Box score, play-by-play (HTML)
 
SEATTLE – Halfway through a homestand, the Seattle Pacific Falcons are coming closer to even keel.
 
Jaeden Hooker, Gabby Oddo, and Hailey Gaines all had double-digit kills on Saturday, and SPU hung on through a close third game to polish off a sweep of Concordia-Portland in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match.
 
Scores in Brougham Pavilion were 25-14, 25-20, 25-23.
 
The Falcons (5-6, 3-1 GNAC) have won three straight matches and nine straight games, dating back to last Saturday's four-game win at Simon Fraser. They dealt Concordia (6-5, 3-1) its first conference loss of the season and halted a four-match Cavaliers winning streak.
 
 

"We're just finding our rhythm and getting better at playing together as a group," SPU head coach Abbie Wright said. "It was another night of doing our roles really well to find what our identity is going to be, win or lose. Our serving was really good, and we got them out of system a lot.
 
"I was really proud of us being really diligent in controlling the things we can control."
 
Junior outside hitter Hooker had 11 kills on 30 attacks, the second time during the current winning streak that she has been in double digits. Junior outside hitter Oddo and redshirt senior opposite Gaines had 10 kills apiece.
 
Senior middle blocker Shaun Crespi delivered nine kills, four block assists, and hit .368. Senior setter Symone Tran recorded her sixth double-double of the season and 51^st of her career, coming up with 34 assists and 13 digs.
 




Up 12-11 in the opening game, Seattle Pacific put together an 8-0 scoring run, the last seven of those with Gaines serving. The stretch included back-to-back kills from Hooker, and was capped by two consecutive aces for Gaines.
 
The Falcons had a pair of three-point bursts to secure Game 2. The first one snapped an 18-18 tie on kills by Gaines and Hooker, and a combined block by Gaines and Gabi Stegemoller. The second one, with a Cavaliers service error, a Gaines ace, and a combined block by Crespi and Tran, put points 23, 24, and 25 on the board.
 
SPU had control of Game 3 with an 18-12 lead when Concordia started chipping away. The margin slipped all the way down to one at 24-23 after the Cavs fought off match points at 24-21 and 24-22. A kill by Hooker finally sealed it.
 
"It's good to enjoy it, and it's good to look back on what has gone right," Wright said of the three straight W's. "But we can't be complacent, either. We need to be able to pull what we need from it and have a short-term memory – because it doesn't get any easier from here."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Seattle Pacific had a pair of three-match winning streaks last season.
-- For the second straight match, the Falcons kept their opponent below .100 hitting. The Cavaliers finished at .051 (27 kills-21 errors-117 attacks). On Thursday, SPU limited Western Oregon to .034 hitting and 24 kills.
-- Seattle Pacific hit .195 for the day (44-19-128). Along with Shaun Crespi's .368, Symone Tran hit an error-free .400 with two kills on five attacks.
 

--Once again, the Falcons were big on the block, with 16 total. Hailey Gaines matched Crespi with four block assists, and in the process pushed her career total past 100 total blocks. She now has 103.
-- Gaines also sent five of SPU's seven service aces over the net. That gives her 13 for the season.
-- Amanda Ganete's 14 digs led the way for SPU. With another 36, she will move into the No. 5 all-time spot on the career digs list.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons play two more at home this coming week. Saint Martin's is in town on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m., then Montana State Billings comes to Brougham on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The match against the Yellowjackets will be part of the freshman welcoming activities set for next week across campus.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, September 15, 2018
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Concordia-Portland 0
 
Game scores – 25-14, 25-20, 25-23.
 
Service aces – CU 3 (3 players with 1), SPU 7 (Hailey Gaines 5).
Kills – CU 27 (Livia Strandberg 10), SPU 44 (Jaeden Hooker 11, Gabby Oddo 10, Hailey Gaines 10).
Assists – CU 25 (Emily Zink 10), SPU 43 (Symone Tran 34).
Digs – CU 57 (Callie Wilkins 18), SPU 60 (Amanda Ganete 14, Tran 13, Mallie Donohoe 13).
Block assists / solo – CU 8 / 0 solo (Elyssa Rose 3 / 0 solo), SPU 15 / 1 solo (Gaines 4 / 0 solo, Crespi 4 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – CU 27-21-117—.051 (Rose 5-1-12—.333), SPU 44-19-128—.195 (Tran 2-0-5—.400, Crespi 9-2-19—.368).
Attendance – 150.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 5-6, 3-1 GNAC.  Concordia-Portland 6-5, 3-1 GNAC.
 
 
Next match
Saint Martin's at Seattle Pacific
Tuesday, Sept. 18     7:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion