Box Score

        Box score, play-by-play
 
FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks raced to big leads in the first two games on Saturday night and went on to beat Seattle Pacific in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match, 3-1.
 
Scores in The Patty Center were 25-21, 25-22, 21-25, 25-16.
 
Fairbanks (2-11, 2-4 GNAC) had lost 12 straight to the Falcons (4-10, 2-4 GNAC), its last victory in the series coming in 2008.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Lexi Biondi (Albuquerque, N.M) led the Falcons with 13 kills, and senior outside hitter Ellie Britt (Orange, Calif.) added 12.
 
Britt also was the leading hitter for Seattle Pacific at .267 (12 kills-4 errors-30 attacks) and tied her career high with three service aces. But the Falcons hit just .056 for the match (39 kills-31 errors-144 attacks).
 
"It was just not a good offensive effort by us," SPU coach Chris Johnson said. "We had 20 percent hitting errors as a team. Some of those are on bad sets, but a lot of them are on good sets, and we're just not putting them away."
 
The Falcons limited Fairbanks to .154 hitting (46-25-136). It's the sixth time this season they've kept an opponent below .200 hitting, and have won four of those – but not Saturday's.
                                                                                                                                             
"That should be a number (.154) that we can be better than," Johnson said. "We should be able to beat a team that hits just.154 against us."
 
Freshman setter SymoneTran (Portland, Ore.) logged her sixth double-double of the season, this one with 34 assists and 10 digs. Senior libero Breanne Wiekamp (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) led with 16 digs, and senior middle blocker Luisa McInnis (Santa Rosa, Calif.) had three block assists.
 
Alaska Fairbanks scored the first eight points of the match. Its opening-game lead eventually grew to 12-3 before Seattle Pacific climbed all the way back within one at 13-12, but never was able to tie it.
 
The Nanooks then rang up the first four points of the second game and built an 11-5 lead. Again, the Falcons trimmed it to one at 13-12 before Fairbanks stretched it back out to 16-12.
 
SPU went up 5-0 to start Game 3. Fairbanks rallied, and it was tied at 18-18 when the Falcons went on a 5-0 run, the last four with freshman Amanda Ganete serving.
 
The fourth game was tied nine times, the last at 13-13. Alaska Fairbanks seized command with six points in row.

Seattle Pacific has an unusual schedule this coming week. It starts Tuesday with a visit to Saint Martin's at 7:00 p.m., includes a bye on Thursday, and winds up Saturday in Brougham Pavilion against Montana State Billings, also at 7:00. In the new GNAC 11-team scheduleing format, travel partners (such as the Falcons and Saints) square off on Tuesdays.
 

NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015
The Patty Center / Fairbanks, Alaska
 
Alaska Fairbanks 3, Seattle Pacific 1
 
Game scores – 25-21, 25-22, 21-25, 25-16.
 
Service aces – SPU 7 (Ellie Britt 3), UAF 8 (Sam Harthun 3).
Kills – SPU 39 (Lexi Biondi 13, Ellie Britt 12), UAF 46 (Harthun 15).
Assists – SPU 39 (Symone Tran 34), UAF 46 (Miranda Grieser 27).
Digs – SPU 56 (Breanne Wiekamp 16), UAF 60 (Samantha Hesterman 23).
Block assists / solo – SPU 10 / 0 solo (Luisa McInnis 3 / 0 solo), UAF 21 / 0 solo (Maddie Davis 6, Kensey Mix 6).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 39-31-144--.056 (Britt 12-4-30--.267), UAF 46-25-136--.154 (Amberly Jeane 11-3-25--.320).
Attendance – 271.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 4-10, 2-4 GNAC. Alaska Fairbanks 2-11, 2-4 GNAC.
 
Next match – Seattle Pacific at Saint Martin's, Tuesday, 7:00 p.m.