Box score (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – Both teams took their turns riding the momentum. At the end of the afternoon, Simon Fraser had the last ride.
 
Maddie Batiste had the first 20-20 of her career – 22 kills, 20 digs, but Seattle Pacific fell short of the Clan in a five-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match on Saturday afternoon.
 
Scores in Brougham Pavilion were 23-25, 29-27, 25-23, 24-26, 15-11.
 
Batiste's previous high for kills was 20, a total she achieved three times, most recently in last Saturday's four-game win at Concordia-Portland. Her career high for digs was 19. She reached that twice, the last time on Oct. 24 in a home sweep of Northwest Nazarene.
 
 

Senior outside hitter Gabby Oddo and freshman setter Lindsey Lambert also double-doubled for SPU (11-13, 8-8 GNAC). Oddo had 16 kills and 14 digs; Lambert racked up a career-high 51 assists to go along with 10 digs.
 
In the deciding fifth game on Iron Coaching Court, the Falcons built a quick 4-1 lead. Simon Fraser (16-8, 12-4 GNAC) came back with five of the next six point to go up 6-5, was up 8-6 at the changeover, and extended it to 9-6.
 
SPU got within two on a Clan attack error, but never came any closer. The Falcons fended off match points at 14-9 on a kill by Batiste, and 14-10 on an Erin Gould service ace. But an attack error put the final point on Simon Fraser's side of the board.
 
"Simon Fraser is a good example of a team that responds really well," head coach Abbie Wright said. "They have found themselves in a lot of situations this year where they've been really gritty, they keep swinging away and their setter keeps dishing the ball. … It's knowing that you're going to go in (to the match), and it's going to be a long battle."
 
A 6-1 scoring run midway through the opening game took the Falcons from 11-9 down to 15-12 ahead. They had quadruple game point at 24-20, saw Simon Fraser get within 24-23, then closed it out on a Gould kill.
 
Seattle Pacific led through the first half of Game 2, once by as many as five points at 12-7. The Clan came back and had four tries at game point. The Falcons save all four, got a game point of their own at 27-26, but Simon Fraser tallied the last three to tie it at one game apiece.
 
After the Clan took Game 3, SPU went up 21-13 in Game 4. Again, the Clan stormed back with six straight points. It eventually got to 24-24, and that's when Batiste had back-to-back kills to put into SPU's column and bring in the deciding fifth game.
 
 

"It's just a couple of plays where we have to check in a little longer and really capitalize when we had some leads," Wright said. "When the match is tight and anything can happen, I think there were some times and some plays that we just didn't capitalize on, and that ended up hurting us later in the match.
 
Even so, Wright added, "We've had some adjustments that we've had to make to our lineup, and I'm really proud of how the team has responded. We had some people playing out of position, and I still think we looked really fluid in what we're doing."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Gabby Oddo's double-double was the 50^th of her career. She has 24 of those this season.
--Lindsey Lambert's 51 assists beat her previous high of 47. She had that total twice, most recently in the five-game win against Central Washington on Oct. 26.
--The Falcons hit .120 for the match, with 55 kills and 32 errors on 191 attacks. Simon Fraser was at .177 on 65-32-186.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons close out their home schedule with two matches this coming week. Saint Martin's is in town on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m., then it's Montana State Billings on Thursday. The finale against the Yellowjackets will be Senior Night in honor of Taylor Alicuben, Mallie Donohoe, Jaeden Hooker, and Gabby Oddo.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday Nov. 9, 2019
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.

Simon Fraser 3, Seattle Pacific 2
 
Game scores – 23-25, 29-27, 25-23, 24-26, 15-11.
 
Service aces – Simon 10 (De Beer 3, Tays 3), SPU 10 (Oddo 3, Lambert 3).
Kills – Simon 65 (DeBeer 25), SPU 55 (Batiste 22, Oddo 16).
Assists – Simon 60 (Tays 41), SPU 54 (Lambert 51).
Digs – Simon 93 (Tays 23), SPU 73 (Batiste 20, Donohoe 16, Oddo 14, Lambert 10).
Block assists / solo – Simon 16 / 0 solo (Hartmann 4 / 0 solo), SPU 20 / 0 solo (Gould 5 / 0 solo, Delaney 5 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – Simon 65-32-186—177 (Tays 6-1-12—417, Hartmann 14-4-32—312), SPU 55-32-191—120 (Batiste 22-11-57—193.
Attendance – 217.
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 11-13, 8-8 GNAC.   Simon Fraser 16-8, 12-4 GNAC.
 
Next match
Saint Martin's at Seattle Pacific
Tuesday, Nov. 12     7:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.