SEATTLE – Beating a nationally ranked volleyball team doesn't happen every day or even every year.
 
For the current crop of Seattle Pacific Falcons, it has never happened at all . . .
 
. . . until Saturday night.
 
Hannah Hair slammed 14 kills with .632 hitting and had six blocks, and Erin Gould chipped in 10 kills as the Falcons led for nearly the entirety of the first two sets, then prevailed in a back-and-forth third set to sweep past No. 13-ranked St. Cloud State of Minnesota on the final day of SPU-CWU Invitational tournament.
 
Scores in front of a boisterous Falcon Fest crowd inside Brougham Pavilion were 25-13, 25-22, 26-24.
 
That win came just a few hours after a three-set sweep of Hawaii Pacific, 25-21, 25-20, 25-19. Along with a five-set victory against Biola on Thursday night, Seattle Pacific (4-3) went 3-0 in the tournament and now has won four straight overall heading into this coming week's first two Great Northwest Athletic Conference contests of the season.
 
"I thought we took risks, and you've gotta takes risks in big-time moments and keep your foot on the gas," head coach Abbie Wright said. "I thought we broke through tonight and understood what that meant.
 
"Our bench was into it, the crowd was into it, and we played with confidence. It was fun all the way around."
 




The last time the Falcons took down a nationally ranked opponent was Oct. 24, 2013. On that night, a 27-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-23 decision at No. 8 Western Washington went into the books as the 500th win in program history.
 
For fifth-year outside hitter Maddie Batiste, Saturday's victory ranked right up there on her all-time list of favorites.
 
"Top three wins, definitely," Batiste said. "That one felt really good – we felt confident throughout the whole thing. … Seeing some top-notch teams (in Colorado last week) was really healthy for our program to see what it looks like to be ranked like that, and seeing some other systems and adjusting. We took all those learning moments into practice this week and used that to spark some momentum on our side."
 
READY FROM THE FIRST SERVE
As would be expected against a national-caliber squad, the Falcons took the court primed to play. They scored the first three points of the match on back-to-back kills by Hair and one by Maddie Pruden. The lead grew to 6-1, then 10-4, and eventually 16-5.
 
The Huskies, who were swept in three close sets by Central Washington on Friday in Ellensburg, then in three more close ones against Simon Fraser on Saturday in Brougham, never could get on track in the opening set, as SPU hit .300 and limited St. Cloud to minus -.031.
 
Knotted at 8-8 in Set 2, the Falcons put six straight points on the board, two of which were back-to-back kills by Batiste. The Huskies caught up, even taking leads at 20-19 and 21-20. That's when SPU responded with four straight for a 24-21 advantage. St. Cloud fought off the first set point, then Hair clinched it with a kill
 
The Falcons went ahead for good early in the third set at 4-3. But every time they appeared ready to pull away, going up 13-8, 15-12, and 21-17, St. Cloud climbed back in. A 23-20 lead quickly dissolved into a 23-23 tie. SPU had a match point at 24-23, but it was erased on a service error.
 
Gould provided a second try at match point with a kill that made it 25-24. This time, freshman libero Abigail Cunningham clinched it with a serve that dipped over the net and sank to the floor before the St. Cloud receiver could get her hand under it.
 
"We talked before the match that they would have big kills and big blocks because they're a good team," Hair said. "We even talked about taking their momentum and kind of using it as ours and taking that big kill and using it for our momentum. I think we did a really good job of that tonight.
 
The Falcons finished at .290, with marks of .300, .294 and .278 in the three sets. St. Cloud State, which came into the tournament hitting .311 as a team, wound up at .108 with just 29 kills on 93 attacks. SPU dug up 41 of those attacks, Cunningham coming up with 10 of those.
 




SPU 3, Hawaii Pacific 0
(25-21, 25-20, 25-19)
After leading for the entirety of the first two sets, the Falcons found themselves down 19-15 in the third. That's when they started what became a match-ending run of 10 consecutive points – the last nine with freshman setter Emily Tulino on the serve
 
A Hawaii Pacific attack error made it 19-16 and gave the serve to Tulino. She started with an ace, then Allison Wilks and Maddie Pruden combined on a block after a long rally. A Sharks attack error on the next point tied it at 19-19.
 
Another attack error gave SPU its first lead of the set at 20-19. Tulino then served back-to-back aces. The first one kissed the baseline; the second rolled off the net cord and dropped in, putting the Falcons up, 22-19.
 
Pruden and Wilks combined on another block for 23-19, and a Hawaii Pacific attack error set up match point at 24-19. Wilks clinched it with a kill that bounced off the cord and dropped onto the court.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons begin GNAC play on Thursday, hosting Northwest Nazarene at 7:00 p.m. Central Washington visits on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
SPU-CWU Invitational
Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Hawaii Pacific 0
 
Game scores – 25-21, 25-20, 25-19.
 
Service aces – HPU 5 (Ladjevic 2), SPU 9 (Tulino 6).
Kills – HPU 35 (Dotson 11), SPU 39 (Batiste 9).
Assists – HPU 31 (McClean 21), SPU 36 (Tulino 21, Lambert 10).
Digs – HPU 36 (Percival 11), SPU 35 (Cunningham 11).
Block assists / solo – HPU 4 / 1 solo (Boynton-Brown 1 / 1 solo, Dotson 2 / 0 solo), SPU 16 / 1 solo (Wilks 5 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – HPU 35-22-101—129 (Christie 3-1-12—167, Dotson 11-7-29—138), SPU 39-13-91—286 (Perry 6-1-10—500, Gould 4-1-7—429).
Attendance – 118.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 3-3, Hawaii Pacific 1-5.
 
 
Seattle Pacific 3, (No. 13) St. Cloud State 0
 
Game scores – 25-13, 25-22, 26-24.
 
Service aces – SCS 6 (Groeneweg 3), SPU 7 (Batiste 2, Cunningham 2).
Kills – SCS 29 (Rachel 10), SPU 44 (Hair 14, Gould 10).
Assists – SCS 28 (Torve 24), SPU 42 (Tulino 22, Lambert 13).
Digs – SCS 33 (Groeneweg 12), SPU 41 (Cunningham 10).
Block assists / solo – SCS 18 / 0 solo (Naughton 5 / 0 solo), SPU 14 / 2 solo (Hair 4 / 2 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SCS 29-19-93—108 (Rosse 8-3-19—263), SPU 44-15-100—290 (Hair 14-2-19—632).
Attendance – 905.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 4-3, St. Cloud State 5-2.
 
 
Next match
Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Sept. 16    7:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.