LACEY, Wash. – The start certainly wasn't what the Seattle Pacific Falcons had in mind.
 
The finish was much more to their liking.
 
Sydney Perry had 11 kills and three service aces, Ashley Antoniak had nine kills, and SPU had 22 total blocks – including a combined effort by Allison Wilks and Maddie Pruden on match point – to defeat Saint Martin's in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match on Thursday night, 3-1.
 
Scores in Marcus Pavilion were 14-25, 25-16, 25-16, 25-19.
 
After managing just six kills and .036 hitting in the opening set, the Falcons (10-12, 8-6 GNAC) warmed up as the night went along: 10 kills and .154 hitting in the second, 11 kills and .346 in the third, then 13 kills and .297 in the fourth.
 
Defensively, after allowing the Saints nine kills on .292 hitting in the opening set, SPU kept them to .000 hitting in the second (7 kills), .027 in the third (10) and .125 in the fourth (12).
 
Seattle Pacific simply never got untracked in the opening set. Saint Martin's (12-11, 2-11 GNAC) scored the first three points, and the closest the Falcons ever came was two points – and that was at 3-1. Up 6-3, the Saints put six straight points on the board to make it 12-3.

"They started with a different lineup than they've been playing, and we maybe put too much attention on that. And they also served aggressively," head coach Jason Rhine said. "They missed a bunch (of serves), but when they made it, it was very, very aggressive and they were able to go on some serving runs against us, and that enabled them to get out to an early lead."
 
SPU fell behind 3-0 again in the second set, but this time responded with a 7-1 run, the last four of those points with senior setter Lindsey Lambert on the serve. The Falcons gradually stretched it out to 16-7.
 




With the Falcons up 10-7 in Set 3, there was a stoppage of approximately 13 minutes to sort out a lineup issue on the Saint Martin's side. When it was finally resolved, SPU was awarded a point for the Saints being out of rotation, making it 11-7.
 
"It took a while to figure it out, but I'm glad our players stayed composed ad bounced right back and kept playing hard," Rhine said.
 
Saint Martin's gradually got within 14-13 before Seattle Pacific put five in a row on the board, with Lambert again on the serve for the last four of those.
 
Needing the fourth set to keep the match going, the Saints built an 11-8 lead. They were still up 14-13 when the Falcons ran up four straight to go in front for good.

 

"I thought we responded well," Rhine said of the final two sets. "Sydney had some big swings, Maddie and Erin (Smith) had some big swings in transition, especially when we were trying to play off of a dig or off of a set, they were able to put the ball down quickly, and the resulted in a pretty high hitting percentage."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- The win gave SPU a sweep of the season series. It now has two sweeps for the year (Central Washington was the other).
-- Thanks to their improved hitting as the match went along, the Falcons finished at .214 for the night (40 kills-15 errors-117 attacks). Of those 15 attack errors, they had just two in the third set and two in the fourth.
-- Maddie Pruden finished with an error-free night, going 6-0-13 for a team-high .462 hitting percentage. She also logged zero errors in the home match against Saint Martin's on Oct. 1 (6-0-14).
-- Of the 22 total blocks, junior middle Hannah Hair had six. Pruden added five.
-- Lindsey Lambert's three service aces tied her single-match season high. She also had three on Sept. 10 at Simon Fraser
-- Speaking of serving, SPU had some nice multiple-point runs through the final three sets: four-pointers for Abigail Cunningham in the second; Emily Tulino, Lambert, and Sydney Perry (all in the third); and three-pointers for Lambert and Perry in the second, and Ashley Antoniak in the fourth.
-- Lambert's 18 assists moved her past 2,200 for her career (now 2,208). Tulino's 13 brought her closer to 1,000 (now 947).
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons play the second of three straight road matches when they visit Western Oregon on Saturday in Monmouth. First serve is at 7:00 p.m. When the teams met in Seattle on Sept 29, SPU prevailed in four, 25-19, 22-25, 25-15, 25-22. The Wolves won at home against Montana State Billings on Thursday, 3-1 (25-16, 23-25, 27-25, 25-19).
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022
Marcus Pavilion / Lacey, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Saint Martin's 1
 
Game scores – 14-25, 25-16, 25-16, 25-19.
 
Service aces – SPU 8 (Lambert 3, Perry 3), STM 7 (Soto 3).
Kills – SPU 40 (Perry 11), STM 38 (Soha 8).
Assists – SPU 36 (Lambert 18, Tulino 13), STM 32 (Soto 28).
Digs – SPU 55 (Cunningham 16, Antoniak 13), STM 54 (Halstead 16).
Block assists / solo – SPU 22 / 0 solo (Hair 6 / 0 solo), STM 2 / 1 solo (3 players with 1).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 40-15-117—214 (Pruden 6-0-13—462), STM 38-25-129—101 (Soha 8-0-15—533).
Attendance – 179
 
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 10-12, 8-6 GNAC.
Saint Martin's 12-11, 2-11 GNAC.
 
Next match
Seattle Pacific at Western Oregon
Saturday, 7:00 p.m.
New P.E. Building / Monmouth, Ore.