LOS ANGELES -- Coach Chris Johnson didn't hesitate in making his point: A lot of things went right for the Seattle Pacific Falcons in Friday night's Southern California Classic volleyball match against 20th-ranked Cal State Los Angeles.
The final score just didn't happen to be one of them.
Sophomore outside hitter Priscilla Collings (Chula Vista, Calif.) had nine kills, pushing her past 100 for her career, and also came up with 12 digs, but Seattle Pacific dropped a three-game match to the Golden Eagles, 25-20, 25-21, 25-23.
The Falcons (1-1) trailed through most of the first two games, but rallied from four points down to take a 21-19 lead in Game 3. The host Golden Eagles (2-0) then scored six of the final eight points to clinch the match.
“We played well, but they're a good team,” Johnson said after CSULA dropped Seattle Pacific to 1-1 for the season. “We had fire the entire match and played with good, consistent emotion. And we passed really the whole match. That's what we talked about Thursday night (after a three-game win against Cal State Dominguez Hills).”
The Falcons conclude the tournament with two matches on Saturday, visiting 18th-ranked Cal Poly Pomona at 1 p.m., then staying in Pomona's gym for a 6 p.m. match against Ashland University of Ohio. Live stats of both matches will be available on this link.
SPU junior Joelle Perez (Vancouver, Wash./Heritage HS) had her second straight double-digit night in assists, earning 19. She had 18 on Thursday against Dominguez Hills. Junior Sarah Risser (Santa Barbara, Calif.) added six kills, and sophomore Amber Johnson (Mount Vernon, Wash./Mount Vernon HS) had five to go along with four block assists.
The Falcons were tied five times with CSULA in Game 1, but never led. The host Golden Eagles took command with a 7-2 scoring run to break a 12-12 tie.
Seattle Pacific was down 13-9 in Game 2, climbed into a 13-13 tie and eventually took a 17-16 lead on a kill by freshman Angie Pricco (Briar, Wash./Blanchet HS). But L.A. rattled off six straight points to go up 22-17, and the Falcons never got closer than three after that.
The Eagles seemed to be on their way to wrapping it near the midpoint of the third game, building a 17-13 lead. That's when the Falcons went on an 8-2 surge, which sophomore Lindsey Wodrich (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) helped spark with two kills and a block assist as SPU went up, 21-19.
CSULA scored five of the next six points for a 24-22 lead. The Falcons fought off one match point on Collings' final kill of the night, then the Eagles closed it out on a kill by Marquis Mora.
“L.A. passed really well the whole match, and they stayed away from our libero,” Johnson said, noting that sophomore Anna Herold, who averaged six digs per game last year, had just six for the entire match on Friday, due in large part to the Eagles' passing accuracy. “And we were serving them tough, but they were making good passes off of our serves.”
Although SPU hit just .119 for the match, senior Jessica Bettencourt (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.) hit .500 with five kills and no errors on 10 swings, and sophomore Paige Hoffman (Encinitas, Calif.) hit .300 with three kills and no errors on 10 swings.
CSULA hit .264 for the match, including a sizzling .393 in Game 2.
