Box Score

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BILLINGS, Mont. – The Seattle Pacific Falcons came up with some big defensive efforts on Saturday night. The offense just never got untracked.
 
Shaun Crespi and Abbey Lautenbach each had four total blocks, and four Falcons had double-digit digs, but that wasn't enough to keep Montana State Billings from sweeping the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match.
 
Scores in Alterowitz Gymnasium were 26-24, 25-16, 25-23.

 

Sophomore middle blocker Crespi (Camarillo, Calif.) had eight kills and .227 hitting to go along with those four blocks for Seattle Pacific (10-14, 6-10 GNAC). Senior outside hitter Lexi Biondi (Albuquerque, N.M.) joined Crespi with eight kills.

 

Sophomore libero Amanda Ganete (Hillsboro, Ore.) led SPU with 17 digs. Junior defensive specialist Sophie Kuehl (Vancouver, Wash.) had 14, sophomore setter Symone Tran (Portland, Ore.) added 11, and junior opposite Hannah Lautenbach (Portland, Ore.) totaled 10.
 
The Falcons had 63 digs altogether. Kuehl's total pushed her past 400 for her career, now with 404.
 
Tran made it a double-double – her 14th of the season and 27th of her career – with a team-leading 31 assists.
 
"Our defense was great," coach Chris Johnson said. "We held them to .119 hitting, and held their two big outside hitters to 19 kills (11 for Stormy Siemion, eight for Ashlynn Ward). Amanda and Sophie were on. Amanda averaged almost six digs per game, and Sophie dug their big hitter (Ward) a number of times. She was taking swings, and Sophie was digging them up."
 
But SPU struggled all night on offense with 30 attack errors and hitting just .023 (33-30-129).
 
Billings (7-19, 5-11 GNAC) scored the first five points of the match on the way to building an 8-1 lead. The Falcons eventually forged ties a 22, 23, and 24, before the Yellowjackets finished the game on back-to-back kills.
 
Another fast start gave MSUB a 5-1 advantage in the second game, and Seattle Pacific never got closer than one, the last time at 12-11. The Jackets than ran off five in a row.
 
The Falcons built a 12-7 lead in the third game. Billings eventually caught up, and it was tied six times after that. Down 23-22, the Yellowjackets put the last three points on the board to finish the match.
 
Seattle Pacific plays its final two road matches of the season this coming week, visiting Western Washington at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham on Thursday, and Simon Fraser in Burnaby, B.C., on Saturday. Both start at 7:00 p.m.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016
Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.
 
Montana State Billings 3, Seattle Pacific 0
 
Game scores – 26-24, 25-16, 25-23.
 
Service aces – SPU 2 (Symone Tran 1, Abbey Lautenbach 1), MSUB 3 (Matala Robinson 2).
Kills – SPU 33 (Lexi Biondi 8, Shaun Crespi 8), MSUB 35 (Stormy Siemion 11).
Assists – SPU 32 (Tran 31), MSUB 31 (Angala Jensen 26).
Digs – SPU 63 (Amanda Ganete 17, Sophie Kuehl 14, Tran 11, Hannah Lautenbach 10), MSUB 54 (Siemion 21).
Block assists / solo – SPU 16 / 0 solo (A. Lautenbach 4 / 0 solo, Crespi 4 / 0 solo), MSUB 17 / 0 solo (Bre Rodrigues 5 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 33-30-129—.023 (Crespi 8-3-22—.227), MSUB 35-20-126—.119 (Jensen 4-0-12—.333).
Attendance – 401.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 10-14, 6-10 GNAC. Montana State Billings 7-19, 5-11 GNAC.
 
 
Next match
Seattle Pacific at Western Washington
Thursday, Nov. 10     7:00 p.m.
Whatcom CC Pavilion / Bellingham, Wash.