6-0-11--.545, Harthun 27-12-73--.205), SPU 44-29-156--.096 (Lexi Biondi 11-5-31--.194).
Attendance – 125.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 6-15, 4-9 GNAC. UAF 3-17, 3-10 GNAC.
 
Next match –       Alaska Anchorage at Seattle Pacific
                                Saturday / 7:00 p.m.
                                Brougham Pavilion