BILLINGS, Mont. – They'd been putting in the work, and waiting for it to pay off.
 
On Saturday afternoon, it did … and the wait ended for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.

 

Sydney Perry put down 10 kills, Allison Wilks had nine – including the 500th of her career – and Hannah Hair came up with eight blocks as SPU broke into the volleyball win column, beating Montana State Billings in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener for both schools, 3-1.
 
Scores in Alterowitz Gymnasium were 25-12, 20-25, 25-12, 25-22.

"It was fun. We were just focused on coming out strong and trying to keep some consistent energy," Wilks said. "I thought as a team, we were able to that. It was fun to see the results go our way."
  
Added head coach Jason Rhine, "The two sets where they had a hard time getting going we put a lot of service pressure on them and that coincided with a couple missed serves for them, and we were able to run away with two sets pretty comfortably. The other two, they were making more serves and putting pressure on us. We had a hard time siding-out consistently, so they were kind of close sets."
 
The Falcons (1-8) were coming off a monster preseason schedule that saw them play seven national top-25 teams in their eight matches, six of whom went to last year's NCAA Division II tournament. It was ranked as the second-toughest schedule in all of D2.
 
On Saturday, they came up against a much improved Billings team (6-4), which already has doubled last year's win total.
 
 

"We'll take it. They've been battling a lot and been in some close matches," Rhine said. "It obviously feels different when you win. You can tell it's a relief and it's something that was nice."
 
Seattle Pacific got off to by far its best start of the season, bolting to an 8-0 lead with fifth-year middle blocker Wilks serving the final seven of those points and dropping in a pair of aces along the way. The Yellowjackets had 11 attack errors in that one and never came closer than six points, the last time at 14-8.
 
The second set was a complete 180 from the first. Billings used an early 6-0 serving run to go up 8-1. The Falcons climbed back into it, using a 5-0 surge to come from 11-4 to 11-9. MSUB answered with three in a row and stayed in control the rest of the way, although Seattle Pacific did trim a 23-15 deficit all the way down to 23-20.
 
SPU regained momentum in the third set. Up 11-9, it put nine of the next 10 points on the board. That included a stretch of seven straight, with Wilks on the serve for the last six of those.
 
Twice during the fourth set, the Falcons appeared on the verge of pulling away. They were up 7-1 when Billings bounced back with four in a row. Then at 15-8, the Yellowjackets climbed all the way back into a 15-15 tie. At 16-16, SPU got a block from senior outside hitter Perry, a combined block by Wilks and sophomore opposite Coco Barnett, a crosscourt kill to the sideline by Wilks, and a Billings attack error for 20-16.
 
Another kill by Perry gave Seattle Pacific triple match point at 24-21. An attack by fifth-year outside / opposite Erin Smith went wide, but then she came right back on the next opportunity with a well-placed tip to finish it for the Falcons.

"I thought we had a really good game plan scouted," Wilks said. "We had a great blocking scheme and system that we were able to execute. Our passers were doing a good job of getting us in system and getting our offense effective."
 
"Ali did a great job of scoring and also had some big serving runs," Rhine said. "Sydney definitely was finding some transition kills and some kills on the right side. And Hannah was her normal self with two blocks per set."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
--Seattle Pacific hit .136 for the day (40 kills-23 errors-125 attacks), but limited Montana State Billings to negative, as the Yellowjackets were at minus-.050 (32-39-139). MSUB hit negative in three of the four sets.
--Allison Wilks led the way for the Falcons at .389, and Sydney Perry finished at a solid .296.
--Wilks also had five total blocks, four digs and two service aces.
--Hannah Hair's eight total blocks were a season high. Her previous high was seven against Concordia-St. Paul. Saturday's total included three solos, also a season high and her first multiple-solo match of the year.
--SPU had 22 total blocks, its second-highest total of the season. Erin Smith, Coco Barnett and freshman outside hitter Eva LaRochelle had three apiece.
 

-- LaRochelle came up with a career-high 14 digs, topping her previous high of 10.
-- The Falcons had several nice scoring runs. Wilks had the ball for two of them (7-0 and 6-0), senior setter Emily Tulino had it for three (all 4-0), senior defensive specialist Abigail Cunningham had it for a 4-0 and a 3-0, and sophomore libero Christina Lopez had it for a 3-0.
-- Of her 500th kills, Wilks said, ""It's very exciting for me personally, but I couldn't do it without our passers and setters – especially being a middle."
-- Now that Wilks has 500 kills (she's at 501), Perry is likely to be the next member of that club. Her 10 on Saturday put her at 491. Smith also figure to be there soon, as she is now up to 480 with the half dozen she had at Billings.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons wrap up their all-on-the-road September schedule next week, visiting Northwest Nazarene in Nampa, Idaho, on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time, then going to Central Washington in Ellensburg next Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024
Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.
 
Seattle Pacific 3, Montana State Billings 1
 
Set scores – 25-12, 20-25, 25-12, 25-22.
 
Service aces – SPU 6 (Tulino 3), MSUB 9 (Funk, Taulua, and Fa'ali'l all 2).
Kills – SPU 40 (Perry 10), MSUB 32 (Gordon 9, Nichols 9).
Assists – SPU 37 (Tulino 23), MSUB 32 (Allen 19).
Digs – SPU 55 (Lopez 17, LaRochelle 14), MSUB 49 (Funk 16).
Block assists / solo – SPU 18 / 2 solo (Hair 5 / 3 solo), MSUB 14 / 0 solo (Taulua 5 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 40-23-125—136 (Wilks 9-2-18—389), MSUB 32-39-139—minus-050 (Gordon 9-2-18—389).
Attendance – 248.
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 1-8, 1-0 GNAC.
Montana State Billings 6-4, 0-1 GNAC.
 
 
Next match
Seattle Pacific at Northwest Nazarene
Thursday, Sept. 28     6:00 p.m. PDT
Johnson Sports Center / Nampa, Idaho


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