SEATTLE – On a day they were looking for a bounceback, the Seattle Pacific Falcons didn't waste any time getting started.
 
Erin Smith had 10 kills, Allison Wilks hit an error-free .700 and delivered five service aces, and Hannah Hair got her hands on to eight blocks as SPU swept Simon Fraser in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball match on Saturday afternoon, 3-0.
 
Scores in Brougham Pavilion were 25-9, 34-32, 25-19.
 
The No. 21-ranked Falcons (13-3, 7-1 GNAC) saw their11-match winning streak come to an end on Thursday when Western Washington scored a 3-0 win in Brougham.
 
But showing that they had put that one behind them, they came out and scored the first 12 points of Saturday's contest. The last 11 of those were with Wilks on the serve, during which time she dropped in three of her five aces.

 

"I was really proud of the way the bounced back, even in practice on Friday and during warm-ups today," head coach Jason Rhine said. "It was a really positive and forward-looking mentality. They were excited to play again and compete and hopefully put together something a little bit better than Thursday, and I thought they did a great job of that today."
 
By the time the Red Leafs (9-6, 4-3 GNAC) started to string some points together in that opening set, Seattle Pacific had a 20-2 lead.
 
"That was one of the themes today and one of the adjustments we wanted to make was to really make a statement on how we started the match," Rhine said. "I didn't know it was going to turn out like that," he added with a chuckle. "But Ali is someone who is capable of going back and putting a lot of serves in there. The defense took advantage of some opportunities to transition and keep scoring points and put some points on the board."
 




A RECORD-SETTING SET
As expected, the second set was much tighter. Simon Fraser had a five-point lead at 11-6; SPU got back into it and was up 23-21.
 
Tied at 23-23, the Falcons gained a try at set point on a kill by Wilks for a 24-23 lead. For the next several minutes, the teams traded set-point opportunities back and forth. SPU had four (24-23, 30-29, 31-30, 33-32); the Leafs had six (25-24, 26-25, 27-26, 28-27, 29-28, 32-31.)

On Simon's last set point, Wilks and Maddie Pruden saved it by combining on a block for 32-32. The Red Leafs had a crosscourt attack try go wide, making it 33-32 for SPU. Then Perry, who was serving, hammered an attack from backcourt that was dug up, but sent wide to clinch the set for the Falcons.
 
That was the highest-scoring set for SPU since the 25-point scoring era began in 2008. On Aug. 29, 2009, the Falcons dropped a 33-31 set in a preseason non-conference match against Ashland. SPU won a 32-30 set at then-No. 22 Central Washington on Oct. 27, 2012.
 
"Simon Fraser did a great job of continuing to side-out and put pressure on our side," Rhine said. "It got to the point where both sides were running out of subs (each gets 15 during each of the first four sets) and were playing with the people who were out there and seeing who was going to figure it out. So many times, it could have gone either way, and I'm glad it went our way."
 
Except for a few points in the middle of it, Seattle Pacific led for most of the third set. Down 15-14, the Falcons went on a 5-1 run for a 19-16 lead.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- During their first-set romp, the Falcons hit .458 (12 kills-1 errors-24 attacks). They finished the match at .184 (42-19-125).
-- Defensively, SPU limited Simon Fraser to .023 hitting (29-26-128). That was a season-low percent for any opponent, the second in the past three matches and the fourth time this year that the other team has hit less than .100
 

-- The Falcons went from a season-low six blocks on Thursday against WWU to a season-high 24 on Saturday. Along with eight for Hannah Hair, Wilks and Maddie Pruden had four each.
-- Led by Allison Wilks' five, the Falcons had 11 service aces, their second-highest total of the season. The only better total was 17 at Alaska Fairbanks on Sept. 28.
-- Along with her 11-point serving run in he opening set, Wilks had a five-pointer at the outset of the third, helping Seattle Pacific take a 6-1 lead. Junior setter Emily Tulino had a five-pointer midway through Set 2 to help turn an 11-6 deficit into a 12-11 lead.
-- Wilks had seven kills on 10 attacks for her .700 percentage. That was her second .700 of the year (.750 vs. Northwest Nazarene on Sept. 21) and her fifth error-free match.
-- Once again, the setter combo of Tulino and freshman Sophia Chambers both double-doubled: 17 assists / 10 digs for Tulino; 15 assists / 10 digs for Chambers. They now have 15 double-doubles between them this season (eight for Tulino, seven for Chambers). They've done it in the same match six times.
-- Tulino needs just two more digs to reach 500 for her career.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons have most of next week off, with their only match set for Saturday, Oct. 14, against Montana State Billings at 2:00 p.m. in Brougham. The Yellowjackets, who came into Saturday winless in GNAC play (0-7) and just 2-15 overall, pulled off a stunning 3-2 upset of Western Washington in Billings, 16-25, 26-24, 25-21, 22-25 15-13.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
(No. 21) Seattle Pacific 3, Simon Fraser 0
 
Game scores – 25-9, 34-32, 25-19.
 
Service aces – Simon 0, SPU 11 (Wilks 5).
Kills – Simon 29 (Dexter 9), SPU 42 (Smith 10).
Assists – Simon 26 (Person 19), SPU 39 (Tulino 17, Chambers 15).
Digs – Simon 53 (Unger 16), SPU 59 (Lopez 13, Chambers 10, Tulino 10).
Block assists / solo – Simon 10 / 2 solo (Hartmann 3 / 1 solo), SPU 22 / 2 solo (Hair 7 / 1 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – Simon 29-26-128—023 (Hill 2-1-4—250), SPU 42-19-128—184 (Wilks 7-0-10—700).
Attendance – 124.
 
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 13-3, 7-1 GNAC
Simon Fraser 9-6, 4-3 GNAC.
 
 
Next match
Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Oct. 14     2:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.