SEATTLE – For their final test in the first half of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball schedule on Saturday afternoon …
 
… the Seattle Pacific Falcons aced it.
 
Allison Wilks delivered five service aces, and No. 22-ranked SPU had 17 altogether in sweeping past Montana State Billings, 3-0.
 
Scores in Brougham Pavilion were 25-18, 25-12, 25-16.
 
 

Christina Lopez and Zoe Shuckhart had four aces apiece. SPU's total of 17 tied a season high (Sept. 28 at Alaska Fairbanks) and was just two short of the team record of 19, which was set last Nov. 5 at Billings.

"We do try to stay on the aggressive side. We do practice serving low and flat," head coach Jason Rhine said. "Sometimes, it ends up bringing a few errors; sometimes, it ends up trickling over the net – and sometimes, it ends up trickling over the net a lot. We'll take it."
 
Sarah Brachvogel led the Falcons (14-3, 8-1 GNAC) with nine kills. Hannah Hair added six kills and six blocks, and Allison Wilks had another error-free hitting day with four kills on seven attempts for a .571 percentage.
 
Seattle Pacific came up with a sterling performance on defense. It limited Billings (3-16, 1-8 GNAC) to just 14 kills and minus-073 hitting for the day (14 kills-20 errors-82 attacks). It was the second straight match and fifth of the season the Falcons have kept a team below .100 hitting.
  




"I think our defense has been really strong from the get-go," Rhine said. "But we continue to clamp down in conference play and figuring out the combination of serving and blocking and defense behind that works together. Our team continues to get better and better at that, and has done a great job of slowing down what teams are trying to do."
 
With their 8-1 record, the Falcons head into the second half of the GNAC schedule all alone in first place. It's the first time since 2011 that they've been at the top of the ladder by themselves at the midway turn.

 

"It kind of feels strange to be halfway through already, especially with just one match this week," Rhine said. "But it will be a quick transition back into the second half, and we're excited to be starting the second half from a good spot. We know every team is going to be getting better, and we know we have to continue keep getting better if we want to be competing with all of those teams."
  
SPU was down 7-4 in the first set when a kill by Hair gave them a point and gave the serve to freshman libero Lopez. The Falcons then came up with the next six points – two of them Lopez service aces – to take an 11-7 lead.
 
Seattle Pacific gradually stretched it out to as many as seven points at 20-13. The Yellowjackets made a run to get as close as three at 20-17 before the Falcons put five of the final six points on the board, the clincher coming on a Lopez serve that hit the net cord, but dropped in for an ace.
 
Up 3-2 early in Set 2, SPU took charge with a run of five straight points. Hair got her hands on two of her blocks (the first one in combination with Erin Smith), and Wilks had back-to-back aces, the first of which dropped in off the cord. That set finished with three consecutive aces by Shuckhart, the first two of them getting some friendly help from the net cord.
 
The first five points of Set 3 went to the Falcons, two of them on Wilks service aces. MSUB came as close as 6-3, then the Falcons rang up the next five points, and were never threatened after that.
 
 

IT'S A FIRST FOR PELLUER
Anna Pelluer, who transferred to SPU from Idaho, slammed not only her first two kills as a Falcon, but also the first two of her college career.
 
Pelluer's kills came on back-to-back attacks late in the third set, helping the Falcons extend their lead to 19-9. The second one of those was a well-placed shot down the line.
 
At Idaho last fall, Pelluer got into three matches, totaling four sets.
 
DITTO FOR SHUCKHART
Senior defensive / serving specialist Zoe Shuckhart was credited with her first career kill. With SPU up 14-6 in Set 2, Shuckhart dug up a serve by MSUB's Emma Fa'alogo. The ball flew all the way over the net and dropped onto the court before any of the Yellowjackets could react to it. By rule, that counted as an attack and a kill.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- The last time SPU limited an opponent to negative hitting was in a 3-0 victory at Saint Martin's on Oct. 30, 2021. On that night, the Saints went 18 kills-20 errors-101 attacks for minus .040.
--The Falcons finished the day at .179 hitting (33-16-95).
-- Allison Wilks' error-free day was her second in a row and her sixth of the season. Her .571 percentage was her fifth of .500-plus, She now has exactly 100 kills for the season and lifted her GNAC-leading percentage to .426.
-- Hannah Hair's six blocks pushed her past 400 for her career. She now has 403.
-- Along with her 17 assists, Emily Tulino had eight digs on Saturday, the second of which was the 500th of her career. She now has 506.
--The 3-0 sweep was Seattle Pacific's ninth of the season.
 
UP NEXT
The second half of conference play begins with a rugged road trip, as the Falcons visit Central Washington on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. in Ellensburg, then head off to Idaho on Saturday to take on Northwest Nazarene in Nampa at noon Pacific time. When those teams visited Brougham in September, SPU swept the Nighthawks, 3-0, then pulled out a 3-2 victory against Central.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
(No. 22) Seattle Pacific 3, Montana State Billings 0
 
Game scores – 25-18, 25-12, 25-16.
 
Service aces – MSUB 4 (Carroll 3), SPU 17 (Wilks 5., Lopez 4, Shuckhart 4).
Kills – MSUB 14 (Schwartz 7), SPU 33 (Brachvogel 9).
Assists – MSUB 12 (Fa'alogo 10), SPU 29 (Tulino 15).
Digs – MSUB 40 (Funk 12), SPU 39 (Lopez 13).
Block assists / solo – MSUB 9 / 1 solo (Schwartz 3 / 0 solo, Langston 2 / 1 solo), SPU 12 / 1 solo (Hair 5 / 1 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – MSUB 14-2082—minus 073 (Schwartz 7-4-19—158), SPU 33-16-95—179 (Wilks 4-0-7—571).
Attendance – 114.
 
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 14-3, 8-1 GNAC.
Montana State Billings 3-16, 1-8 GNAC.
 
 
Next match
Seattle Pacific at Central Washington
Thursday, Oct. 19     7:00 p.m.
Nicholson Pavilion / Ellensburg, Wash.