SEATTLE – Now that they had one five-set volleyball victory in the books this fall, the Seattle Pacific Falcons went and pulled out another one.
 
Sydney Perry had 13 kills, Eva LaRochelle recorded her first collegiate double-double, and Emily Tulino set up her 2,000th career assist on Thursday as SPU took charge in the deciding set to beat Western Oregon, 3-2.
 
Scores of Thursday's Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest in Brougham Pavilion were 25-14, 22-25, 25-19, 19-25, 15-7.
 
Fifth-year middle blocker Hannah Hair added 12 kills and seven more blocks for the Falcons (3-13, 3-5 GNAC), and fifth-year opposite Erin Smith had 10 kills.
 
La Rochelle, a freshman outside hitter, tied her career high with 10 kills and also had 11 digs. She has had two other matches of 10 kills and three others with double-digit digs – but never on the same night. Her career high for digs is 14.
 
Tulino came into the match needing 24 assists to reach the 2,000 mark. The 2,000th came early in the third set when she found Smith for a cross-court kills that was dug into the ceiling and then knocked out of bounds after it came down.
 
"That's super-fun for Emily," head coach Jason Rhine said. "She has had a chance to be running a 5-1 (offensive style) for some of the season, and she has done a great job of handling all the different things that come with that, having to do some blocking, having to do some dumping. It shows her maturity that she is able to step in and run the offense well."
 
By the end of the night, Tulino has a career-high 45 assists. That was the second time in eight days that she established a career high. Tulino had 41 last Thursday at Western Washington when SPU came from two sets down to beat the Vikings, 3-2.

That was the first five-set win of the year.
 
"That last one really helped us be calm and be the aggressor in this one," Rhine said. "I thought we brought some confidence from that last five-setter and being in a hostile environment (at Western). You win tight matches against good teams and that definitely helps you believe in what you're doing and step up with confidence and be ready to attack again in the next match."
 




The Falcons were putting themselves in position to close out Thursday's match in four sets, having a 16-10 lead in the fourth. But Western Oregon (11-6, 3-5 GNAC) proceeded to string together 10 straight points on four kills, one service ace, one block, and four SPU attack errors to take a 20-16 lead. A kill by LaRochelle finally halted that run to make it 20-17, but the Wolves quickly extended it back to 22-17 on the way forcing the fifth set.
 
 

Down 6-5, the Falcons went on a 6-0 scoring run, the last five of those with sophomore libero Christina Lopez on the serve. A crosscourt kill by Hair tied it at 6-6 and gave Seattle Pacific a sideout. A kill by Perry and a kill by Wilks made it 8-6 as the teams changed sides.
 
The Falcons weren't finished. Wilks and Tulino combined on a block, then two WOU attack errors made it 11-6. The Wolves got one more point on a kill by freshman outside hitter Maela Honma (she finished with a match-high 16) for 11-7.
 
Seattle Pacific then took care of it with four in a row: a kill by Perry off a Western Oregon blocker, a Wolves attack error, a kill by Perry that kissed the baseline, and a final block by Smith and Wilks.
 
 

"Outside of that big run of points they had (in Set 4), we had been out-playing them for decent chunks of the match, including Set 3 and Set 4," Rhine said. "We just wanted to settle down and continue to work hard (in Set 5)."

There was a notable contrast in hitting. The Falcons were at .200 or better in each of the first three sets and hit .333 in the fifth (8 kills-2 errors-18 attacks), but hit just .030 in the fourth and finished at .194 (52-22-155)l
 
Their defense kept WOU to negative hitting in Sets 1, 3, and 5. But the Wolves stayed alive by hitting .324 to take Set 2 and .250 to take Set 4.
 
"In three sets, we put a lot of pressure on them with our block and the defense behind it," Rhine said. "But they took some big rips and sometimes, that still worked out. They did a really good job of putting service pressure on us. They've been doing that all season and we knew it was going to be a factor. (The Wolves had 11 aces.)"
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- With her 45 assists, Emily Tulino now has 2,021 for her career.
-- She also had 10 digs for her fourth consecutive double-double, giving her six this season and 30 for her career. In addition to all that, Tulino had a career-high four block assists, doubling her previous high of two which she had reached twice.
--Fifth-year middles Allison Wilks and Hannah Hair were both in the .400 hitting neighborhood. Wilks hit.455 (6-1-11); Hari was at .400 (12-2-25). Wilks also delivered a season-high four aces.
-- Sydney Perry's 13 kills gave her 156 for the year. That's six more than her previous single-season high of 150, which she had during her sophomore year in 2021.
-- Christina Lopez had 23 digs, just one short of her career high. She is now just 20 away from her career 500th.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons continue their four-match homestand on Saturday when Saint Martin's comes to Brougham Pavilion. First serve is at 2:00 p.m. The Saints won at Montana State Billings on Thursday, 3-2 (25-18, 21-25, 25-17, 14-25, 15-12).
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Western Oregon 2
 
Set scores – 25-14, 22-25, 25-19, 19-25, 15-7.
 
Service aces – WOU 11 (Friesen 5), SPU 8 (Wilks 4).
Kills – WOU 51 (Honma 16), SPU 52 (Perry 13, Hair 12, LaRochelle 10, Smith 10).
Assists – WOU 48 (Darby 24), SPU 48 (Tulino 45).
Digs – WOU 73 (Hornback 17), SPU 68 (Lopez 23, LaRchelle 11, Shuckhart 11, Tulino 10).
Block assists / solo – WOU 14 / 1 solo (Asciutto 5 / 1 solo), SPU 30 / 1 solo (Wilks 8 / 1 solo), Hair 7 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – WOU 51-37-165—085 (Honma 16-4-43—233), SPU 52-22-155—194 (Wilks 6-1-11—455, Hair 12-2-25—400).
Attendance – 101.
 
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 3-13, 3-5 GNAC.
Western Oregon 11-6, 3-5 GNAC.
 
 
Next match
Saint Martin's at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, 2:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.


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