MONMOUTH, Ore. – It wasn't quite perfect. But the Seattle Pacific Falcons came pretty darn close.
 
Hannah Hair, Allison Wilks, and Maddie Pruden combined for 21 kills and no attack errors on Saturday night, leading SPU to a 3-0 sweep of Western Oregon in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match.
 
Scores in WOU's New P.E. Building were 25-20, 25-19, 25-23.
 
Hair had nine kills on 14 attacks for a .643 percentage, along with four blocks. Wilks had six kills on seven swings for a career-high .857 percentage. Pruden slammed six on 14 attempts for a .429 mark and her second error-free match this week.
 
The Falcons (11-12, 9-6 GNAC) had just nine errors all night with 43 kills on 97 attacks for a season-best .351 percentage.
 
 

"We did a good job of putting together a good game plan and staying aggressive," head coach Jason Rhine said. "We found some good angles to attack and did a good job on them. And it was a good job by our passers to give them a chance to put some balls away."
 
The Falcons had a bit of extra motivation on Saturday. It was exactly 366 days ago – last Oct. 28 – when they came here with an outside chance of getting into the NCAA Tournament, but they needed to keep winning. Western Oregon had not yet won a conference match at that point, but put together a 25-17, 25-21, 25-22 sweep.
 
Most of the SPU players from that night were back in town on Saturday.
 
"We had a little chip on our shoulder from last year and wanted to show the kind of team we could be," Rhine said, "and we did a good job."
 
FALCONS SHOWED IT EARLY
 

Seattle Pacific took charge of this one early, scoring the first three points of the match and eventually building a 13-4 lead. That was capped by a 6-0 run with sophomore setter Emily Tulino on the serve for the last five of those points.
 
The lead grew to 19-9 before Western Oregon (9-13, 5-9 GNAC) gradually began to climb back into it.. The closest the Wolves got was four at 24-20, then Hair finished it with a kill that bounced off a WOU blocker and went out. Seattle Pacific hit .431 in that set (16 kills-3 errors-31 attacks).
 
"We played some of our best volleyball from the very beginning and had some opportunities and we converted them to points very quickly and jumped out to a lead," Rhine said.
 
The second set went a somewhat similar direction: The Falcons got the first three points and stretched it out to 16-6. Again, Western Oregon chipped away, getting within four. SPU closed it out for a 2 sets to 0 lead on a kill by Pruden, an ace by Ashley Antoniak, and a kill by Wilks that went off a blocker.
 
 

The Wolves came out strong to start Set 3. This time, it was their turn to get the first three points on the way to an early 6-2 advantage. Seattle Pacific eventually caught up and went ahead with a 4-0 run, going from 8-6 behind to 10-8 in front. Then at 10-9, the Falcons ran off six in a row, this time with Antoniak on the serve for the last five and a 16-9 advantage.
 
But Western Oregon was not done. Kiana Pel, who served up the first three points of the set, got the ball back as the Wolves rang up seven straight. Just like that, it was 16-16.
 
The Falcons put up the next four to make it 20-16, with Wilks delivering two service aces in the process. WOU got within one on four occasions: 21-20, 22-21, 23-22, and 24-23, fighting off one match point with a kill by Madison Hornback to get a sideout and regain the serve.
 
Seattle Pacific made good on its second try at match point, as Antoniak, playing on the outside, dropped a well-placed tip over the net.
 
"The second and third sets, (the Wolves) played better and combined with some serving runs on better hitting, it was more competitive," Rhine said. "But it was fun to play one that was tight from beginning to end. We stayed composed and continued to stay aggressive."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- After its .419 hitting mark in Saturday's first set, SPU followed with a .364 in the second (16 kills-4 errors-33 attacks) and a .273 in the third (11-2-33).
-- In the opener, the Falcons put 12 kills onto the floor before their first miss.
-- Allison Wilks' .857 mark (6-0-7) topped her previous career high of .714, which she achieved twice, most recently on Sept. 3 against Chaminade (6-1-7). She now has six error-free matches this season.
 

-- Maddie Pruden's 6-0-14—429 on Saturday came just 48 hours after her 6-0-13 effort on Thursday at Saint Martin's. She has three no-errors performances this season.
-- Hannah Hair raised her total of no-errors nights this season to four.
-- The Falcons now have three series sweeps, having done so previously against Central Washington and Saint Martin's.
-- Hair's four total blocks included one solo. She has soloed at least once in four of the past five matches.


 
UP NEXT
The Falcons have just one match next week, visiting Montana State Billings on Saturday. The first serve is at 11:30 a.m. Pacific time. SPU swept the Yellowjackets on Oct. 8 in Seattle, 25-15, 25-22, 25-20.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022
New P.E. Building / Monmouth, Ore.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Western Oregon 0
 
Game scores – 25-20, 25-19, 25-23.
 
Service aces – SPU 7 (Wilks 2, Antoniak 2), WOU 5 (Hornback 2).
Kills – SPU 43 (Hair 9), WOU 39 (Crowell 8, Hornback 8).
Assists – SPU 40 (Lambert 17, Tulino 15), WOU 32 (O'Neil 23).
Digs – SPU 41 (Cunningham 14), WOU 42 (Henry 14).
Block assists / solo – SPU 10 / 2 solo (Hair 3 / 1 solo), WOU 8 / 0 solo (MacLellan 4 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 43-9-97—351 (Wilks 6-0-7—714, Hair 9-0-14—643, Pruden 6-0-14—429), WOU 39-18-105—200 (Smith 5-1-9—444).
Attendance – 137.
 
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 11-12, 9-6 GNAC.
Western Oregon 9-13, 5-9 GNAC.
 
Next match
Seattle Pacific at Montana State Billings
Saturday, Nov. 5    11:30 a.m. PDT
Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.