Box score (PDF)
 
POMONA, Calif. – This one came down to defense – and on that count, the Seattle Pacific Falcons came up big.
 
SPU scored 15 points on blocks Saturday afternoon, and, after five tries at match point, finally converted on the sixth to close out a four-game victory against Chaminade at the D2 West Region Showcase volleyball tournament.
 
Scores in Kellogg Arena on the Cal Poly Pomona campus were 26-24, 19-25, 27-25, 30-28.
 
The Silverswords (5-2) have been a thorn for Seattle Pacific recently, winning the last three matches. But this one went into the win column for the Falcons (3-5), thanks in no small part to 30 block assists – seven each for junior middle Gabi Stegemoller, sophomore outside hitter Erin Gould, and freshman middle Delaney Dunham.
 
 

"We talked about getting our hands up fast and over and being a presence up front," Falcons head coach Abbie Wright said. "There were areas we were trying to block and trying to funnel the ball, and the kids did that really well. The cool part about that is we had just 30 or 40 minute to go over film – it was our last scouting report of the tournament. We homed in on the game and played really well."
 
Junior opposite / outside hitter and All-Tournament selection Maddie Batiste, who set a career high with 20 kills in Friday's four-game loss to Hawaii Hilo, had 20 more on Saturday, along with 11 digs for her seventh double-double of the year.
 
Senior outside hitter Gabby Oddo logged her fifth double-double of the year with 12 kills and 18 digs. Senior libero Mallie Donohoe recorded a career-high 22 digs.
 
All three of SPU's victories this season have come against teams that played in the 2018 NCAA West Regional Tournament: last week against Cal State East Bay at the Seaside Invitational, and this week against Cal Poly Pomona and Chaminade in Pomona.
 
CPP and Chaminade, while not in this week's national top 25, both received votes, with the Broncos at No. 27 overall and the Silverswords at No. 31.
 
"Chaminade is a quality team. They're very well coached," Wright said. "I think it showed a lot of heart with our team. They played and played hard and gave it a lot of effort, and that's really exciting to see for them. It was kind of our first match where I really felt like we were in a rhythm and played confidently."
 
BIG MO WOULD COME AND GO
The entirety of Saturday's match – all two hours and seven minutes of it – was a never-ending roller coaster ride of momentum and emotion.
 
--The Falcons fought off a game point in the opener, scoring the last three points – one of them on a combined block by Stegemoller and Dunham – to win, 26-24.
-- Chaminade went on a 16-0 scoring run in Game 2, turning a 14-5 deficit in to a 21-14 lead on the way to a 25-19 win to level the match at a game apiece.
-- SPU faced triple game point in the third, down 24-21. But it got six of the last seven – three on blocks – to pull it out, 27-25.
 
Then came Game 4, with 15 ties and seven lead changes.
 
Down 20-19, the Falcons ran off three straight points to go up, 22-20. Chaminade (5-2) got one back, then a kill by Batiste and a combined block by Dunham and Batiste gave Seattle Pacific triple match point at 24-21.
 
Given the way the match was going, the Silverswords were bound to bounce back – and they did, running off four straight to give themselves a game point at 25-24. A kill by Dunham got it back to 25-25. Chaminade went up again, 26-25, but Batiste and Dunham save that with a combined block.
 
SPU got match point No. 4 at 27-26, which the Silverswords saved with a kill. The fifth try came at 28-27, only to be negated by a serve into the net.
 
Stegemoller and senior outside hitter Jaeden Hooker teamed up on a block for a 29-28 lead, giving the Falcons their sixth match point. Stegemoller converted this one with a kill that deflected off a Chaminade player.
 
"I was just staying aggressive and then swing away," Stegemoller said. "It was a super-intense game. Everyone just rose to the occasion and played aggressive and stayed disciplined and was going for it. That's when we're at our best."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- SPU hit .179 for the match, and Chaminade finished at .193.

-- The seven block assists for Erin Gould and Delaney Dunham were both career highs. Dunham's previous best was five, which she had in two matches this season, and Gould's previous best was four – that coming in Friday's match against Hawaii Hilo.
-- Last season, the most points SPU had on blocks was 14, which it hit in three matches.
-- In the seven matches prior to this one, the most points the Falcons had on block was nine on Friday against Hilo.
-- Of the 10 Falcons who played on Saturday, seven had at least one block assist.
-- While SPU got 15 points in that department, Chaminade had just four. The Silverswords kept themselves in it with nine more kills, 64-55.
-- Gabi Stegemoller had seven kills to go along with her seven blocks and hit .300 for the day with just one error on 20 attacks.
-- Maddie Batiste hit .218 for the day (20-8-55), her third straight match in the 200s.
 
UP NEXT
SPU begins its Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule at home in Brougham Pavilion next Thursday against Alaska Anchorage at 7:00 p.m.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
D2 West Region Showcase
Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019
Kellogg Arena / Pomona, Calif.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Chaminade 1
 
Game scores – 26-24, 19-25, 27-25, 30-28.
 
Service aces – SPU 9 (Donohoe 2), CUH 9 (Tecklenburg 4).
Kills – SPU 55 (Batiste 20, Oddo 12), CUH 64 (Reedy 17, Tecklenburg 14).
Assists – SPU 49 (Alicuben 26), CUH 61 (Wiley 31).
Digs – SPU 77 (Donohoe 22, Oddo 18, Batiste 11), CUIH 86 (Kiner-Falifa 25).
Block assists / solo – SPU 30 / 0 solo (Stegemoller 7 / 0 solo, Gould 7 / 0 solo, Dunham 7 / 0 solo), CUH 6 / 1 solo (Saulala 2 / 0 solo, Reedy 2 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – CUH 64-29-181—193 (Reedy 17-3-42—333), SPU 55-23-179—179 (Stegemiller 7-1-20—300).
Attendance – 62.
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 3-5.   Chaminade 5-2.
 
Next match
Alaska Anchorage at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Sept. 19 / 7:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.