Box Score
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Seattle Pacific Falcons found some spark on Saturday night. They just didn't find enough kills to go along with it.
 
Lexi Biondi had a season-high 10 kills, and Gabby Oddo double-doubled again, but 12th-ranked Alaska Anchorage fought off a gritty SPU effort in the second and third games to sweep the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match.
 
Scores in the Alaska Airlines Center were 25-18, 25-20, 27-25.
 
Senior outside hitter Biondi (Albuquerque, N.M.) saw her most extensive playing time of the season and led SPU in hitting at .269 (10 kills-3 errors-26 attacks).
 
Freshman outside hitter Oddo (Alta Loma, Calif.) logged 10 kills and 12 digs for her third straight double-double and team-leading seventh of the season.
 
But while those two combined for 20 kills, the Falcons had just 29 for the night, and hit .079. UAA, with 13 from Erin Braun and 11 from Leah Swiss, totaled 48 kills and hit .248.
 
"Gritty is a good word for it, especially in the third set," Seattle Pacific coach Chris Johnson said. "We allowed them to hit .341 in each of the first two sets, then we did a great job against them in the third set defensively (limiting UAA to just .085 hitting).
 
"But again, we just didn't put enough kills on the floor," he added. "We have to get better offensively. As much as we like how we played in that third set, we hit .079 for the match, and that's not going to cut it against anyone."
 
After 10 straight matches out of town to start the season, Seattle Pacific finally gets to play at home this coming week. Western Oregon visits Brougham Pavilion on Thursday at 7:30 p.m., followed by Concordia of Portland on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.

 

Sophomore setter Symone Tran (Portland, Ore.) had 23 assists on Saturday, sophomore libero Amanda Ganete (Hillsboro, Ore.) came up with 22 digs, and sophomore middle blocker Shaun Crespi (Camarillo, Calif.) set the pace with three total blocks. Junior outside / opposite Hannah Lautenbach (Portland, Ore.) delivered three service aces.
 
The Falcons (4-6. 0-2 GNAC) were never able to get untracked in the opening game, then fell behind by five points at 15-10 midway through the second. But at that juncture, they stepped it up, climbing back twice with one, at 15-14 and later at 20-19 before Anchorage (12-1, 2-0 GNAC) scored five of the final six points.

 

"We stayed aggressive from halfway through that second set," Johnson said. "With Lexi going in during the second set and Sophie Kuehl going in the back row, those two being on the court just helped our energy. They're both very vocal, very excitable players, and they provided a little bit of a spark in that way."
 
SPU put together a big run to take the lead in Game 3. Down 12-10, it outscored the Seawolves by a 9-2 margin to take a 19-14 advantage. UAA responded with five straight points to tie it.
 
One more surge, this one three points in a row, gave the Falcons a 23-21 lead. Anchorage bounced back, gaining a match point at 24-23 (which Oddo saved with a kill) and another at 25-24 (a kill by Lautenbach saved that one). The Seawolves then got the last two, one on a service error, and the clincher on a kill by Keala Kaio-Perez.
 
Erin Braun led Alaska Anchorage with 13 kills and Leah Swiss added 11. But the Falcons kept Swiss, who entered the match hitting .285, in check by limiting her to just .098 for the night (11 kills-7 errors-41 attacks).
 
"We did a good job against their outsides – one hit under .100 (Swiss), and the other (Chrisalyn Johnson) hit .160, so we were really happy with that," Johnson said.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016
Alaska Airlines Center / Anchorage, Alaska
 
(No. 12) Alaska Anchorage 3, Seattle Pacific 0
 
Game scores – 25-18, 25-20, 27-25.
 
Service aces – SPU 7 (H. Lautenbach 3), UAA 1 (Keala Kaio-Perez 1).
Kills – SPU 29 (Lexi Biondi 10, Gabby Oddo 10), UAA 48 (Erin Braun 15, Leah Swiss 11).
Assists – SPU 28 (Symone Tran 23), UAA 46 (Morgan Hooe 32).
Digs – SPU 56 (Amanda Ganete 22, Oddo 12), UAA 71 (Militante-Amper 14).
Block assists / solo – SPU 10 / 1 solo (Shaun Crespi 3 / 0 solo), UAA 6 / 0 solo (Braun 3 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 29-19-127 – .079 (Biondi 10-3-26 – .289), UAA 48-16-129 – .248 (Hooe 7-0-10 – .700).
Attendance – 1,281.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 4-6, 0-2 GNAC. Alaska Anchorage 12-1, 2-0 GNAC.
 
 
Next match
Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Sept. 22 / 7:30 p..m
Brougham Pavilion