SAN MARCOS, Calif. – Sarah Brachvogel certainly put up some notable numbers for Seattle Pacific in last weekend's preseason volleyball tournament in San Diego.
 
Then came Friday in San Marcos.
 
Brachvogel slammed a career-high 23 kills, the last four of them in the deciding fifth set, as the Falcons got past Concordia Irvine in their first match of the Cougar Classic, 3-2.
 
Scores inside The Sports Center at Cal State San Marcos were 21-25, 25-19, 25-10, 23-25, 15-9.
 
 

The senior outside hitter / opposite was far from done. Coming back on Friday evening against the host Cougars, she had another 14 kills as the Falcons won again, this time by a 3-1 margin. Scores were 25-18, 21-25, 25-13, 28-26.
 
Brachvogel made it a double-double with 11 digs in each match.
 
The 23 kills in the opener did more than just beat her previous career high of 19 (in a 3-2 victory vs. Biola last Sept. 2 in the Cal State Los Angeles Invitational). It made Brachvogel the first Falon with that many in a match since Gabby Oddo piled up 32 in a five-setter against Western Washington on Nov. 10, 2018 in Brougham Pavilion.
 
The most recent 20-kill performance was by Maddie Batiste, who had exactly 20 on April 24, 2021 against Western Washington during the abbreviated spring season after the fall 2020 campaign was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
 
 

"She was working really hard, finding different areas of the court and finding different ways to score," head coach Jason Rhine said. "She did a great job of carrying a big offensive load for us in that first match and taking advantage of good match-ups that she had to be an offensive weapon for us, which was great."
 
Rhine was especially pleased with how SPU pulled out the five-setter against CUI, then came from behind in the fourth set to beat San Marcos,
 
"The team just played with a lot of poise today and took care of teams that were working really hard," he said. "We had some small dips, but overall, we saved some tight sets."
 
Falcons 3, Concordia Irvine 2
 

While Brachvogel came up big, the Falcons got plenty of help from everyone else. Senior middle blocker Erin Smith, playing just 15 miles away from her alma mater of Carlsbad High School, had a career-high 14 kills. The 13th of those, which she tipped off a CUI player, set up match point at 14-9 in the fifth. Moments later, her 14thand final one clinched the win for SPU. Hannah Hair added 11 kills and six blocks.
 
Seattle Pacific got four double-doubles. Along with Brachvogel's, junior libero Abigail Cunningham notched her first with the Falcons, collecting 13 assists and 12 digs. Freshman setter Sophia Chambers did likewise, with career highs of 20 assists and 15 digs. Junior setter Emily Tulino had 28 assists plus 14 digs.
 
 

"Hannah did a great job of just being an offensive weapon in different ways throughout," Rhine said. "They tried to throw new people up against her, and she found new ways to score toward the end of the match, and that was big for us. Erin had one of her best matches of the season. She did a great job of swinging really hard and taking some smart shots and scored in different ways, which was fun to see."
 
Twice during the first four sets, SPU had Concordia Irvine on the hook, only to see the Golden Eagles wiggle off it. In Set 1, the Falcons had a 16-12 lead, but Concordia finished on a 12-5 scoring run to take it.
 
SPU appeared to be well on its way closing it out in Set 4, building leads of 8-2 and 14-9. The Eagles climbed back in again, going in front 19-17 and 20-18. Up 24-22, the Falcons saved one set point, but Concordia converted the next one with a kill force a deciding Set 5.
 
Except for a 5-5 tie, Seattle Pacific led for the entirety of Set 2, thanks in part to .406 hitting (16 kills-3 errors on 32 attacks). The Falcons hit even better in Set 3 at .433 (15-2-30).
 
Of Seattle Pacific's 15 points in that final set, 13 came on kills: six by Smith, four by Brachvogel, two by Maddie Pruden, and one by Allison Wilks. The other two points came on Concordia service errors. Tied at 5-5, a 6-1 Falcons outburst opened an 11-6 lead. The Golden Eagles came as close as 11-9 before SPU tallied the final four points.
 
Seattle Pacific finished the match with an eye-popping 71 kills. The last effort with that many was 70 in the same November 2018 match against Western when Oddo had her 32.
 
