Thursday, October 13, 2011

The race for the GNAC's automatic berth in the NCAA playoffs got even tighter Thursday.

Northwest Nazarene (10-5, 7-3) rallied from a 2-0 set deficit on the road to upset Seattle Pacific 17-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-23, 15-12, tossing the race into a virtual three-way tie.

That dropped the Falcons (13-5, 7-2) into a three-way tie with Western Washington (10-4, 8-2) and idle Alaska Anchorage (11-6, 7-2) in the loss column with two defeats each.

The Vikings, who rallied from a 2-1 set deficit to beat Western Oregon, 25-19, 23-25, 12-25, 25-17, 15-12, do have a one-half match lead over SPU and UAA and are one up on NNU.

In addition to NNU and WWU, Central Washington (11-7, 5-5) and Saint Martin's (4-12, 3-7) also won matches Thursday.

The Wildcats won a five-setter with MSU Billings, 20-25, 25-14, 25-17, 14-25, 16-14, and the Saints defeated winless Simon Fraser, 23-25, 25-13, 25-16, 25-22.

Kaitlyn Tuholski and Michelle Terpstra each had triple-doubles, their third and second of the season, respectively, in leading Northwest Nazarene past Seattle Pacific. They are the first teammates in GNAC history to record triple-doubles in the same match.

Tuholski had 14 kills, 24 assists and 10 digs, while Terpstra had 11 kills, 23 assists and 13 digs. Terpstra was also one of three players, including Becky Flores and Haley Abbott to record six blocks.

"We played well when it mattered most," NNU head coach Jared Sliger said. "The freshman (Tuholski and Terpstra) were really good and we just played well as a team. It was a fun match to coach. . .everyone stepped up at different times when we needed them."

Tied at two sets each, the Crusaders outhit the Falcons .304 to .208 in the deciding fifth set, committing only two hitting errors against nine kills in the finale.

Lindsey Woodrich led SPU with 20 kills. Paige Hoffman had 14 kills and Nikki Lowell had 10.

The Falcons lost despite outhitting the Crusaders, who have won six of seven, .194 to .133. The match may have been won or lost at the service line where SPU committed 12 more service errors (20-8).

Western Washington got 23 kills and 25 digs from Marlayana Geary in its win. Emily Jepsen had 11 kills and six blocks. Samantha Hutchinson had 25 digs.

Western Oregon (7-7, 6-4) was led by Danielle Reese with 25 kills, while Krissi Kemper had 13. The Vikings were outhit .225 to .207, but had a 15-10 advantage at the service line.

Jordan Offutt had 14 kills, Megan Ryan had 13 and Erin Smith had 12 to lead Central Washington to its win. Smith hit .360 (12-3-25).

Monica Grimrud had 14 kills for MSUB (9-9, 3-6) and Krista Norris and Melissa Porter had 12 and 10, respectively.

Katy Ferguson had 14 kills and Kristyn Ross had 12 to lead Saint Martin's in its win. Kristjana Fridfinnson had 19 for Simon Fraser (0-14, 0-10).