BURNABY, B.C. – Just when the Seattle Pacific Falcons had a nice comeback going, Simon Fraser started a comeback of its own …
 
… and never stopped.
 
After pulling out the third set to stay alive, then racing to an 8-3 lead in the fourth, SPU saw its Canadian counterparts ring up 14 of the next 18 points to take charge on the way toclosing out a 3-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball victory on Saturday afternoon.
 
Scores in West Gym were 25-23, 25-16, 21-25, 25-17.
 
The Falcons (9-7, 5-4 GNAC), who had put together a three-match winning streak to climb into fourth place in the conference standings, thus came up short on both matches of their northern road trip this week to wrap up the first half of the conference schedule. On Thursday, they went toe-to-toe with 20th-ranked Western Washington before the Vikings secured a closer-than-it-looked sweep, 25-22, 27-25, 25-22.
 
Hannah Hair led Seattle Pacific with 11 kills on Saturday. But Simon Fraser (12-4, 6-3) had a whopping 18 more kills for the match, 58-40.
 
Simon built a 20-10 lead in Set 1, thanks in large part to slamming 10 kills without an error to that juncture. But the Falcons got untracked and started climbing back into it. Maddie Batiste and Allison Wilks each had three-point serving runs to help narrow the margin to 22-18.
 
The hosts had triple set point at 24-21. Gould saved the first one with a kill, then Batiste and Wilks combined on a block to save the second one, making it 24-23. But on the third, SPU was called for a net violation.
 
An 11-4 Simon Fraser scoring burst in Set 2 turned an 8-8 tie into a commanding 19-12 lead.
 
Seattle Pacific was down 18-16 in the third set when it went ahead with four straight points: a Simon service error, a combined block by Sarah Brachvogel and Wilks, and then an attack error and net violation by Simon Fraser, leaving the Falcons with a 20-18 advantage.
 
At 23-21, Hair had an easy dunk at the net for triple set point. The Falcons then clinched it on a combined block by Hair and Maddie Pruden, forcing a fourth set.
 
A string of five straight points, with back-to-back kills by Pruden, one kill each for Hair and Gould, and a combined block by Hair and Gould, factored into SPU's quick 8-3 lead. But Simon Fraser came out of a timeout with two straight points and subsequently had a pair of four-point runs on the way to a 17-12 advantage.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- The teams came into the match just two percentage points apart in hitting for the season, with Simon at .223 and Seattle Pacific at .221. But Simon Fraser hit .297 for the match (58 kills-20 errors-128 attacks), which included .379 in Set 1 and a stratospheric .593 (17-1-27) in Set 2. Seattle Pacific, which had a solid start at .269 in the opening set, finished at .129 (40-24-124).
-- The 58 kills by the hosts was the second-highest by a Falcons opponent this season. Biola had 59 in a five-set SPU victory on Sept. 9.
-- Allison Wilks delivered a career-high four service aces.
-- The Falcons racked up a season-high seven solo blocks. Sarah Brachvogel and Maddie Pruden had two each. Brachvogel's were the first two solos of her career. Pruden had two in a match for the first time, having logged one in two previous matches.
 
UP NEXT
SPU returns home to start the second half of the GNAC schedule this coming Thursday against Alaska Anchorage at 7:00 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion. Alaska Fairbanks visits next Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021
West Gym / Burnaby, B.C.
 
Simon Fraser 3, Seattle Pacific 1
 
Game scores – 25-23, 25-16, 21-25, 25-17.
 
Service aces – SPU 8 (Wilks 4), Simon 6 (Kolof 3).
Kills – SPU 40 (Hair 11), Simon 58 (Dexter 17).
Assists – SPU 36 (Tulino 23, Lambert 12), Simon 54 (Tays 46).
Digs – SPU 43 (Rosenthal 10), Simon 55 (Te 13).
Block assists / solo – SPU 8 / 7 solo (Pruden 2 / 2 solo), Simon 20 / 2 solo (Hartman 5 / 1 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 40-24-124—129 (Hair 11-4-24—292), Simon 58-20-128—297 (Hartman 12-2-1—588).
Attendance – NA.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 9-7, 5-4 GNAC.  Simon Fraser 12-4, 6-3 GNAC.
 
 
Next match
Alaska Anchorage at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Oct. 21     7:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.