SEATTLE – On Thursday night, the Seattle Pacific Falcons played like a first-place volleyball team.
 
By the end of Thursday night, they had taken down the first place team.
 
Sydney Perry had 11 kills, Hannah Hair had nine – including her career 900th – to go along with six more blocks – including her career 600th – and SPU swept aside Simon Fraser in Brougham Pavilion, 3-0.
 
Scores of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest were 25-23, 25-16, 25-15.
 
The Red Leafs (15-5, 11-2 GNAC) came in on a nine-match winning streak that had taken them to the top of the standings, with a one-game lead on second-place Central Washington. Now, it's a first-place tie as the Wildcats (13-6, 11-2) swept Alaska Anchorage on Thursday in Ellensburg.
 
SPU (7-15, 7-7 GNAC) got back on track after a pair of losses in Alaska last week, now having won five of its last seven.
 




"I thought when we came back in Set 1 from down several points, it showed that we were able to settle into it," head coach Jason Rhine said. "From that point, I think there was a lot of pressure felt by Simon Fraser. They were trying different things to react to the pressure we were putting on with our serving and our defense. I thought we were able to take a little bit more control of the match and kind of pull away in Sets 2 and 3."
 
Defense carried a big part of the night for Seattle Pacific. Simon Fraser attacked 105 times. The Falcons dug up 50 of those, blocked nine more, and got their hands on several others that didn't end in a block, but kept the ball alive with a chance to set it up and go for an attack of their own.
 
The Red Leafs did not top .100 hitting in any of the three sets, finishing at minus-.031 in the first, .054 in the second, and .083 in the third. Their final mark was .038 (23 kills-19 errors-105 attacks).
 
Senior opposite Brooke Dexter, one of the GNAC's premier players, had 23 kills when Simon Fraser beat SPU by a 3-1 margin on Oct. 12 in British Columbia. The Falcons limited her to eight on Thursday. Megan Hawkins (14 kills) and Davida Hill (11) also came up big last time. SPU allowed just five kills between them this time.
 
 

"We talked before the match about having to serve aggressive and knock them out of system more than the first time we played, them," Rhine said. "I thought that was pretty successful. We found more aces and even just more passes off the net and made it tougher for them to use Brooke and use their middles."
 
The Red Leafs got off to a quick start, building a 12-6 lead in the first set. But Seattle Pacific found some spark and went on a 10-2 run to take a 16-14 lead. Simon Fraser bounced back to go up 17-16, 18-17 and 19-18.
 
Tied at 20-20, the Falcons forged back in front by two. They eventually gained a double-set point opportunity at 24-22. An attack errors erased the first one, but then a Simon serving error put the 25th point on Seattle Pacific's side.
 
SPU took command of the second set with 9-2 burst that turned a 5-5 tie into a 14-7 lead. That was followed by a 7-3 stretch, capped by a four-point serving run from freshman outside hitter Eva LaRochelle. That made it 21-10 and effectively put the set out of reach.
 
The Falcons rang up the first three points of Set 3, eventually building leads of 6-1 and 10-2. It was never closer than seven after that.
 
"I felt that was really key as the match went on that whether Simon Fraser was playing better at certain moments, we kind of stayed steady and stuck to the game plan," Rhine said. "That allowed us to ride any kind of pressure when they tried to push back."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Thursday's win gave SPU a split of the season series with Simon Fraser.
 

-- After setting the GNAC career record with her 598th block last Saturday at Alaska Fairbanks, Hannah Hair needed just two mor to reach 600. She had those two by the end of the first set and now has 604 Her kills total is up to 905.
-- Senior setter Emily Tulino's 36 assists and 12 digs gave her 11 double-doubles for this season and now 35 for her career. She is one away from matching her single-season record of 12 double-double, set as a sophomore in 2022.
-- Along with that, Tulino set a career high with four kills. Her previous best was three, which she achieved twice, most recently on Oct. 24 against Central Washington. She is now up to 23 for the season – more than the 19 she had for her first three years combined. And, with four more blocks on Thursday, she's up to 30 for the season. She had eight through her first three years.
-- Seattle Pacific hit .233 for the night (43-16-116). That got a boost from a .333 mark (17-3-42) in the third set.
-- Freshman middle blocker Brooke Williams made her official college debut, subbing in to serve with the Falcons up 23-12 in the second set. She put the ball in play, although SImon Fraser ultimately got the point on a kill.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons will host Western Washington on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. That is an hour earlier than the usual Saturday starting time to leave time to switch the gym over for an SPU men's basketball doubleheader that tips off at 5:15 p.m. When the teams played in Bellingham on Oct. 10, SPU pulled off a reverse sweep to win, 3-2 (19-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-12). On Thursday, the Vikings won 3-1 at Montana State Billings, 3-1 (25-17, 18-25, 25-15, 25-16).
 
"We're going to be really excited to play them again," Rhine said. "They're really consistent and they're going to want to fight for a playoff position and also wanting to get a win against us.


NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.

Seattle Pacific 3, Simon Fraser 0

Set scores -- 25-23, 25-16, 25-15.

Service aces -- Simon 5 (Unger 2), SPU 7 (Wilks 2, LaRochelle 2, Lopez 2).
Kills -- Simon 23 (Dexter 8), SPU 43 (Perry 11).
Assists -- Simon 22 (Person 11), SPU 39 (Tulino 36).
Digs -- Simon 43 (Unger 14), SPU 50 (Tulino 12, Shuckhart 10).
Block assists / solo -- Simon 14 / 3 solo (Kovacevic 4 / 1 solo), SPU 16 / 1 solo (Hair 5 / 1 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) -- Simon 23-19-105--038 (Kovacevic 4-0-8--375, Lemoine-Sells 3-0-8--375), SPU 43-16-116--233 (Tulino 4-1-7--429).
Attendance -- 141.


Records
Seattle Pacific 7-15, 7-7 GNAC.
Simon Fraser 15-5, 11-2 GNAC.

Next match
Western Washington at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, 1:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.


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