Box score (PDF) 

SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific Falcons stepped up their game on Saturday. Alaska Fairbanks, however, stepped up just a bit more.
 
The Nanooks fought off a Falcons comeback in Game 1, ran off the last 11 points of Game 2, then put together a decisive 7-2 surge in Game 3 to finish off a sweep in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match.
 
Scores in Brougham Pavilion were 28-26, 25-21, 25-22.
 
Senior outside hitter Gabby Oddo and junior outside / opposite Maddie Batiste each logged double-doubles for the Falcons: 12 kills and 13 digs for Oddo for her sixth of the year; 11 kills and 10 digs for Batiste for her eighth.
 
SPU coach Abbie Wright was hoping for some considerably improved play than her team had in Thursday night's three-game sweep by Alaska Anchorage. The Falcons (3-7, 0-2 GNAC) hit just .052 in that one with 34 errors on the attack and the serve combined
 
On Saturday, they had 11 more kills, 10 fewer total errors, and hit 85 points better (.137) on Iron Coaching Court.
 
"I felt there were a lot of points in the match where we were on offense and really had control as far as the tempo," Wright said. "I could tell we were running our system and trusting our offense. Our setters were moving the ball around really well, our hitters had some great looks, and we ran the middle well. We cut down on our errors, and we improved from Thursday."
 
Trailing for most of the opening game, SPU found itself down 24-19, but climbed all the way back to 24-24 with freshman Lindsey Lambert on the serve. Batiste had two of those points on kills, and sophomore Erin Gould factored into two points, one on a kill, one on a combined block with Gabi Stegemoller.
 
Fairbanks (5-5, 2-0 GNAC) got leads at 25-24 and 26-25 – only to see the Falcons tie it again – then put the last two points on the board.
 
Seattle Pacific was up 21-14 in the second game. That's when the Nanooks came to life with 11 straight points, the last 10 of those with setter Cate Whiting serving. It was five kills, two service aces, a block, and three Falcon attack errors that took them from 21-14 down to the 25-21 win
 
SPU had a 17-16 lead in the Game 3. Fairbanks won a very long rally with a kill by Markie Miller for 17-17, then tacked on four more points in a row for 21-17. The closest SPU came was  two at 24-22 after being down 24-20.
 
 "It's just a learning experience," Wright said. "We had some breakdowns at the wrong times. There's just some stuff where we have to tighten up. But we had some great stretches where we played well."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- While Seattle Pacific hit .137 for the match, Alaska Fairbanks checked in at .202 (45 kills-19 errors-129 attacks).
-- Gabby Oddo, with 1,119 career kills, is now 16 away from No. 4 on SPU's career list. That spot belongs to Stephanie Huffman with 1,135 from 1997-2000.
-- Taylor Alicuben had 12 assists, pushing her past 700 for her career. She now has 705.
-- Senior libero Mallie Donohoe led the way in digs again, this time with 19. Freshman Lindsey Lambert was tops in assists with 21.
-- After just one point on blocks against Anchorage, the Falcons were back up to six against Fairbanks. Freshman Delaney Dunham led with four block assists.
-- Lahra Weber (12), Kim Wong (11) and AveRee Reynolds (10) all had double-digit kills for Fairbanks. Wong hit .500 (11-2-18)
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons head out for their first conference road trip this coming week. First stop is Ellensburg for a match against GNAC preseason co-favorite Central Washington at 7:00 p.m. in Nicholson Pavilion. Then it's on to Idaho for Saturday's match against Northwest Nazarene in Nampa. That one begins at noon Pacific time.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, Sept. 21, 2019
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Alaska Fairbanks 3, Seattle Pacific 0
 
Service aces – UAF 8 (Whiting 4), SPU 2 (Oddo 1, Lambert 1).
Kills – UAF 45 (Weber 12), SPU 40 (Oddo 12, Batiste 11).
Assists – UAF 42 (Whiting 36), SPU 38 (Lambert 21, Alicuben 12).
Digs – UAF 72 (Overbey 20), SPU 60 (Donohoe 19, Oddo 13, Batiste 10).
Block assists / solo – UAF 16 / 2 solo (Moorhead 5 / 0 solo, Reynolds 3 / 2 solo), SPU 12 / 0 solo (Dunham 4 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – UAF 45-19-129—202 (Wong 11-2-18—500), SPU 40-21-129—137 (Gould 6-2-14—286).
Attendance – 103.
 
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 3-7, 0-2 GNAC.   Alaska Fairbanks 5-5, 2-0 GNAC.
 
 
Next match
Seattle Pacific at Central Washington
Thursday, Sept. 26     7:00 p.m.
Nicholson Pavilion / Ellensburg, Wash.