KIRKLAND, Wash. – Abbie Wright was eager to see how different combinations of her Seattle Pacific volleyball players responded to different scenarios on the court.
 
In Friday night's match at Northwest University, they responded quite effectively.
 
 

Maddie Batiste had 10 kills and hit a career-best .500, and Lindsey Lambert earned her 1,000^th career assist as the Falcons swept the Eagles in Kristi Brodin Pavilion.
 
Scores were 27-25, 25-20, 25-23.
 
SPU (4-1) overcame a 16-8 deficit and later saved a game point to take the opener. It then fell into an 11-4 deficit in Game 3, but again stormed back.
 
"I thought we did an awesome job," Wright said. "We just showed some resiliency in coming back. It really felt like it was a team win, with people kind of playing some different roles. I thought our setters distributed the ball pretty well, and once we settled into passing, I thought we gave ourselves a lot of options."
 
Senior outside hitter Batiste had ;just one error on 17 total attacks. Her previous career hitting high for a match was .375 (3 kills-0 errors-8 attacks) on Sept. 9, 2017, in a preseason match against Cal State San Marcos.
 
Sophomore setter Lambert came into the match with 987 career assists. Needing 13 for a grand, she wound up with 14, and No. 1,000 came on a kill by Batiste to make it 21-19 in Game 3.
 




DOWN, BUT NOT OUT
A 9-1 scoring run early in the opening game gave Northwest a 16-8 lead. The Falcons kept chipping away, finally pulling into a 22-22 tie on a combined block by freshmen Lindsay Rosenthal and Erin Smith.
 
Northwest gained a game point at 24-23, but Batiste saved it with a kill. SPU had game point opportunities at 25-24 and 26-25, converting the second one on a Batiste kill.
 
Tied at 17-17 in Game 2, the Falcons put together a 7-1 surge. The last five of those came consecutively, extending a 19-18 lead to 24-18.
 
Northwest racked up six straight point for an 11-4 lead in Game 3. Seattle Pacific answered with 16 of the next 20 points. Junior outside hitter Erin Gould, who had four-point serving run to help build that 24-18 lead in the previous game, had a six-pointer in this one, including a service ace, to help make it 20-15.
 
SPU got the next two for a 24-22 lead and double-match point. The Eagles fought off one of them, but an attack by Batiste that NU was not able to return clinched the match.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- The Falcons hit .229 for the night (41kills-19errors-96 attacks). "That's a testimony to our setters," coach Abbie Wright said. "They went with the game play really well and finding our hitters at a really good time."
-- Erin Gould finished with eight kills, .222 hitting, and four service aces.
-- This is the fourth time in a month that the Falcons have played Northwest. The first one was a five-game scrimmage in Brougham Pavilion. The last three resulted in three-games sweeps at NU.
 
UP NEXT
SPU takes on Great Northwest Athletic Conference rival Alaska Anchorage on Saturday. The doubleheader in Brougham Pavilion begins at 1:00 p.m. The second match will follow 40 minutes after the conclusion of the first.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Friday, March 19, 2021
Kristi Brodin Pavilion / Kirkland, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Northwest University 0
 
Game scores – 27-25, 25-20, 25-23.
 
Service aces – SPU 7 (Gould 4), NU 7 (Ensz 2, Broussard 2).
Kills – SPU 42 (Batiste 10), NU 35 (Lord 13)
Assists – SPU 25 (Lambert 14), NU 28 (Saelens 11).
Digs – SPU 39 (Lambert 9), NU 36 (Michaels 10).
Block assists / solo – SPU 22 / 1 solo (Smith 7 / 0 solo, Wilks 4 / 1 solo), NU 6 / 0 solo (Bailey 2 / 0 solo, Lord 2 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – 42-18-96—.250 (Smith 4-0-5—.800, Batiste 10-1-17—.529), NU 35-18-92—185 (Lord 13-3-21—.476).
 
 
Next match
Alaska Anchorage at Seattle Pacific (doubleheader)
Saturday, March 20     1:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.