Box score, play-by-play (HTML)
 
BELLINGHAM, Wash. – They didn't like the way the first half of the conference schedule ended on Saturday night. That said, the Seattle Pacific Falcons are eager to get started with the second half.
 
Gabby Oddo had nine kills, and Hannah Lautenbach had eight – including the 800th of her SPU career – but No. 11-ranked Western Washington swept past the Falcons in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match in newly renovated Carver Gymnasium.
 
Game scores were 25-17, 25-19, 25-20.
 
The Falcons (10-8 overall) completed the first half of GNAC play at 5-5. That included come-from-behind five-game wins against Alaska Fairbanks, Saint Martin's, and Montana State Billings, and taking preseason favorite Northwest Nazarene to the five-game limit before falling short.
"It's good to finally see everybody and see how we need to be competitive," head coach Abbie Wright said. "A couple games swing a different way, and we're not 5-5. I'm proud of our girls. They've grown a bunch through our first 10 matches
 
Added senior defensive / serving specialist Sophie Kuehl, "I think it makes us even more excited. The losses we got, like tonight, we're motivated to see Western again and to see Anchorage. … We're learning, and we're still young, but we're excited.".
 




Senior middle blocker / opposite Lautenbach (Portland, Ore.) came in with 797 kills. For the night, she had 10 total points, with a service ace and two block assists added to her eight kills, leaving her just 2 ½ points away from 1,000.
 
Western (15-2, 9-1 GNAC) bolted to a four-point lead early in the opening game, and never let the Falcons (10-8, 5-5 GNAC) get closer than three.
 
SPU then put together a productive stretch midway through Game 2, and twice built four-point advantages, the last time at 18-14.
 
But from there, the Vikings racked up eight straight points, the last seven of those with Brette Boesel serving. That put WWU up 22-18. The Falcons got one more point, that one off a kill by Lautenbach, before Western scored the final three of the game.
 
Western again started fast in the third game, going up 10-3. Seattle Pacific cut it all the way down to two at 20-18, then 21-19, but got just one more point off Western Washington the rest of the way.

 

"They play fast volleyball, they work hard, and they're coached well. So when you show up, can you play aggressive?" Wright said. "At times, we showed we were the better team, but we couldn't sustain it for long periods of time. When we were aggressive and serving tough, it was a good match.
 
"They make you rise to the occasion," Wright added. "Tonight, we just fell a little bit short."
 
Senior outside hitter Colleen Hannigan (Brentwood, Calif.) is looking forward to another crack at the Vikings during the second half of the GNAC docket.
 
"They're a great team, and we definitely respect them as an opponent," Hannigan said. "We need to think higher our ourselves and come out stronger. I know we can compete with a team like that – we definitely can. Hopefully, we can show that in the second half of the season."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Western hit .231 for the match. The Falcons finished at just .107.
-- In addition to her 29 assists, junior setter Symone Tran (Portland, Ore.) extended her streak of error-free hitting matches to six, this one with two kills on three attacks. For the season, she has 13 matches without an attack error.
-- Western had just one more kill than Seattle Pacific (38-37). But it had a huge advantage on block points – 13 to 4.
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific begins the second half of the conference schedule at home this coming week when the Alaska schools come to Brougham Pavilion. Anchorage is in town on Thursday, followed by Fairbanks next Saturday, both at 7:00 p.m. The Falcons dropped a four-gamer at Anchorage in September, but scored a five-game victory at UAF after dropping the first two games.

 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017
Carver Gymnasium / Bellingham, Wash.
 
(No. 11) Western Washington 3, Seattle Pacific 0
 
Game scores – 25-17, 25-19, 25-20.
 
Service aces – SPU 2 (2 players with 1), WWU 7 (Brette Boesel 4).
Kills – SPU 37 (Gabby Oddo 9), WWU 38 (Abby Phelps 14).
Assists – SPU 35 (Symone Tran 29), WWU 38 (Boesel 33).
Digs – SPU 52 (Sophie Kuehl 11, Mallie Donohoe 11), WWU 53 (Joellee Buckner 17)/
Block assists / solo – SPU 8 / 0 solo (Hannah Lautenbach, Shaun Crespi and Gabi Stegemoller all 2 / 0 solo), WWU 26 / 0 solo (Joslyn Bopray 10 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 37-24-122--.107 (Symone Tran 2-0-3--.667), WWU 38-13-108--.231 (Phelps 14-1-30--.433).
Attendance – 762.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 10-8, 5-5 GNAC. Western Washington 15-2, 9-1 GNAC.
 
 
Next match
Alaska Anchorage at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Oct. 19     7:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.