SAN DIEGO – A mark in the win column. And a line in the record book.
 
It was quite an ending to the first weekend of the volleyball season for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
Hannah Hair matched SPU's best-ever single-match hitting performance, Sydney Perry came up with her first career double-double, and Emily Tulino also double-doubled as the Falcons swept past Cal State San Marcos in their final match at the Seaside Invitational, 3-0.
 
Scores in Golden Gymnasium at Point Loma Nazarene University were 25-19, 25-17, 28-26.
 
Senior middle blocker Hair finished with an .833 hitting percentage, getting her 10 kills with no errors on 12 attacks. The last – and only – Falcon to do that was middle blocker Nikki Lowell, with identical numbers –10-0-12—833 – on Sept. 28, 2010 in a 3-0 sweep at home against Montana State Billings. Hair easily beat her previous career-best hitting mark of .727 (8-0-11), set on Oct. 2, 2021 at home against Western Oregon.

 

"It has been a struggle for me to get into a groove, and I had a great conversation with my coaches, and they gave me some really great pieces of advice where they felt I was lacking," Hair said. "Something just clicked in that match. My setters put me in the right spot, as they normally do, and I was able to see it differently this match and found some holes in the defense."
 
Hair was quick to emphasize that it wasn't just her getting into the school record book.

"It's a huge honor that would be absolutely impossible without Emily (Tulino) and Sophia (Chambers) setting me up, and our pin hitters," she said. "It's not easy to hit around the block if your pin hitters aren't also a threat. But they hit well out there, and the defense has a whole lot to worry about. That makes my job a whole lot easier."
 
 

Added head coach Jason Rhine, "She came out and hadn't had the matches she wanted leading up to that and got fired up," Rhine said. "She saw some opportunities and some good matchups, and did a great job of taking advantage."
 
The victory against the Cougars was a bounceback for SPU from a 3-1 loss to Biola in the first match of the day. The Eagles took that one, 25-20, 25-16, 16-25, 25-19.
 
The Falcons thus concluded their opening weekend with a 2-2 split of their four matches. On Friday, they swept Lewis, then got swept by host Point Loma.
 
"It's early in the season, and everyone is going to experience some ups and downs and inconsistencies. It's kind of riding those waves and trying to play more consistently at a higher level," Rhine said. "It was good competition, and to come out 2-and-2 with some solid wins, there was some good experience in all four matches for our athletes, and it was a fun weekend."
 
SPU 3, Cal State San Marcos 0
Tied at 12-12 in Set 1, the Falcons put together a 9-1 scoring run to take command at 21-13. San Marcos came as close as 21-17, but Hair ended that surge with her fourth kill of the set.
 
Seattle Pacific pulled away in the second set on a 10-3 scoring run with Perry on the serve for five of those points.
 
SPU scored the first two points of the third set and stayed in front. But just when it seemed on the verge of putting it away with a 22-18 lead, the Cougars climbed back in, running off five straight points for their only lead at 23-22.
 
A Cal State San Marcos attack error tied the score at 23-23, and the Falcons gained a match point at 24-23 when Hair and Maddie Pruden combined on a block. A service error tied it at 24-24, and subsequent match points at 25-24 and 26-25 also went awry on service errors.
 
A kill by Perry gave SPU another match point at 27-26. This time, a San Marcos attack toward the far corner went barely out, and that clinched it. The kill was Perry's 10th, to go along with 10 digs.
 
Tulino's double-double was 19 assists and 10 digs. It was her first of the season and 15th of her career.
 
Seattle Pacific hit a season-best .307 (46-11-98).
 
Biola 3, SPU 1
The Eagles were ahead through most of the first set and all of the second on the way to a 2-0 lead – same as last year when they also won the first two sets at the Cal State Los Angeles Invitational before SPU stormed back to take it in five.
 
The Falcons snapped a 5-5 tie in the third on Saturday and went on to put that set on their side of the board. But Biola came through with a .383 hitting performance in Set 4 with 14 kills.
 
Sarah Brachvogel recorded her second double-double of the weekend, this one with 15 kills and 11 digs.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- The error-free performance by Hair was her second of the season, the 13th of her career, and the third with double-digit kills.
 

-- Speaking of error-free, Allison Wilks had one of those against Biola with five kills on 10 attacks. Wilks was just as solid against San Marcos with nine kills and only one error on 13 attacks, giving her a mark of .565 for Saturday's two matches (14-1-23). She also had nine total blocks, eight of those (one solo) in the Biola match.
 

-- Sydney Perry's double-double against San Marcos made her the second Falcon this weekend to get the first one of her career. Sarah Brachvogel did it in Friday's 3-0 sweep of Lewis – also with 10 kills and 10 digs, then got another in the Biola match.
-- Erin Smith came up huge on the block against Biola with a career-high nine (all block assist). Her previous best was six last Oct. 8 at home vs. Billings.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons play an exhibition match at Vanguard in Costa Mesa on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. They remain in California for the Cougar Classic next Friday and Saturday at San Marcos.


NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Seaside Invitational
Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023
Golden Gymnasium / San Diego, Calif.
 
Biola 3, Seattle Pacific 1
 
Game scores – 25-20, 25-16, 16-25, 25-19.
 
Service aces – SPU 3 (Cunningham 1, Brachvogel 1, Shuckhart 1), BU 6 (McDonnell 3).
Kills – SPU 40 (Brachvogel 15), BU 52 (Kirton 16).
Assists – SPU 38 (Tulino 17, Chambers 13), BU 46 (Brewster 20).
Digs – SPU 60 (Cunningham 15, Brachvogel 11), BU 63 (Bri Bellfi 16).
Block assists / solo – SPU 22 / 1 solo (Smith 9 / 0 solo, Wilks 7 / 1 solo), BU 12 / 5 solo (Copeland 4 / 2 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 40-17-127—181 (Wilks 5-0-10—500), BU 52-19-136—243 (Copeland 6-0-9—667).
Attendance – 88.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 1-2, Biola 2-0.
 
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Cal State San Marcos 0
 
Game scores – 25-19, 25-17, 28-26.
 
Service aces – SPU 5 (Wilks 2), CSSM 10 (Goff 3).
Kills – SPU 46 (Hair 10, Perry 10), CSSM 25 (Barr 7, Hedqvist 7).
Assists – SPU 42 (Tulino 19, Chambers 13), CSSM 23 (Goff 18).
Digs – SPU 39 (Tulino 10, Perry 10), CSSM 34 (Christensen 7, Beibly 7).
Block assists / solo – SPU 10 / 1 solo (Hair 4 / 1 solo), CSSM 8 / 0 sol0 (Bakken, Hedqvist, Gurrola all 2 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 46-11-98—357 (Hair 10-0-12—833), CSSM 25-16-86—105 (Goff 2-0-7—286).
Attendance – 96.