Box score, play-by-play (HTML)
 
SEATTLE – Gabby Oddo and Symone Tran started the season with double-doubles, and Hailey Gaines delivered seven of Seattle Pacific's 17 service aces on Friday morning in a four-game season-opening victory against Fresno Pacific at the Falcon-Wildcat Invitational.
 
Scores in Brougham Pavilion were 24-26, 25-13, 25-17, 28-26.
 
The 17 aces came within one of the school single-match record of 18, set on Oct. 21, 1993, against Montana State Billings. Last year, the most SPU had in any match was 11.
 
Junior outside hitter Oddo (Alta Loma, Calif.) slammed 19 kills and came up with 12 digs. She hit. 273 for the match, added three aces and four block assists.
 
Senior setter Tran (Portland, Ore.) recorded 38 assists and 19 digs, and added four aces.

 

Gaines (Mission Viejo, Calif.), a grad student who transferred to SPU this year after playing previously at Concordia Irvine, had more aces in Friday's match than she had in her entire career with the Eagles. In three seasons there, she totaled six. She also logged five kills and two blocks on Friday.
 
Senior libero Amanda Ganete (Hillsboro, Ore.) led the way with 21 digs.
 
The Falcons had a 21-17 lead in Game 1, and also had a game point and the serve at 24-23. But Fresno Pacific (0-1) put the last three points on the board.
 
Seattle Pacific took charge of Game 2 early, running off six straight points for a 6-1 advantage. Another six-point surge built the lead to 14-5.
 
Down 12-11 in the third game, the Falcons ran off seven points in a row, six of those with Tran serving. Her first three serves of that rotation all went for aces.
 
 

The Sunbirds led for most of Game 4, and had a chance to force a deciding fifth game with a 24-23 lead. A kill by senior middle blocker Shaun Crespi (Camarillo, Calif.) tied it at 24-24, and SPU gained a match point at 25-24 on a tip by Crespi.
 
Fresno fought that off and eventually went up, 26-25. A kill by Oddo tied at 26-26, and a double-hit call on FPU gave Seattle Pacific a 27-26 lead and a second try at match point. Oddo ended it with a serve that the Sunbirds dug up, but ultimately could not get back over the net.
 
SPU hit a solid .243 for the match (51 kills, just 16 errors on 144 attacks). In addition to Oddo's .273 (19-4-55), Crespi hit .292 (12-5-24), and junior outside hitter Jaeden Hooker was at .261 (8-2-23).
 
The Falcons return to action later today, facing No. 11-ranked Cal State San Bernardino at 7:30 p.m. in Brougham.

This story will be updated following the match against San Bernardino.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Falcon-Wildcat Invitational
Friday, Aug. 23, 2018
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Fresno Pacific 1
 
Game scores – 24-26, 25-13, 25-17, 28-26.
 
Service aces – FPU 6 (Dobenecker 2), SPU 17 (Gaines 7).
Kills – FPU 50 (Bodziak 12), SPU 51 (Oddo 19, Crespi 12).
Assists – FPU 48 (Dobenecker 33), SPU 47 (Tran 38).
Digs – FPU 71 (Dobenecker 15), SPU 63 (Ganete 21, Tran 19, Oddo 12).
Block assists / solo – FPU 4 / 0 solo (Kennedy 2 / 0 solo), SPU 14 / 1 solo (Oddo 4 / 0 solo, Crespi 4 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – FPU 50-22-149--.188 (Bock 10-3-21—.333), SPU 51-16-144--.243 (Crespi 12-5-24—.292).
Attendance – 39.
 
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 1-0. Fresno Pacific 0-1.