Box score, play-by-play (HTML)
 
MONMOUTH, Ore. – It wasn't the kill that set a school record.
 
But it was the kill that won the match – and for Gabby Oddo, that's the one that counted the most.
 
 

Oddo tied her career high with 23 kills and in the process surpassed the program record for most in a season by a Seattle Pacific sophomore, and Symone Tran racked up her 3,000^th career assist on Thursday night as the Falcons beat Western Oregon in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball contest.
 
Scores in the New P.E. Building were 25-21, 18-25, 25-21, 23-25, 15-11.
 
The win guaranteed SPU (14-13, 9-10 GNAC) at least a .500 season for the first time since 2013.
 
Outside hitter Oddo came in needing 18 kills to beat the SPU sophomore season record of 381, set by Alyssa Given in 2005. She now has 387 for the year and 629 for her career. Given still owns the all-time career record of 1,454.

 

Junior setter Tran was just six assists away from 3,000. She breezed past that by the middle of the first game, finishing the night with 58, a total she has reached three times previously. Tran now has 3,052 for her career, and is just 21 shy from a spot in SPU's all-time top 5.
 
With a 2-to-1 lead in games, the Falcons built several six-point leads in Game 4, the last of them at 12-6. It was still 15-10 for SPU when Western Oregon (6-20, 2-17 GNAC) came to life, running off five straight to tie it at 15-15. The Wolves scored two straight to snap a 19-19 tie and stayed ahead the rest of the way to force Game 5.
 
Down 6-3 in the deciding game, SPU called timeout, and promptly strung together a 6-1 run. That included four in a row to go from 7-5 down to 9-7 ahead.

 

"We talked about just putting pressure on attacking the pin down the line and finding areas where maybe they were more exposed with our lineup and how we were matching up," head coach Abbie Wright said of the team's timeout talk. "We just wanted to keep our focus on the other side and not worry about emotion.
 
"We got aggressive right after that, our serving picked up, and that allowed us to be ahead at the switch."
 
Western Oregon eventually climbed back into a 9-9 tie. But the Falcons then took charge for good with four straight points.
 
Junior middle blocker Shaun Crespi had a hand in the last three of those on back-to-back-to-back combined blocks: the first two with Tran, the last one with Oddo. That produced a 13-9 lead, and the teams traded the next four points, with Oddo's final kill clinching it.
 
"We were tentative at some points tonight," Wright said. "But once we decided to be aggressive, I commended us for taking some risks at the times when it mattered."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Seattle Pacific hit .195 for the match. Western Oregon hit .155.
-- The win gave the Falcons a series sweep, their fourth of the season in GNAC play.
-- Oddo made it a double-double by coming up with 17 digs to go along with her 23 kills. That was her eighth of the season and 21st of her career.
-- Senior Hannah Lautenbach also double-doubled, with 16 kills and 12 digs. She is just nine digs away from 1,000 for her career. She has 15 double-doubles for the season and 25 for her career.
-- In addition to her 16 kills, Lautenbach had three block assists, for a total of 17.5 points. That moved her past Madi Cavell (2011-14) into No. 9 on the program's all-time points list.
-- Crespi finished with a season-high 14 kills.
-- Junior libero Amanda Ganete came within one of her career high for digs, finishing with 34.
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific concludes its season on Saturday at Concordia-Portland at 7:00 p.m. The Cavaliers beat the Falcons in the GNAC opener in Seattle, 25-23, 25-17, 21-25, 25-13, on Sept. 14.


NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017
New P.E. Building / Monmouth, Ore.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Western Oregon 2
 
Game scores – 25-21, 18-25, 25-21, 23-25, 15-11.
 
Service aces – SPU 4 (Gabby Oddo 3), WOU 5 (Libbie Hoene 2).
Kills – SPU 66 (Oddo 23, Hannah Lautenbach 16, Shaun Crespi 14), WOU 55 (Mariella Vandenkooy 17).
Assists – SPU 62 (Symone Tran 58), WOU 53 (Leila Holt 50).
Digs – SPU 85 (Amanda Ganete 34, Oddo 17, Lautenbach 12, Donohoe 11), WOU 97 (Hoene 23).
Block assists / solo—SPU 20 / 0 solo (Crespi 7 / 0 solo), WOU 22 / 1 solo (Marlie Norman 7 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 66-27-200--.195 (Crespi 14-5-38--.237), WOU 55-27-181--.155 (Norman 4-1-8--.375).
Attendance – 143.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 14-13, 9-10 GNAC.   Western Oregon 6-20, 2-17 GNAC.
 
 
Next match
Seattle Pacific at Concordia-Portland
Saturday, 7:00 p.m.
LCEF Court / Portland, Ore.