Box score, play-by-play (HTML)
 
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The volleyball to-do list for Shaun Crespi, Amanda Ganete, and Symone Tran now has another item checked off.
 
After four years of coming up short, the three seniors finally have a victory against Alaska Anchorage.
 
Tran had 53 assists to become just the second SPU player with 4,000, Ganete came up with 25 digs, and Crespi had eight kills – including the match-clincher on Thursday night – as the Falcons knocked off the Seawolves in a five-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference match.
 
Scores in the Alaska Airlines Center were 25-15, 15-25, 25-15, 18-25, 15-11.

Gabby Oddo led Seattle Pacific with 18 kills and made it a double-double with 16 digs. Redshirt senior opposite Hailey Gaines added 12 kills, and Maddie Batiste had 11.
 
The Falcons had lost 11 straight to the Seawolves. Their last victory against them was a four-gamer in Anchorage on Nov. 10, 2012 – when Crespi, Ganete, and Tran were all sophomores in high school.
 
Twice since those three came aboard as freshmen in 2015, Seattle Pacific has gone to five games against the Seawolves, both of those at home in Brougham Pavilion. That included this season's match on Oct. 6 when SPU won the first two games, only to see Alaska Anchorage come back and take the final three.
 
But in Thursday's match of wild momentum swings, the Falcons (11-13, 9-8 GNAC) had the last word.
 
 

"I told them before the match how this is one of my favorite matches of the year," head coach Abbie Wright said. "It's such a fun environment to play in. We get to come and take advantage of the challenge and the opportunity, and look at it as an opportunity instead of as a roadblock."
 
SPU scored the first four points of the deciding fifth game, never trailed, and was never tied.
 
Anchorage (19-6, 12-5 GNAC) got as close as one at 7-6. But the Falcons scored five of the next six points for a 12-7 advantage, and weren't threatened again.
 
"We got a sideout right away and mentally buckled down," Wright said. "Every time we were on serve receive, we got out of it right away in Game 5, and that was a big contributing factor. The games we lost, we couldn't get out of a couple rotations fast enough."
 
But then, it was that kind of a night for both teams.
 
In the opening game, Seattle Pacific had a 10-9 lead when it put eight straight points on the board, the last seven of those with Tran serving for a 17-9 lead.
 
The Seawolves scored the first five points of Game 2, saw the Falcons get within 12-8, then rang up six in a row for an 18-8 advantage.
 
SPU raced to an 8-1 lead in Game 3 and stayed comfortably ahead the entire time. Then in Game 4, the Falcons were up 17-15. UAA responded with nine straight points to make it 24-17, then split the last two points to force Game 5.
 
"The big momentum shifts helped us a little bit," Wright said. "Last time, we came out really strong (by winning the first two games), but it was hard to sustain. This time, we knew what going five games with them looked like, and mentally, we knew how to prepare for them a little better."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- With her 53 assists on Thursday, Tran has 4,006. She needs just four more to break the school record of 4,009 set by Jenna Von Moos from 2003-06.
-- Ganete's 25 digs moved her up into the No. 2 spot on the program's career list in that department. She now has 1,582, and passing Brianna Leenders, who had 1,570 from 2011-14.
-- Crespi had four total blocks, climbing into a tie for No. 4 on the career with Nikki Lowell. Both of them have 419. Crespi is just three away from matching Ali Lindberg's total of 422.
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific winds up its 2018 road schedule on Saturday at Alaska Fairbanks, with the opening serve at 8:00 p.m. Pacific time. The Falcons fell in five games to the Nanooks on Oct. 4 in Seattle. Fairbanks swept Saint Martin's on Thursday.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018
Alaska Airlines Center / Anchorage, Alaska
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Alaska Anchorage 2
 
Game scores -- 25-15, 15-25, 25-15, 18-25, 15-11.
 
Service aces -- SPU 5 (Amanda Ganete 2), UAA 5 (Ellen Floyd 3).
Kills -- SPU 63 (Gabby Oddo 18), UAA 46 (Vanessa Boyer 16).
Assists -- SPU 58 (Symone Tran 53), UAA 46 (Floyd 39).
Digs -- SPU 70 (Ganete 25), UAA 61 (Taylor Noga 18).
Block assists / solo -- SPU 16 / 0 solo (Tran, Shaun Crespi, Gabi Stegemoller all 4 / 0 solo), UAA 16 / 0 solo (Vera Pluharova 6 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) -- SPU 63-28-157--.223 (Crespi 8-2-15--.400), UAA 46-21-149--.168 (Tara Melton 10-3-22--.318).
Attendance -- 1,551.
 
Records -- Seattle Pacific 11-13, 9-8 GNAC.   Alaska Anchorage 19-6, 12-5 GNAC.
 
 
Next match
Seattle Pacific at Alaska Fairbanks
Saturday, 8:00 p.m. PDT
The Patty Center  / Fairbanks, Alaska