SAN DIEGO – The Seattle Pacific Falcons saw both ends of the broom on the opening day of the 2023 volleyball season.
 
Sarah Brachvogel logged her first career double-double, posting 10 kills and 10 digs, and SPU had three players hit .400-plus on Friday morning in scoring a 3-0 sweep of Lewis University in the first match of the Seaside Invitational. Scores inside The Sports Center at Cal State San Marcos were 25-22, 25-21, 25-21.
 
Then, after a 38-mile trip south to San Diego, Brachvogel had another nine kills, but host Point Loma Nazarene came from 24-21 down in the opening set and fought off Falcon comebacks in the final two sets to close out a 3-0 decision, 27-25, 25-20, 26-24 in Golden Gymnasium.
 
For the Falcons (1-1), it was another pair of upper-echelon opponents on the first day of the season. Although neither was ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association preseason top 25, both received votes, with Lewis being just outside of the top 25. SPU also received preseason votes. (Last year, Winona State was No. 15 and Concordia St. Paul was No. 6 across the net from the Falcons on opening day in Minnesota.)
 
 

"It was a fun start with two good teams, good competition, and a little bit different styles," coach Jason Rhine said "Lewis put up a tough defense and serve-received well against us, so we had to earn our points. I thought we did a good job of doing that consistently, and were a little bit better as the match went on.
 
"Point Loma brought a really big crowd, a lot of students, and it was a loud, hostile environment," Rhine added. "It was fun to play in. It threw us off a little bit to start, but we worked our way back into it. At the end, it was a couple of points and a couple close sets that didn't fall our way."
 
SPU 3, Lewis 0
The Falcons led for most of the first two sets, although never were able to pull comfortably away from the Flyers. Up 24-20, Seattle Pacific saw its Illinois counterparts get within 24-22 before Sydney Perry got the clinching kill.
 
 

SPU had a 22-18 advantage in Set 2, but again saw the Flyers cut it to just two points at 23-21. A kill by Erin Smith provided a set point opportunity, and Perry converted it with a service ace.
 
Lewis broke to an early six-point lead in the third set at 8-2. Twice, SPU pulled within one at 9-8 and 12-11; twice, the Flyers answered. The Falcons climbed into ties at 15-15 and 16-16, then found themselves down again at 18-16. Then a 4-0 run, including two kills by Perry and a combined block by Smith and Hannah Hair, pushed Seattle Pacific ahead at 20-18.
 
The Flyers forged one more tie at 20-20 before another 4-0 Falcons run set up quadruple match point, 24-20. Lewis saved the first one, then Brachvogel's 10th kill of the match clinched it.
 
Three of Seattle Pacific's front-row starters hit for .400-plus, with two posting error-free efforts: Hair at .467 (7 kills-15 attacks) and Allison Wilks at .455 (5-0-11). Perry hit .444 (9-1-18). The Falcons hit .246 as a team (41-12-118).
 
"They had good defense, and we saw that in the scouting report, as well," Rhine said. "That's something they're known for, and they did a great job of making us earn it. We had to take a couple extra swings and figure out a way to score. I thought we did a good job of adjusting and finding good, smart shots and starting to be a little more aggressive."
 
Point Loma Nazarene 3, SPU 0
The Sea Lions scored the first two points of the match and were in control through most of Set 1 until Seattle Pacific found a spark. Down 20-16, the Falcons scored eight of the next nine points.
 
Point Loma wasn't done, running off four in a row for a 25-24 lead. Maddie Pruden got SPU back into a 25-25 tie with a kill, but the Sea Lions took the next two points and the set.
 
The second set was all Point Loma, as it built a 20-9 advantage, although Seattle Pacific did climb all the way within 24-20.
 
The Falcons made another comeback in Set 3. Down 21-16, they got back into a tie at 22-22, then 23-23, and 24-24, with a kill by Brachvogel saving a match point at 24-23. The Sea Lions immediately got another match point at 25-24, and this time made good on it when Bailey Wiliams' attack was deflected out.
 
"They came out fired up and got a couple opportunities to go after it," Rhine said of the Sea Lions. "The served really aggressive and put some pressure on us from the serving line, then followed that up with some big swings."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
 

-- Allison Wilks was nearly flawless on the attack through the two matches. She had 12 kills and just one error on 22 swings, a .500 percentage for the day. Hannah Hair hit .400 for the day (12-2-25), Sarah Brachvogel was at .294 (19-4-51), and Sydney Perry finished at .277 (14-4-36).
-- Senior opposite Maddie Pruden's 11 kills in the two matches combined pushed her past 500 for her career. She now has 509.
--Freshman setter Sophia Chambers led the Falcons in assists against Lewis with 19, with junior Emily Tulino racking up 14. The roles were reversed against Point Loma, as Tulino had 17 and Chambers 14.
-- Brachvogel's 10 digs in the Lewis match were a career high, bettering her old mark of eight. That put her at 99 for her career, and she picked up No. 100 – plus seven more after that – against Point Loma.
--By beating Lewis, Seattle Pacific is now 22-16 all-time in season openers.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons remain in San Diego for their final two Seaside matches on Saturday. Up first is Biola at 9:00 a.m., followed by Cal State San Marcos at 2:00 p.m.

NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Seaside Invitational
Friday, Sept. 1, 2023
San Marcos and San Diego, Calif.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Lewis 0
 
Game scores – 25-22, 25-21, 25-21.
 
Service aces – SPU 6 (Chambers 2), Lewis 5 (Fornetti 2).
Kills – SPU 41 (Brachvogel 10), Lewis 40 (Alvey 11)
Assists – SPU 39 (Chambers 19, Tulino 14), Lewis 39 (Stenman 33).
Digs – SPU 52 (Cunningham 13, Brachvogel 10), Lewis 62 (Hickey 22).
Block assists / solo – SPU 12 / 1 solo (Wilks 4 / 0 solo), Lewis 10 / 0 solo (Schlechte 3 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – Spu 41-12-118—246 (Hair  7-0-15—467, Wilks 5-0-11—455, Perry 9-1-18—444), Lewis 40-18-119—185 (Van Loo 8-3-17—294).
Attendance – 45.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 1-0, Lewis 0-1.
 
 
Point Loma Nazarene 3, Seattle Pacific 0
 
Game scores – 27-25, 25-20, 26-24.
 
Service aces – SPU 1 (Tulino 1), PLNU 4 (Nua 2, Hommes 2).
Kills – SPU 39 (Brachvogel 9), PLNU 40 (Massori 9).
Assists – Spu 36 (Tulino 17, Chambers 14), PLNU 36 (Phillips 19).
Digs – SPU 41 (Cunningham 8, Brachvogel 8), PLNU 3 (Reynolds 9).
Block assists / solo – SPU 8 / 0 solo (Smith 3 / 0 solo), PLNU 16 / 1 solo (Hommes 4 / 1 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 3i-21-105—171 (Wilks 7-1-11—545), PLNU 40-17-108—219 (Massori 9-1-15—533).
Attendance – 602.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 1-1, Point Loma Nazarene 1-0.
 
Next matches
Seattle Pacific vs. Biola, Saturday, 9:00 a.m.
Seattle Pacific vs. Cal State San Marcos, Saturday, 2:00 p.m.
 
Both at Golden Gymnasium / San Diego, Calif.