SEATTLE – When it comes to winning a decisive fifth set, Maddie Batiste says it's not just about being the first one to 15 points.
 
"I like to think about fifth sets, especially as a mini game to 8 – first to 8, first to 12, first to 15. We worked on that a lot on practice this week," the Seattle Pacific senior outside hitter said.
 
Batiste and the Seattle Pacific Falcons won most of those mini games on Saturday. And at the end of a long afternoon of volleyball in Brougham Pavilion, they were the first ones to 15.
 
Batiste had 18 kills, Hannah Hair had 10 blocks to go along with 11 kills, and Austin Ibale recorded her first collegiate double-double as the Falcons twice came from a set down to beat Alaska Fairbanks in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match, 3-2.
 
Scores were 21-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-23, 15-11.
 




Batiste's 18 kills in the 2-hour, 25-minute match were a season high, not only for herself, but also for SPU (11-7, 7-4 GNAC). She got them with a .239 hitting performance and made it a double-double with 10 digs.
 
Ibale, thrust into a bigger role both in Thursday night's sweep of No. 24-ranked Alaska Anchorage and in Saturday's back-and-forther against Fairbanks (13-10, 6-5 GNAC) when freshman setter Emily Tulino was out of action with an injury, delivered with 14 assists and a career-high 12 digs. She had six digs and one service ace in the UAA match.
 
 

"Fairbanks is very good, very physical, and they play very smart," SPU head coach Abbie Wright said. "For us, it was maintaining discipline throughout a long rally, and how do we go about that. I think our players are really growing in the mental part of the game now – how to play live, how to play out of the box a little bit.
 
"This match had some high highs and some low lows," Wright added. "It was just being able to roll with the tide, and we did a good job with that today."
 
The Nanooks were just two points away from winning the match in Set 4, up 23-21. But Seattle Pacific ran off the last four to pull it out and force a fifth: a kill by Hair, a service ace by Lindsey Lambert, a combined block by Hair and Batiste, and a combined block by Hair and Maddie Pruden.
 
Fairbanks took a quick 3-1 lead in the Set 5, which the Falcons answered with a 5-0 scoring run for a 6-3 advantage..
 
It was the Nanooks who actually won that first "mini game" to 8, using a 5-1 run to take an 8-7 lead. SPU scored the next three points to take a 10-8 lead, the last of which was a kill by Batiste that initially was called out, but then was ruled good on a video review for a 10-8 advantage.
 
Clinging to an 11-10 lead, Seattle Pacific got to 12 first on a kill by Perry, then made it 13-10 on a Fairbanks attack error.
 
The Nanooks scored on a block to get within two at 13-11. But Batiste got a kill that went out off a UAF blocker to set up match point at 14-11. Pruden converted it with a kill that also bounced out off a Fairbanks blocker.
 
"They had some big-time plays – a win over them is a big deal," Wright said after her team beat both Alaska schools this week, a reversal of last month's road trip during which it lost to both. "It just gives our players confidence going into the second half of conference."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Maddie Batiste's double-double was her third of the season and 22^nd of her career.
-- Erin Gould double-doubled with 12 kills and a team-high 14 digs. It was her second of the season and career.
-- Hannah Hair's 10 blocks was her second double-digit match of the season. She had 11 against Central Washington on Sept. 18.
-- The Falcons racked up an eye-popping 33 total blocks – 32 block assists and a solo by Hair. Their previous high this season was 28 block assists, against Central.
-- SPU hit .160 for the day (60 kills-31 errors-181 attacks). Fairbanks hit .135 (57-33-178).
-- Seattle Pacific is now 9-0 at home.
-- This was the third five-setter of the season. The Falcons have won two of those.
 
UP  NEXT
SPU is on the road this coming week, visiting Western Oregon on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. and Saint Martin's next Saturday at 5:15 p.m.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Alaska Fairbanks 2
 
Game scores – 21-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-23, 15-11.
 
Service aces – UAF 7 (White 2, Ohms 2), SPU 4 (Lambert 2).
Kills – UAF 57 (Weber 16), SPU 60 (Batiste 18, Gould 12, Hair 11, Pruden 10).
Assists – UAF 49 (Whiting 36), SPU 58 (Lambert 40, Ibale 14).
Digs – UAF 72 (Dodge 19), SPU 75 (Gould 14, Ibale 12, Cunningham 11, Rosenthal 10, Batiste 10).
Block assists / solo – UAF 30 / 1 solo (Moorhead 12 / 0 solo), SPU 32 / 1 solo (Hair 9 / 1 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – UAF 57-33-178—135 (Whiting 7-0-15—467), SPU 60-31-181—160 (Hair 11-4-23—304, Perry 4-1-7—429).
Attendance – 147.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 11-7, 7-4 GNAC.  Alaska Fairbanks 13-10, 6-5 GNAC.
 
 
Next match
Seattle Pacific at Western Oregon
Thursday, Oct. 28     7:00 p.m.
New P.E. Building / Monmouth, Ore.