SEATTLE – Missing a full month of action with a shoulder injury certainly wasn't Erin Gould's idea of fun.
 
Slamming kill after kill in a pair of volleyball matches against Western Oregon on Saturday?
 
Much more to her liking.
 
Gould had 19 kills and hit a spectacular .500 in the two matches combined, helping Seattle Pacific post a pair of three-game sweeps in Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Falcons won the opener, 25-17, 25-22, 25-16. In the nightcap, it was 25-16, 25-16, 25-17.
 
SPU's pair of victories clinched a winning record in this out-of-the-ordinary springtime season. The Falcons are now 10-5 with three matches left. Western Oregon ended its abbreviated campaign with an 0-7 mark.
 
A junior outside hitter, Gould had an error-free performance in the opener with eight kills on 10 attacks for a career-best .800 percentage. She was even busier in the second one, swinging 24 times and putting 11 kills onto the court with just two errors. Gould also delivered two service aces and came up with five digs in that one.
 
Her previous best hitting match was .571 (9 kills-1 error-14 attacks) in a four-set victory at Alaska Fairbanks on Nov. 21, 2019.



 

"It was great to get back and play with the team," Gould said. "I really just wanted to go in and work as a team. I think when you're out for even a little bit, you just are itching to get back on the court. That's kind of all I was thinking about today was just playing hard for my teammates. It feels great and is definitely a confidence booster."
 
Added head coach Abbie Wright, "She's putting the ball away and she's just really confident. She's passing really well and looks really calm and sharp herself. … Others on our team are seeing her confidence and they're kind of feeding off of that."
 
Gould wasn't the only Falcon with the hot hitting hand on Saturday.
 
Freshman middle blocker Hannah Hair also played error-free in the first match with six kills on 12 attacks, In addition, she had five blocks, including a solo. Hair followed that with nine kills and just one error on 12 attacks in the second, coming up five more blocks, with one solo among them. She had a .583 hitting percentage for the day.
 
As a team, SPU hit .340 in the first match, including a .407 mark (13 kills-2 errors-27 attacks) in the second set. The percentage in Match 2 was even higher at .347, including .469 (17-2-32) in the third set.

 

"Something our team is trying to be good at is being the best defensive team," Wright said. "You don't get those opportunities unless you're getting balls up. (The Falcons dug up 41 of Western Oregon's 99 attacks in the opener and 48 of 105 in the nightcap.) There was one rally where we kept it alive and kept it alive, and people were diving all over the floor  -- it was a really great performance."
 
Match 1
SPU put eight straight points on the board midway through the opening set, turning a 10-9 deficit into a commanding 17-10 lead. It never got closer than six the rest of the way.
 
Western Oregon built an 18-14 lead in the second set. Seattle Pacific put together its first extended run of the set, 6-1, to edge in front by one at 20-19. After the Wolves tied it at 20-20, SPU rang up three more in a row for a 23-20 lead. It got as lose as 23-22, but a kill by Hair and a combined block by Maddie Batiste an Maya Holmen clinched it.
 
A 6-0 run in the third set turned a 7-5 deficit into an 11-7 Falcons lead, and the gradually extended it from there.
 
Along with the solid performances by Gould and Hair, senior outside hitter Batiste had 10 kills and hit .318. Freshman outside / opposite Sydney Perry hit .444 with five kills and just one misfire on nine swings.
 
Match 2
SPU fell into a 5-2 hole in the opening set, then went on a 13-4 run to build a 15-9 lead.
 
It was the Falcons' turn for a fast start in the second set, as they rang up the first five points. The closest Western Oregon ever came was four, the last time at 13-9.
 
Down 7-6 in Set 3, Seattle Pacific collected seven of the next eight points for a 13-8 advantage.
 
"I thought all around, we played really well," Wright said. "A lot of people came in and did some great things. We moved people around and played with a lot of different lineups. Both of our setters today (Lindsey Lambert and Austin Ibale) did exactly what we needed them to do. With great hitting percentages, it takes a good setter for that, so credit to them for today."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- SPU now has won eight straight against Western Oregon, the last six of which have been three-set sweeps.
-- In her last three matches, freshman Sydney Perry has hit a combined .480 (15 kills-3 errors-25 attacks).
-- Hannah Hair's 10 total blocks on Saturday give her 78 for the season, an average of 1.39 per set.
-- The Falcons had dropped below .200 hitting for the season, coming into Saturday with a .188 mark. But they added 15 percentage points and are now at .203.
-- Erin Gould's 19 kills have her on the brink of 200 for her career. She has 193.
-- Redshirt freshman opposite Maddie Pruden matched Gould with 11 kills in the second match. She had 16 for the day.
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific wraps up the season next weekend with three matches against Western Washington. The first one will be in Brougham on Friday, May 14, at 5:00 p.m. Then, it will be a doubleheader on Saturday in Bellingham, with the opener at 12:30 p.m. and the second at 5:00.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, May 8, 2021
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
MATCH 1
Seattle Pacific 3, Western Oregon 0
 
Game scores – 25-17, 25-22, 25-16.
 
Service aces – WOU 4 (Stanton 2), SPU 4 (Batiste 2).
Kills – WOU 31 (Hurliman 9), SPU 42 (Batiste 10).
Assists – WOU 29 (Stanton 26), SPU 42 (Lambert 22, Ibale 13).
Digs – WOU 35 (Spear 13), SPU 41 (Shuckhart 14).
Block assists / solo – WOU 6 / 0 solo (Maclellan 2 / 0 solo), SPU 14 / 1 solo (Hair 4 / 1 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – WOU 31-23-99—.081 (Hurliman 9-5-27—.148), SPU 42-10-94—.340 (Hair 6-0-12—.500).
 
 
MATCH 2
Seattle Pacific 3, Western Oregon 0
 
Game scores – 25-16, 25-16, 25-17.
 
Service aces – WOU 2 (2 players with 1), SPU 9 (Batiste 2, Gould 2).
Kills – WOU 33 (L. Smith 9), SPU 43 (Gould 11, Pruden 11).
Assists – WOU 33 (Stanton 27), SPU 40 (Lambert 35).
Digs – WOU 38 (Spear 17), SPU 48 (Rosenthal 15).
Block assists / solo – WOU 8 / 1 solo (York 3 / 0 solo), SPU 10 / 1 solo (Hair 4 / 1 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – WOU 33-17-105—.152 (L. Smith 9-2-25—.280), SPU 43-10-95—.347 (Hair 9-1-12—.667, Day 2-0-3—.667).