SEATTLE – Hannah Hair slammed 14 kills, Maddie Batiste added 10, and the Seattle Pacific Falcons finished the match on a 14-5 scoring run to defeat Montana State Billings in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball contest on Saturday afternoon.
 
Scores in Brougham Pavilion were 25-16, 24-26, 25-18, 25-23.
 
The Falcons (13-8, 9-5 GNAC) trailed for most of Set 4, including 18-11. They gradually closed ground, running off three straight points for forge a 21-21 tie. The last of those came on a service ace buy sophomore Allison Wilks.
 
Montana State Billings (10-14, 5-9 GNAC) went back on top twice, 22-21 and 23-22. A kill by Ashley Antoniak lifted the Falcons back into a 23-23 tie.
 
Senior outside hitter Erin Gould took over the serve, and Antoniak slammed another kill, giving SPU match point at 24-23. Gould took care of that one herself with a kill from backcourt.

"It was just chipping away one point at a time and not being caught up in the overall picture," head coach Abbie Wright said. "You just have to figure out what's going to score the next point. If it goes your way, great. If not, you just have keep battling."
  
Except for a 1-1 tie, Seattle Pacific led for the entirety of the opening set, thanks in part to solid .370 hitting that produced 15 kills. The Yellowjackets managed just five kills and hit .000 in the opener.
 
SPU then ran off the first four points of Set 2. But this time, Billings had an answer and built a lead of as many as three points at 16-13. The Falcons then tallied six straight, the last five of those with Lindsey Lambert on the serve, to go up 19-16.
 
That lead grew to 23-20. MSUB put together a 4-0 run for a set point at 24-23. A quick kill by Hannah Hair tied it at 24-24, then Billings notched the last two points to level it at one set apiece.
 
 

The Yellowjackets raced to leads of 4-0 and 6-2 to open Set 4. Seattle Pacific snapped an 8-8 tie with four straight. Then, tied at 17-17, the Falcons rang up seven straight, Gould on the serve for the last six of those, including two aces.

The Falcons swept MSUB on Oct. 9 at Billings, But Wright said that's never predictive of what will happen in a second-half-of-the-schedule rematch.
 
"We've been practicing and getting better, but so is everyone else," she said "Montana is a team with great athletes, and they play outside the box really well. The figure out how to score and find the right hitters at the right time. No matter what the first half of conference looks like, it can be completely different in the second half.
  
Hair hit .379 for the day (14 kills-3 errors-29 attacks). Wilks also had a solid afternoon with nine kills and .368 hitting, along with a career high-tying seven block assists. Maddie Batiste finished with 10 kills and four total blocks.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons will host their final two home matches of the season this coming week. Simon Fraser visits on Thursday and Western Washington is in town on Saturday. The first serve for both is at 7:00 p.m. The match against the Vikings will be Senior Night in honor of Maddie Batiste and Erin Gould.
  
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Montana State Billings 1
 
Game scores – 25-16, 24-26, 25-18, 25-23.
 
Service aces – MSUB 7 (Reed 3), SPU 12 (Gould 3, Lambert 3, Tulino 3).
Kills – MSUB 43 (Monck 10, Reed 10), SPU 52 (Hair 14, Batiste 10).
Assists – MSUB 3 (Hashbarger 29), SPU 47 (Tulino 22, Lambert 18).
Digs – MSUB 48 (Juranek 13), SPU 56 (Rosenthal 18, Gould 12).
Block assists / solo – MSUB 18 / 2 solo (Mahowald 7 / 0 solo), SPU 24 / 1 solo (Wilks 7 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – MSUB 43-26-139—122 (Mahowald 9-3-22—273), SPU 52-24-141—199 (Hair 14-3-29—379).
 
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 13-8, 9-5 GNAC.   Montana State Billings 10-14, 5-9 GNAC.
 
 
Next match
Simon Fraser at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Nov. 11     7:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.