SEATTLE – Needing to get back on track, the Seattle Pacific Falcons knew their home volleyball court would be a good place to do it.
 
They did it.
 
Maddie Pruden hammered 12 kills and SPU hit a season-high .347 on Saturday afternoon in posting a three-set Great Northwest Athletic Conference sweep of Western Oregon in Brougham Pavilion.
 
Scores were 25-17, 25-15, 26-24.
 
For the Falcons (8-5, 4-2 GNAC), home – where they are now 7-0 – was a welcome sight after dropping a pair of matches in Alaska last weekend. They took full advantage of the opportunity, sweeping Saint Martin's on Thursday, then doing likewise to the Wolves (2-10, 0-5 GNAC) on Saturday.
 
"We've been running through what we're good at and capitalizing on our strengths – we've been trying to preach that," head coach Abbie Wright said. "It's just being diligent in the little things and being consistent. I felt that today, we did stick to our system and we did those things."
 
The .347 hitting mark was achieved with 50 kills and 15 errors on 101 attacks. That included error-free performances from both starting sophomore middle blockers: 8-0-11—.727 for Hannah Hair, and 3-0-7—.429 for Allison Wilks.
 




It was the first .300-plus match for Seattle Pacific this season, and included .462 in the first set, .306 in the second, and .308 in the third.
 
That too, Wright said, was the result of her players focusing on things that mattered.
 
 

"It's just tough serving, keying in on the little details, making a pass in crunch time – things like that, things that are routine plays, but can be more nerve-wracking," she said. "You have to take care of those ordinary skills in crunch-time moments to get opportunities to get a swing."
 
The Falcons trailed just once in the opening set, 4-3. Tied at 6-6, they ran off four straight points and stayed ahead the rest of the way, never letting Western Oregon get closer than three. SPU then scored the first three points of Set 2, never trailed, and was never tied.
 
WOU found some spark in the third set, which was tied 12 times and had six lead changes. Seattle Pacific built a 17-12 advantage, but the Wolves climbed back within one on multiple occasions, finally tying it at 23-23.
 
A kill by Pruden gave SPU a match point at 24-23. Western Oregon saved that one with a kill by Bella Maclellan. Junior opposite Ashley Antoniak responded with a kill for the Falcons, providing another match point try at 25-24. This time, they converted when sophomore opposite Sydney Perry hammered one that ricocheted out off the hands of a Wolves blocker.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- The last time the Falcons topped.300 hitting as a team was last May in a home doubleheader against Western Oregon, and they did it twice that day: .340 in the first match, .347 in the second.
-- Hannah Hair's .727 hitting percentage was a career high. Her previous best was .667 (9 kills-1 error-12 attacks) against Western Oregon last May in Brougham.
--In addition to Hair and Allison Wilks, the Falcons had four other players who had multiple kills and hit better than .300 in the process: Erin Gould (5 kills / .571), Sydney Perry (7 kills / .417), Maddie Pruden (12 kills / .391), and Maddie Batiste (8 kills / .357).
-- Freshman libero Abigail Cunningham came up with a career-high 19 digs. Her previous best was 17 in a five-setter against Biola on Sept. 9.
--Freshman setter Emiliy Tulino had a team-leading 26 assists and pushed her career total past 300. She now has 311.
-- Western Oregon's 31 kills was the fewest allowed by the Falcons this season.
-- Coach Abbie Wright is 9-0 all-time against WOU.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons have just one match this coming week, visiting Montana State Billings on Saturday, Oct. 9. The first serve is at noon Pacific time.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Western Oregon 0
 
Game scores – 25-17, 25-15, 26-24.
 
Service aces – WOU 5 (O'Neil 3), SPU 4 (Tulino 3).
Kills – WOU 31 (Hartsook 8), SPU 50 (Pruden 12).
Assists – WOU 29 (Stanton 11), SPU 49 (Tulino 26, Lambert 10).
Digs – WOU 33 (Hurliman 10), SPU 42 (Cunningham 19).
Block assists / solo – WOU 16 / 2 solo (Maclellan 5 / 0 solo), SPU 14 / 0 solo (Hair 5 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – WOU 31-19-99—121 (Olson 6-2-11—364), SPU 50-15-101—347 (Hair 8-0-11—727).
Attendance – 115.
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 8-5, 4-2 GNAC.  Western Oregon 2-10, 0-5 GNAC.
 
 
Next match
Seattle Pacific at Montana State Billings
Saturday, Oct. 9 / Noon PDT
Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.