SEATTLE – The redshirts came up golden.
 
Maddie Pruden tied her career high with 13 kills, Lindsay Rosenthal recorded her first double-double, in part with a career-high 12 kills, and Seattle Pacific came back from a two-set deficit on Saturday afternoon to pull out a five-set volleyball victory against Northwest Nazarene in Brougham Pavilion.
 
Scores were 22-25, 17-25, 25-21, 25-22, 16-14.
 
Senior outside hitter Maddie Batiste added 12 kills for SPU (7-3), which went to the max for the second match in a row, having downed Central Washington in five last Saturday in Brougham.
 
"I think it was just a matter of who could outlast (the other)," Falcons head coach Abbie Wright said. "We got to a point that we had to keep chipping away and just staying in it long enough to keep the pressure on. … Coming down to the end, it was a little bit of who was going to get a better match-up and get a better look.
 
"I was really proud of the team for hanging in there and persevering," Wright added. "We were just really going after it."

 

Pruden, an opposite from Poulsbo across Puget Sound, and Rosenthal, an outside hitter from Richland across the Cascades, are both redshirt freshmen who have become regulars in the starting lineup. Pruden hit .400 on Saturday, getting her 13 kills on 25 attacks with just three errors. She also recorded five block assists.

 

Rosenthal's 12 kills came on 40 attacks with just two errors for a .250 hitting percentage. Her previous high was eight kills, which she had reached twice. She secured the double-double with 13 digs and dropped in two service aces, both during a 6-0 Seattle Pacific scoring run in Game 3 that helped turn a 13-11 deficit into an 18-13 lead.
 
"Lindsay had a great night. She's definitely settling into her role," Wright said. "She's able to hit a bunch of different shots. Maddie did good things, too. It's hard to stop her. She had some really great moments."

 




BACK AND FORTH  IN THE FIFTH
Seattle Pacific never trailed in the deciding fifth set after back-to-back kills by Batiste and Pruden on the first two points. It had multiple four-point leads at 5-1, 7-3, 8-4, and 9-5.
 
But Northwest Nazarene kept pulling it back. The Nighthawks finally got within one at 12-11. A kill by Batiste and a double-hit call on NNU gave the Falcons triple-match point at 14-11.
 
NNU wasn't done. Natalie Sullivan's kill made it 14-12, then consecutive Falcons attack errors tied it at 14-14. SPU gained another match point at 15-14 when freshman middle blocker Hannah Hair pushed an attack over the net that the Nighthawks kept off the floor, but dug it wide.
 
The Nighthawks sent Paige Dawson's subsequent serve back over the net. Batiste and Ashley Antoniak both went for the dig, keeping the ball alive but deflecting it back toward the service line. Dawson dove for it, knocking it forward. Lambert, with her back to the net, reached for it with her right hand, turned toward the net and sent it over. The ball dropped in before NNU could get to it.
 
A challenge to the call was made as to whether SPU had four touches. After a video review, the Falcons kept the point – and the match.
 
 

"We had moments where I think we could have put it away, and there were moments when I think we thought it was put away," Wright said. "It was a matter of hanging in there and going for a marathon rather than a sprint.
 
The Falcons had leads of 18-13 and 21-20 in Set 1. Northwest Nazarene (6-9) scored five of the final six points. The Nighthawks put together and even bigger run, 9-1 to close it out, including the last six points in a row after behind ahead just 19-17.
 
Seattle Pacific took charge of the third midway through it. Up 13-12, it put six straight on the board, the last five of those with sophomore setter Lindsey Lambert on the serve. The fourth set was a series of momentum shifts. The Falcons went from 18-13 up to 21-20 down to 24-21 up. The Nighthawks fought off one of those set points, but a subsequent attack error gave SPU the point it needed to force a fifth set.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
 

-- This was the second week in a row – and the third time in her career – that sophomore libero Paige Dawson has been serving with a match on the line in Set 5. In October 2019, she delivered an ace on match point against Central Washington after the Falcons had lost the first two sets of that one. Last Saturday in the second match of the doubleheader against Central, she had the serve on the last three points of a 15-6 win in the fifth.
-- Dawson finished with a career-high 30 digs. Her previous best was 25 in the second match against Alaska Anchorage on March 20.
-- Along with her 12 kills, Maddie Batiste came up with 17 digs on Saturday. That was her fourth double-double of the season, the 20^th of her career, and pushed her past 500 career digs. She now has 508.
-- The match featured two of the best middle blockers in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. SPU's Hannah Hair had eight kills, five block assists, and hit .057. NNU's Tayler Markland had 5 kills, 3 block assists, and hit .231.
-- The Falcons hit .164 for the match. Northwest Nazarene finished at .188.
-- NNU setter Casey Kispert finished her college career in the same place she started it. Kispert played for Seattle Pacific as a freshman in 2017 before transferring to Northwest Nazarene. She had a team-high 21 assists on Saturday for the Nighthawks, who played the final match of their schedule and finished 6-9.
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific and Central Washington square off in another doubleheader next Saturday, this time in Ellensburg. Match times are at 3:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, April 10, 2021
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Northwest Nazarene 2
 
Game scores – 22-25, 17-25, 25-21, 25-22, 16-14.
 
Service aces – NNU 7 (McMahon 2, Kispert 2), SPU 8 (Rosenthal 2, Lambert 2, Gould 2).
Kills – NNU 61 (Foster 18), SPU 48 (Pruden 13, Batiste 12, Rosenthal 12).
Assists – NNU 52 (Kispert 21), SPU 56 (Lambert 43).
Digs – NNU 79 (McMahon 20), SPU 85 (Dawson 30, Batiste 17, Rosenthal 13).
Block assists / solo – NNU 14 / 0 solo (Gable 4 / 0 solo), SPU 18 / 0 solo (Hair 5 / 0 solo, Pruden 5 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – NNU 61-26-186—188 (Foster 18-3-36—268), SPU 58-29-177—164 (Pruden 13-3-25—400).
 
 
Next match
Seattle Pacific at Central Washington (doubleheader)
Saturday, April 17   3:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Nicholson Pavilion / Ellensburg, Wash.