Box Score
        SPU-Colorado Christian box score, play-by-play (HTML)
        SPU-UC San Diego box score, play-by-play (HTML)
 
IRVINE, Calif. – They had their moments – enough to pull out a game against one of the West Region's best volleyball programs, though ultimately not enough to pull out the match.
 
Gabby Oddo and Symone Tran both recorded double-doubles on Saturday afternoon, but Seattle Pacific, despite storming back to take the third game, ultimately dropped a four-gamer to UC San Diego in the final contest for both teams at the Concordia Irvine Labor Day Classic volleyball tournament.
 
Scores in CU Arena were 25-22, 25-17, 24-26, 25-21.
 
SPU (1-3) fell short in both matches on Saturday, as Colorado Christian swept the opener, 25-15, 25-22, 25-20.
 
"The first game, we hit really well (.273)," head coach Chris Johnson said. "But their hitting matched ours. We didn't have enough to win that set, but we played them tough.
 
"The second set got away from us a little bit, then in the third, we hung in there. We played well against them, we served tough, and kept fighting. We battled that fourth one with them the whole way, and were right with them at the end."

 

Freshman outside hitter Oddo (Alta Loma, Calif.) recorded career highs for kills (16) and digs (21). Her old marks of 14 kills and 11 digs both came in Friday's four-game loss to host Concordia Irvine. She had three double-doubles in her four tournament matches.
 
"The most consistent thing has been Gabby's play. She has been fantastic," Johnson said. "I've been really impressed with her. She's a smart hitter and has every shot in the book."
 
Sophomore setter Tran (Portland, Ore.) had 43 assists and 13 digs for her second double-double of the weekend and the 15th of her career.

 

Junior outside hitter Colleen Hannigan (Brentwood, Calif.) had a career-high 10 kills, her first-ever college double-digit performance. Sophomore libero Amanda Ganete (Hillsboro, Ore.) came up with a career-best 22 digs, beating the 18 she had against Irvine on Friday. Sophomore middle blocker Shaun Crespi (Camarillo, Calif.) had six blocks to go along with five kills.
 
UC San Diego (2-2) seemed on the verge of closing out the match, up 23-19 in Game 3 after winning the first two. But SPU ran off five straight points to take a 24-23 lead: a kill by Hannigan, a combined by Crespi and junior Hannah Lautenbach, another kill by Hannigan, a kill by Lautenbach, and finally a Tritons attack error
 
San Diego saved that game point with a kill, getting back to 24-24. But a kill by Lautenbach and a combined block by Hannigan and Crespi gave the game to the Falcons and kept them alive.
 
The Tritons built a four-point lead in Game 4 at 11-7. The Falcons went on a 5-1 run to climb into a 12-12 tie. The teams then traded points all the way up to 20-20. That was the last of 38 ties in the match. UC San Diego then scored five of the last six points, including the final three in a row, to seal it.
 
Seattle Pacific hit .114 for the day (47 kills-27 errors-175 attacks), led by Oddo's .250 (16-4-48). The Falcons had three fewer errors than San Diego and just five fewer attacks, but the Tritons came up with 87 digs.

 

"We're young, and we're just trying to figure out what's going to work for us," Johnson said. "We liked some of the things we're seeing, but we're not quite putting everything together yet on a consistent basis. We've shown some of our potential and we've seen some of it. We just need to get it all at the same time."
 
UCSD, with Meagan Wright's 22 kills leading the way (she also hit .267), finished at .178 (62-30-180).


 
Colorado Christian 3, SPU 1
Gabby Oddo had 10 kills and 10 digs, and hit a solid .304. Shaun Crespi hammered seven kills with just one attack error for a team-leading .462 hitting mark. Symone Tran earned all of SPU's 29 assists.
 
The Falcons hit just .106 (32 kills-21 errors-104 attacks).
 
Seattle Pacific had an 8-6 lead in Game 1 before Colorado Christian ran off four straight points, part of a 7-1 surge that produced a 13-9 lead. The Cougars never trailed again and never let SPU get closer than three.
 
CCU bolted to leads of 5-1 and 14-7 in Game 2. But the Falcons rallied, and a run of three straight points – a kill by Crespi, a service ace by junior Sophie Kuehl, and a combined block by Tran and freshman Nicole Tchabanov – lifted them into a 21-21 tie. Colorado Christian responded with four of the final five points to close out the game.
 
The Cougars scored the first four points of Game 3 and led it from start to finish.
 
Sophie Proano and Mollie Bailey each had 12 kills for Colorado Christian, which had 43 for the match and hit .248. That included .484 in the opening game (17 kills, just two errors).
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Concordia Irvine Labor Day Classic
Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016
CU Arena / Irvine, Calif.
 
Colorado Christian 3, Seattle Pacific 0
 
Game scores – 25-15, 25-22, 25-20.
 
Service aces – CCU 6 (Kylee Wurster 2), SPU 2 (Sophie Kuehl 1, Symone Tran 1).
Kills – CCU 43 (Sophie Proano 12, Mollie Bailey 12), SPU 32 (Gabby Oddo 10).
Assists – CCU 41 (Wurster 35), SPU 29 (Tran 29)
Digs – CCU 44 (Bailey 12), SPU 37 (Oddo 10).
Block assists / solo – CCU 10 / 1 solo (Aubrey Parker 5 / 0 solo), SPU 14 / 0 solo (Tran 4 / 0 solo, Nicole Tchabanov 4 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – CCU 43-1-105--.248 (Hope Baldrica 6-1-8--.625, SPU 32-21-104--.106 (Shaun Crespi 7-1-13--.462).
Attendance – 54.
 
 
UC San Diego 3, Seattle Pacific 1
 
Game scores – 25-22, 25-17, 24-26, 25-21.
 
Service aces – SPU 2 (Hannan Lautenbach 1, Amanda Ganete 1), UCSD 2 (2 players with 1).
Kills – SPU 47 (Gabby Oddo 16, Colleen Hannigan 10), UCSD 62 (Meagan Wright 22).
Assists – SPU 45 (Symone Tran 43), UCSD 59 (Marie Paris 54).
Digs – SPU 75 (Amanda Ganete 22, Oddo 21, Tran 13), UCSD 87 (Wright 19).
Block assists / solo – SPU 14 / 1 solo (Shaun Crespi 5 / 1 solo), UCSD 8 / 3 solo (Jessica Rieble 3 / 3 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 47-27-175--.114 (Oddo 16-4-48--.250), UCSD 62-30-180--.178 (Rebecca Seaberry 11-2-21--.429).
Attendance – 60.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 1-3, UC San Diego 2-2.
 
Next match
Seattle Pacific vs. Humboldt State at D2 West Region Showcase
Thursday, Sept. 8, 2:00 p.m.
Torodome / Carson, Calif.