SEATTLE – A pair of impressive volleyball victories on the road last week made it all the more important for the Seattle Pacific Falcons to take care of business at home this week.
 
They did indeed take care of it – and on Saturday, they did so in short order.
 
 

Hannah Hair had 11 kills – including the 500th of her career – in an error-free attack performance, and SPU hit a season-high .323 to sweep past Saint Martin's, 3-0.
 
Scores of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference match in Brougham Pavilion were 25-23, 25-18, 25-19.

 
Sarah Brachvogel added 10 kills, three service aces and three block assists for the Falcons (7-9, 5-3 GNAC), who won their fourth in a row, and their fifth in the last six matches.
 
The sweep was their first since the season-opener against then-No. 15 Winona State on Aug. 26.
 
 "It's been awhile (since we had a sweep),but I felt like in Sets 2 and 3, we played pretty consistent volleyball," head coach Jason Rhine said. "Even in Set 2 when everything wasn't going perfectly, it just helped us to squeak it out. Then in Set 3, we just continued to put pressure on and come out with a win."
  
Seattle Pacific spent four of the first five weekends of the season on the road, playing just two matches on its home court. Coming off a four-set triumph on Sept. 24 at Northwest Nazarene and a five-setter last Saturday at Central Washington, the Falcons were back in their familiar confines on Thursday, defeating Western Oregon in four.
 
On Saturday, against a significantly improved Saint Martin's team (12-5, 2-5 GNAC) that already has set a school record for most victories in a single season, they went from start to finish in just 89 minutes.
 
"It's a different scenario. We had a good crowd tonight, which was fun, it was tun to get the energy up in our home gym and see our team feed off of that and perform well," Rhine said.
 




The Saints led through the first half of the opening set, once by as many as four points at 10-6. SPU gradually climbed out of that hole, taking leads of 13-12 and 14-13. Saint Martin's went back up by two at 17-15, but the Falcons responded with a 7-1 run to go up, 22-18. They eventually had quadruple set point at 24-20, saw the Saints fight off three of those, then Erin Smith finished it with a kill.
 
Seattle Pacific scored the first four points of the second set – the last two of those on back-to-back service aces by Ashley Antoniak – and stayed ahead the entire way. The closest Saint Martin's came was 14-13, and the Falcons answered that with a 7-1 burst to make it 21-14.
 
Except for an early 3-2 deficit, SPU led throughout the third set. The margin was just one at 13-12 before the Falcons put six of the next eight points on the board seize control.

On match point, Emily Tulino set Hair, and the ensuing quick kill clinched the win for the Falcons and went into the book as No. 500 for Hair.
 
Seattle Pacific's .323 hitting (40 kills-10 errors-93 attacks) came against one of the toughest defensive teams in the GNAC. Saint Martin's started the day allowing just .166 hitting. The Falcons are only the fourth team in 17 matches to even top .200 against the Saints, and just the second to top .300. (Central Washington, at .367, was the other.)
 
 

"I thought we hit, great, especially in Sets 1 (.400) and 3 (.464), led by our middles and right sides taking advantage of some of that matchups we had and scoring well," Rhine said. "I know (Saint Martin's) has been battling tough this season and they hold people to pretty low hitting percentages and usually play pretty good defense to back up their block. We were excited to be able to score and handle the second and third swings and transition."
 
Hair's no-errors day was the seventh of her career, and this was the first of those seven in which she had double-digit kills. She swung 16 times on Saturday for a .688 percentage. Twice last season, she had matches of nine kills with no errors.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Junior opposite Maddie Pruden also had an error-free day on offense with six kills on 14 attacks for a .429 percentage.
 

-- Sarah Brachvogel had a .320 hitting day (10 kills-2 errors-25 attacks). That was just one percentage point away from her season-best of .321 against Winona State.
--The Falcons now have defeated Saint Martin's 40 times in the last 41 matches.
-- Seattle Pacific limited the Saints to just 29 kills and .111 hitting (29-18-99). That tied for the fewest kills allowed this season.
-- Along with Brachvogel's three blocks, Allison Wilks also had three. The junior middle / outside hitter has been on a bit of a tear in that department of late. She has 20 block assists in her last four match, including a career high-tying seven against Western Oregon on Thursday.
 

UP NEXT
The Falcons wrap up the first half of GNAC play next Saturday in Brougham Pavilion against Montana State Billings. The first serve is at 2:00 p.m.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Saint Martin's 0
 
Game scores – 25-23, 25-18, 25-19.
 
Service aces – STM 4 (4 players with 1), SPU 8 (Brachvogel 3)
Kills – STM 29 (Fouonji 8), SPU 40 (Hair 11, Brachvogel 10).
Assists – STM 24 (Soto 23), SPU 36 (Tulino 16, Lambert 15).
Digs – STM 37 (Halstead 11), SPU 41 (Cunningham 12, Antoniak 10).
Block assists / solo – STM 8 / 1 solo (Gooding 3 / 1 solo), SPU 12 / 1 solo (Wilks 3 / 0 solo, Brachvogel 3 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – STM 29-18-99—111 (Fouonji 8-1-13—538), SPU 40-10-93—323 (Hair 11-0-16—688).
Attendance – 275.
 
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 7-9, 5-3 GNAC.
Saint Martin's 12-5, 2-5 GNAC.
 
Next match
Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Oct. 8     2:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.