Falcons 3, Cal State San Marcos 1
SPU fought off five Cal State San Marcos set points in Set 4, at 24-21, 24-22, 24-23, 25-24, and 26-25. A kill by Sydney Perry that deflected off a Cougars blocker tied it at 26-26. Perry then gave the Falcons a match point with a kill to make it 27-26. Seattle Pacific converted that opportunity when Wilks and Tulino combined on a block.
 
With the first set tied at 9-9, Seattle Pacific took charge with a 6-0 run, the last five of those points with Wilks serving. Those half dozen points included four kills and one service ace.
 
SPU had several three-point leads in Set 2, the last of them at 17-14. But Cal State San Marcos put seven of the next eight points on the board for a 21-18 advantage and stayed ahead the rest of the way to tie the match at 1-1.
 
Up 11-10 in the third, the Falcons put together a 10-1 scoring string to make it 21-11.
 
Maddie Pruden pounded 12 kills and hit .550, with just one error on 20 attacks. Hair had 11 kills and hit .474 (11-2-19) and got her hands on six blocks, three of them solo. Erin Smith also had six blocks.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Seattle Pacific finished the Concordia Irvine match with an eye-popping 71 kills. The last time with that many was 70 in the same November 2018 match against Western when Gabby Oddo had her 32.
-- Sarah Brachvogel got her 23 kills on 56 attacks vs. Concordia with just five errors for a solid .321 percentage. Erin Smith finished at .429 (14-2-28).
-- SPU hit .329 (71-16-167) vs. Concordia, its second straight match of .300-plus. Along with Smith's .429 and Brachvogel's .321, Maddie Pruden hit .364 (9-1-22) and Hannah Hair hit .348 (11-3-223).
-- Hair's 11 kills pushed her past 600 for her career. Along with the 11 she had on Friday night against San Marcos, she now totals 613. She had a season-high seven blocks against Concordia and six more vs. San Marcos.
-- Also on the list of milestones. Abigail Cunningham's three assists in Friday's opener included her career 200th. She now has 202 after picking up 13 in the Concordia match.
-- After a career-high 20 assists against Concordia Irvine, Sophia Chambers topped that with 22 in the San Marcos match.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons wind up preseason play on Saturday with two matches. Up first is St. Edwards of Texas at 10:00 a.m., then Colorado School of Mines at 3:00 p.m. The Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule opens next week at Western Oregon on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.


NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Cougar Classic
Friday, September 8, 2023
The Sports Center / San Marcos, Calif.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Concordia Irvine 2
 
Game scores – 21-25, 25-19, 25-10, 23-25, 15-9.
 
Service aces – SPU 8 (Tulino 3), CUI 4 (Chang 2).
Kills – SPU 71 (Brachvogel 23, Smith 14, HaIr 11), CUI 58 (Jarrell 11).
Assists – SPU 68 (Tulino 28, Chambers 20, Cunningham 13), CUI 54 (Fullbright 20).
Digs – SPU 81 (Chambers 25, Tulino 14, Perry 13, Cunningham 12, Brachvogel 11), CUI 67 (Risse 15).
Block assists / solo – SPU 16 / 1 solo (Hair 6 / 1 solo), CUI 4 / 0 solo (4 players with1 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 71-16-167—329 (Smith 14-2-28—429), CUI 58-22-175—206 (Jarrell 11-1-18—556).
Attendance – 61.
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 3-2.  Concordia Irvine 3-2.
 
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Cal State San Marcos 1
 
Game scores – 25-18, 21-25, 25-13, 28-26.
 
Service aces – SPU 6 (Perry 3), CSUSM 5 (Blake 2, Beibly 2)
Kills – SPU 59 (Brachvogel 14, Pruden 12, Hair 110, CSUSM 48 (Barr 20).
Assists – SPU 55 (Tulino 27, Chambers 22), CSUSM 45 (Goff 40).
Digs – SPU 70 (Cunningham 18, Brachvogel 11, Tulino 11), CSUSM 63 (Beibly 14).
Block assists / solo – SPU 14 / 7 solo (Hair 3 / 3 solo, Smith 5 / 1 solo), CSUSM 4 / 3 solo (Barr 0 / 2 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 59-18-144—285 (Pruden 12-1-20—550), CSUSM 48-29-159—119 (Barr 20-6-52—169).
Attendance 65.
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 4-2.  Cal State San Marcos 2-5.