Box score, play-by-play

ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Seattle Pacific Falcons managed two big comebacks. Then, Metro State managed an even bigger one on Saturday.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Maddie Batiste logged the first double-double of her career, but SPU, despite winning the first two games, could not fend off Metro the rest of the way, as the Roadrunners rallied for a five-game victory in the Falcon-Wildcat Invitational volleyball tournament.
 
Scores in Nicholson Pavilion at Central Washington University were 24-26, 25-27, 25-12, 25-20, 15-7.

 

"It's obviously tough, but that's competition," Falcons head coach Abbie Wright said. "We'll learn from it. This exposed some weaknesses of ours, and that's good because we have a tough tournament next week, so it's finding out how to fix some of that stuff before then."
 
Batiste (Portland, Ore.) had 13 kills and 19 digs, both of which were easily career highs. Her previous bests were four kills and fur digs, both of those last season. Batiste had just four errors on 58 attacks. Her previous high for attacks was 18.
 
"Maddie is a powerful hitter, and it's good seeing her full game come together – passing and digging, and all of that," Wright said. "It's cool to see that match the arm that she has, and all that hard work in the back row that she has been doing."
 
The Falcons (1-2) were in comeback mode most of the afternoon – including the first two games.
 
Down 22-15 and then 24-21 in Game 1, SPU stormed back to score the last five points. A Metro State attack error made it 24-22, and gave the serve to Symone Tran. Another attack error cut it to 24-23, then Batiste hammered a kill that kissed the baseline for a 24-24 tie. Hailey Gaines and Shaun Crespi combined for a block and a 25-24 lead. Gaines then had a kill that the Roadrunners dug into the net for the final point.
 
 

The Falcons were up 17-12 in the second game, then Metro State climbed back in and gradually forged in front, 25-24. This time, SPU put the last three points on the board: a kill by Gaines for a 25-25 tie, then back-to-back kills by Batiste: one down the line, and then one that the Roadrunners blocked out of bounds.
 
Denver's Metro State (2-2), an NCAA South Central Region semifinalist last year, built a 10-4 lead in Game 3, and SPU never got closer than three. At 14-10, the Roadrunners rang up 11 of the final 13 points for the 25-12 win.
 
"That third game, when you lose by a lot, it's a mental hurdle to overcome after you fought back in the first two games and played really well," Wright said. "That game took the wind out of our sails, and it was hard to recover
 
Metro went up 16-7 in the fourth game, never letting the Falcons get closer than three.
 
In the deciding Game 5, SPU fell into a 5-0 hole. The Roadrunners were up 8-4 when the teams changed sides, and built it to 12-5, and took it in from there.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- This was Seattle Pacific's first five-gamer of the season. Last year, the Falcons went 7-5 in matches that went the limit.
-- Gabby Oddo and Symone Tran joined Batiste in the double-double department. Junior outside hitter Oddo had 13 kills and 17 digs. Senior setter Tran recorded 39 assists and 20 digs.
-- Metro State had just eight more attacks than SPU (194-186), but finished with 18 more kills (68-50). The Falcons finished at just .086 hitting; Metro hit .242.
-- Shaun Crespi put her 500^th career kill onto the floor on Saturday. She now has 501.
-- Amanda Ganete moved past 1,200 career digs. Her 16 on Saturday put her at 1,209.
-- Tran had 102 assists through the three matches this weekend. That gives her 3,195.
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific travels to California next weekend for the D2 West Region Showcase at Fresno Pacific. On Friday, the Falcons play Chico State at 1:00 p.m. and Chaminade at 7:45. On Saturday, it's host FPU at 1:00 p.m. and then UC San Diego at 5:30.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Falcon-Wildcat Invitational
Saturday, Aug. 25, 2018
Nicholson Pavilion / Ellensburg, Wash.
 
Metro State 3, Seattle Pacific 2
Game scores – 24-26, 25-27, 25-12, 25-20, 15-7.
 
Service aces – Metro 6 (Banda 2, Hebert 2), SPU 5 (5 players with 1).
Kills – Metro 68 (Sturges 22), SPU 50 (Oddo 13, Batiste 13).
Assists – Metro 63 (Weatherwax 40), SPU 46 (Tran 39).
Digs – Metro 92 (Hebert 30), SPU 89 (Tran 20, Batiste 19, Oddo 17).
Block assists / solo – Metro 10 / 0 solo (Laraway 4 / 0 solo), SPU 12 / 2 solo (Gaines 5 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – Metro 58-21-194—242 (Laraway 13-1-25—480), SPU 50-34-186—086 (Stegemoller 8-3-24--.208).
Attendance – 69.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 1-2.  Metro State 2-2.
 
 
Next match
Seattle Pacific vs. Chico State, Aug. 31, 1:00 p.m. (at Fresno Pacific).