SPU-Cal State East Bay box score (PDF)
        SPU-Concordia Irvine box score (PDF)
 
SAN DIEGO – The first match of the year went fast. The second one took awhile longer.
 
At the end of the day, the Seattle Pacific Falcons had come away with a split.
 
Maddie Batiste tied her career high with 14 kills, adding 10 digs for her second career double-double, and SPU delivered 12 services aces on Friday to sweep past Cal State East Bay in the season-opener at the Seaside Invitational volleyball tournament.
 
Scores in Golden Gymnasium on the Point Loma Nazarene University campus were 25-17, 25-17, 25-21.
 
A few hours later against Concordia Irvine, Batiste logged another double-double, and Gabby Oddo notched her first of the year, leading the way with 17 kills. But the Falcons, despite being up two games to one, fell short in five against Concordia Irvine, 25-23, 19-25, 25-19, 25-14, 15-6.
 
"I think we're figuring out our identity on the court," SPU coach Abbie Wright said. "I think we did some really great things today, and some things, we're going to grow from. It was a big learning experience for this team."
 
Falcons 3, Cal State East Bay 0
Junior opposite Batiste had 14 kills for the third time in her career – and, in a manner of speaking, for the second match in a row. She also slammed 14 in last year's season finale against Western Washington. Batiste hit a team-leading .360 in Friday's contest. Her only previous double-double was 13 kills and 13 digs on Aug. 25, 2018 against Metro State.
 
 

Of SPU's dozen service aces, senior outside hitter Oddo had a career-high six, including two back-to-back efforts in Game 3. The first of those turned an 8-8 tie into a 10-8 lead. The second pair came in the middle of a 4-0 scoring run when the Falcons went from 18-17 down to permanently in front at 21-17.
 
Freshman Paige Dawson made her college debut with four aces. Lindsey Lambert, another freshman, started at setter and racked up 29 of Seattle Pacific's 34 assists.
 
A six-point burst in Game 1 expanded a 15-11 Falcons lead to 21-11. They put together an 8-1 surge in the second game, going from 10-6 to 18-7 in front.
 
Cal State East Bay, which graduated its top five in kills from last season, went back and forth with SPU in Game 3. The Pioneers were up 7-4, fell behind by a 12-9 score, then pushed back in front by two points on three occasions, the last of those at 18-16.
 
Seattle Pacific responded with a 7-1 burst, with Oddo serving up four of those points for a 23-19 lead, then split the last four points to close out the match.

The Falcons hit .206 for the day and kept East Bay below .200 at .195.
 
"I thought we played really relentless. We went out and swung hard and didn't worry about mistakes," Wright said. "Our middles had some really good production."
 
Concordia Irvine 3, Falcons 2
 

It was another 14 for Batiste – this time in the digs department – to go along with 11 kills. Oddo hammered 17 kills after having just five against East Bay, and came up with 11 digs. Senior outside Jaeden Hooker put 12 kills onto the floor. Senior libero Katie Mansfield had a career high 14 digs, double her previous best of seven set as a sophomore in 2017.
 
After forcing the deciding fifth game, Concordia Irvine (1-1) wasted little time taking charge. The Eagles scored the first five points, and the closest the Falcons came after that was 8-5.
 
SPU was behind for most of the opening game, including 21-17. Still trailing by three at 22-19, the Falcons ran off four straight points, two of those coming on service aces by Paige Dawson, for a 23-22 lead. Irvine tied at 23-23, then SPU notched the final two points.
 
The Eagles raced to a 9-1 lead in Game 2, and Seattle Pacific never got closer than 11-9. In Game 3, the Falcons put five straight points on the board, four of those with senior libero Mallie Donohoe on the serve, and went ahead for good.
 
CUI led for the entirety of Game 4.
 
SPU hit just .099 with 56 kills and 38 attack errors. Irvine finished at .243, with 58 kills and just 21 errors.
 
"We just couldn't get ahead of the eight-ball in that match," Wright said. "We were a step behind. All of the things we did well in the first match were hard to sustain in this one."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Maddie Batiste's 25 kills for the two matches combined easily pushed her past 100 for her career. She started the day with 95.
-- Jaeden Hooker moved past the career 200 mark for kills and points. Her 18 kills for the day put her at 205, and her 20 points gave her 218.
--Freshman setter Lindsey Lambert had 40 assists against Concordia Irvine and wound up with 69 for the two matches. By comparison, Symone Tran, who concluded her SPU career last fall with a school-record 4,149 assists, had 50 in her first two matches combined as a freshman in 2015. Both of those, however, were three-gamers.
--The Falcons finished the day with 19 service aces. Gabby Oddo had eight and Paige Dawson seven.
 
UP NEXT
SPU concludes the tournament with two matches on Saturday. Up first is San Francisco State at 3:30 p.m. A contest against host Point Loma Nazarene is set for 8:00 p.m.
 

NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Seaside Invitational
Friday, Sept. 6, 2019
Golden Gymnasium / San Diego, Calif.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Cal State East Bay 0
 
Game scores – 25-17, 25-17, 25-21.
 
Service aces – SPU 12 (Oddo 6, Dawson 4), EB 4 (Wilson 2).
Kills – SPU 37 (Batiste 14), EB 28 (Weeks 6, Love 6).
Assists – SPU 34 (Lambert 29), EB 28 (Cannon 16).
Digs – SPU 38 (Oddo 11, Batiste 10), EB 37 (Wilson 12).
Block assists / solo – SPU 2 / 1 solo (3 players with 1), EB 0 / 1 solo.
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 37-17-97—.206 (Batiste 14-5-25—.360),  EB 28-12-82—.195 (Weeks 6-0-12—.500).
Attendance – 113.
 
 
Concordia Irvine 3, Seattle Pacific 2
 
Game scores – 23-25, 25-19, 19-25, 25-14, 15-6.
 
Service aces – SPU 7 (Dawson 3), CUI 3 (3 players with 1).
Kills – SPU 56 (Oddo 17, Hooker 12, Batiste 11), CUI 58 (Gill 14, Mineer 14).
Assists – SPU 51 (Lambert 40), CUI 56 (Latigue 25).
Digs – SPU 65 (Batiste 14, Mansfield 14), CUI 79 (DenBoer 25).
Block assists / solo – SPU 6 / 1 solo (Stegemoller 2 / 0 solo, Hooker 1 / 1 solo), CUI 22 / 4 solo (Tostado 6 / 1 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 56-38-182—.099 (Gould 7-1-18—.333, Lambert 5-2-9—.333), CUI 58-21-152—.243 (O'Neal 8-1-12—.583)
Attendance – 129.
 
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 1-1.  Concordia Irvine 1-1.
 
 
Next match
Seattle Pacific vs. San Francisco State, Saturday, 3:30 p.m.