SEATTLE – Even when things aren't going their way, the Seattle Pacific Falcons find a way to turn it back in their favor.
 
The 19th-ranked Falcons bounced back from a third-set loss on Thursday night, bolted to an early lead in Set 4 and kept it going the rest of the night to defeat Alaska Anchorage in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match, 3-1.
 
Scores in Brougham Pavilion were 25-15, 25-17, 19-25, 25-20.
 
Senior outside hitter Sarah Brachvogel came through with an all-around solid performance of 13 kills, .231 hitting, nine digs and four blocks.
 
Senior middle blocker Hannah Hair had her second double-digit block night in the past three matches, this time with 10 (four solo) moving not only into a tie for No. 3 on the all-time SPU list, but also into a tie for No. 8 on the GNAC career list, both of those with former Falcons star Shaun Crespi. Hair now has 433 career blocks. She has 30 total blocks (9 solo) in her last three matches.
 
Allison Wilks put together her fourth error-free hitting effort in the past five matches, this time with seven kills on 12 attacks for a .583 percentage.

 

"Some of our players are being really consistent and reliable, which is fun to see," head coach Jason Rhine said. "Our middles had a challenge because we didn't set them a lot early on, which was kind of by design. I thought they did a good job of staying aggressive and available when they did get chances and still play some good blocking. They came up big for us throughout."

The win gave the Falcons a sweep of the season series for the first time since 2006.
 
After using some late scoring runs to take charge of Sets 1 and 2, Seattle Pacific was on the short end of a pair of Alaska Anchorage surges in Set 3. Tied at 4-4, the Seawolves (12-15, 4-8 GNAC) ran off six straight for a 10-4 advantage, then put together another five in a row to make it 17-6.
 
They eventually built their lead to 20-7 before the Falcons found some spark. They got back as close as five 21-16. The 13-point hole was too much to escape complete, but the late momentum – SPU finished the set on a 12-5 run – carried over into the fourth set.

"In the middle of Set 3, it was getting us to reset and continue to play a similar game plan," Rhine said. "The end the set saw us compete really well and that gave us good confidence going into Set 4. The game plan hadn't really changed. We just had to keep making it hard for them to score and keep figuring out a way to get back some of those tougher serves, and I thought we did that in Set 4."
 




Senior Sarah Day opened the fourth with a service ace, and while UAA tied it at 1-1, the Falcons put the next four on the board, including three in a row on blocks: first by Hair and Brachvogel, then a solo by Hair, and finally a Hair and Erin Smith combination. That made it 5-1.
 
Seattle Pacific continued to stretch it out, gradually expanding the margin to nine at 19-10 and 20-11. The Seawolves weren't done, twice coming back within four at 21-17 and 22-18.
 
Junior setter Emily Tulino scored on a dump over the net for 23-18, and a kill by Hair made it 24-18. Anchorage fought off two of those match points, then Brachvogel ended it on a well-targeted tip.
 
In the opening set, SPU was up just 16-14 when it ran off five straight points, the last four with freshman setter Sophia Chambers on the serve. The Seawolves got one more point, then the Falcons tallied the last four.
 
Seattle Pacific was down 15-11 in Set 2, then scored 14 of the final 16 points, fueled in part with runs of 4-0, 4-0, and a final one of 6-0, that one with Tulino serving.

"When Anchorage plays to their strengths, they can be tough," Rhine said. "They have some great blockers and can serve really tough, and sometimes when those things combine, you can struggle offensively against them, and we saw that a little bit in Set 3 and a couple other times in the match. But I thought our team handled it well for the most part, stayed in system a lot, and figured out way to get a lot of kills in the other sets."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Seattle Pacific hit .223 for the night, including .333 in Set 1 (13 kills-2 errors-33 attacks) and .275 in Set 2 (17-6-40).
-- Anchorage finished at just .095 (40-28-126), the sixth time SPU has kept an opponent below .100 hitting.
 

-- Allison Wilks now has eight error-free matches this season and 20 for her career.
-- Sarah Brachvogel and UAA's Nicole Blue are came into the match ranked 1-2 in kills per set (Brachvogel ahead) and 1-2 in points per set (Blue ahead). They finished about as even as one might expect: 14 kills and 18 points for Blue; 13 kills and 16.5 points for Brachvogel.
-- In addition to her 10 blocks. Hannah Hair also had an error-free match, going 6-0-14--,429.
-- For Hair, with her 433 total blocks, the next step up the school record board is No. 2 Anina Winters, who had 455 from 1988-89. The next rung on the GNAC ladder is No. 7 Chloe Roetcisoender, who had 439 from 2019-22.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons will play host to Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. The Nanooks have won four straight, the latest of which was Thursday's 3-1 victory at Montana State Billings (22-25, 25-13, 25-17, 25-21).


NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
(No. 19) Seattle Pacific 3, Alaska Anchorage 1
 
Game scores – 25-15, 25-17, 19-25, 25-20.
 
Service aces – UAA 6 (Blue 4), SPU 5 (5 players with 1).
Kills –UAA 40 (Blue 14), SPU 48 (Brachvogel 13).
Assists – UAA 40 (Eleneki 19), SPU 45 (Tulino 21, Chambers 19).
Digs – UAA 53 (Plumhoff 13), SPU 47 (Lopez 13).
Block assists / solo – UAA 18 / 1 solo (Elder 5 / 0 solo), SPU 18 / 5 solo (Hair 6 / 4 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – UAA 40-28-126—095 (Blue 14-6-38—211), SPU 48-19-130—223 (Wilks 7-0-12—583).
Attendance – 112.
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 17-3, 11-1 GNAC.
Alaska Anchorage 12-15, 4-8 GNAC.
 
Next match
Alaska Fairbanks at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, 2:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.