Box score, play-by-play (HTML)
 
SEATTLE – Shaun Crespi has been waiting all season for a night like this.
 
It came at just the right time for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
Crespi had a rare kill-block double-double, and three of her teammates had double-doubles in other statistical categories on Tuesday night as SPU came from behind to beat Saint Martin's in a five-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match.
 
Scores in Brougham Pavilion were 25-16, 24-26, 19-25, 25-17, 15-7.
 
Junior middle blocker Crespi, who missed the first 10 matches of the year while recovering from an injury, finished with 11 kills and a career-high 12 total blocks. Of those, 11 were block assists, and one was a solo. She hit a solid .292 for the night (11 kills-4 errors-24 attacks).
 
The last time a Falcon logged a kill-block double-double was Oct. 25, 2008 when Robin DeJong had 11 kills and 10 total blocks (9 block assists / 1 solo) against Alaska Fairbanks in Brougham Pavilion.
 
"Shaun provides just a great presence at the net," head coach Abbie Wright said. "She's learning that the more effective she is, the better our hitters on the outside and right side can do."
 




Crespi saw some very limited action on last week's Alaska trip: three games of a 3-2 win at Fairbanks on Thursday, and one game of a 3-1 loss at Anchorage on Saturday.
 
On Tuesday, she was a fixture for all five.
 
"She has been through a lot with her injury, so to see her having fun was the biggest blessing that came out of it, "Wright said. "Not just the stats, but she was just enjoying the game."
 
Crespi certainly wasn't the only factor on the floor. Also double-doubling were sophomore outside hitter Gabby Oddo (20 kills-10 digs), senior middle blocker / opposite Hannah Lautenbach (14 kills-11 digs), and junior setter Symone Tran (54 assists-14 digs).
 
A FLYING START IN THE FIFTH
The Falcons (8-5, 3-2 GNAC) scored the first three points of the deciding fifth game on the way to an 8-1 lead at the changeover. Saint Martin's (6-7, 1-4 GNAC) got a couple of those back, then SPU ran off five more in a row to make it 13-3.
 
Even a mini rally by the Saints that cut it to 13-7 wasn't nearly enough. A Lautenbach kill set up match point at 14-7. Then, she and sophomore middle Nicole Tchabanov combined on a block to clinch it.
 
Although SPU beat the Saints for the 31st time – a streak that started in 2002 – this was just the third time it has gone all the way to five games.
 
Saint Martin's rallied from 23-20 down to take Tuesday's second game, 26-24, knotting it at one game apiece. The Saints then used a 6-0 run to go from 7-6 down to 12-7 up in Game 3, and led the rest of the way.
 
Needing to take Game 4 to stay alive, the Falcons ran off seven straight (the last six with junior libero Amanda Ganete serving) to snap an 11-11 tie and take command of Game 4.
 
"We're growing in every single match and learning how to win in different situations," said Wright, whose team improved to 5-1 in five-gamers. "This one just provided another situation to have to figure out. Tonight, our girls took it one play at a time and being confident when things weren't going their way."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
 

-- Symone Tran has double-doubled in all five GNAC matches.-- The Falcons finished with 18 total blocks – 32 block assists, plus two solos. In addition to 12 total blocks by Crespi, Lautenbach had eight and Nicole Tchabanov six.
-- The 20 kills by Oddo marked the second time in three matches she has been in that neighborhood. She slammed a career-high 22 last Thursday at Fairbanks.
-- Amanda Ganete led with 23 digs. Sophomore Mallie Donohoe came up with a career-high 17.
-- SPU hit .217 (67 kills-28 errors-180 attacks). That is the sixth time this season of .200 or better, matching the number of such performances from all of last year.
 
UP NEXT
A trip to Montana State Billings on Thursday winds up a stretch of four matches in eight days for Seattle Pacific. First serve is at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Saint Martin's 2
 
Game scores – 25-16, 24-26, 19-25, 25-17, 15-7.
 
Service aces – STM 1 (Jordan Keane 1), SPU 5 (Gabby Oddo 2).
Kills – STM 50 (Rebecca Mitchell 13), SPU 67 (Oddo 20, Hannah Lautenbach 14, Shaun Crespi 11).
Assists – STM 46 (Jordan Keane 27), SPU 62 (Symone Tran 54).
Digs – STM 75 (Hannah Neumann 22), SPU 87 (Amanda Ganete 23, Mallie Donohoe 17).
Block assists / solo – STM 22 / 2 solo (Kamille Langford 6 / 1 solo), SPU 32 / 2 solo (Crespi 11 / 1 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – STM 50-28-181--.122 (Emily Gooding 10-2-26--.308), SPU 67-28-180--.217 (Tran 4-0-7--.571, Crespi 11-4-24--.292).
Attendance – 214.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 8-5, 3-2 GNAC. Saint Martin's 6-7, 1-4 GNAC.
 
 
Next match
Seattle Pacific at Montana State Billings
Thursday, Sept. 28     6:00 p.m. PDT
Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.