BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Megan Omlid's 11-kill, 13-dig double-double wasn't enough Saturday for Seattle Pacific, which lost in four sets to Western Washington in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's volleyball matchup at Carver Gymnasium. The set scores were 26-24, 25-15, 22-25, 25-18.
The Falcons (5-7) fell to 0-4 in league play, having opened the campaign against the GNAC's top-four teams. Alaska Anchorage (13-1) beat SPU in four sets last week, Alaska Fairbanks (13-1) got a sweep and Simon Fraser (9-1) won in four on Thursday. That quartet, including 10-1 Western Washington, has a remarkable combined overall record of 45-4.
The Vikings improved to 4-0 in conference matches to forge a three-way tie atop the GNAC standings.
FROM THE COACH
"Overall, I am proud of how our team competed this weekend," said SPU coach
Jason Rhine. "We played a great first set and had a good shot to win it, but unfortunately Western came up with some big serves and took back the set. After the second set our team had a chance to reset and came back out and competed hard the rest of the match.
"Our middles blocked well, and Christina (Lopez) led the defense well from the back row. We got better this week in practice, and also during our competitions, and I'm excited to see how this team continues to grow and evolve next week."
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The first set was a tight battle. It featured 14 ties, nine lead changes and neither team led by more than the three points.
- Trailing 21-20, Avery Veenendall served up a four-point run for a 24-21 SPU lead. She then had an error when serving for the set.
- The sideout started a six-point Vikings run to close out the set with a 26-24 win.
- Set No. 2 was the most lopsided with WWU quickly extending a 9-8 edge to 15-10 en route to a 25-15 set victory.
- The gritty Falcons responded with a 25-22 third-set triumph.
- SPU tallied the final four points with a kill by Amaya Evans, Veenendall ace, Audra Rose kill and set-clinching kill by Megan Omlid.
- The Falcons scored the first two points of the fourth set, and claimed their last lead, at 5-4, on an Omlid kill.
- The Vikings responded with a 4-1 run that started them on the way to a 25-18 final-set win.
- The match winner came on forceful hit by WWU's Janelle Grant down the middle.
FROM THE BOX SCORE
- SPU's Christina Lopez led all players for both teams with 25 digs.
- Megan Omlid's 11 kills paced the SPU.
- SPU's finest percentage hitter was Elle McCandless at 57% on four kills in seven attack attempts. Brooke Williams hit 33.3% en route to a six-kill performance.
- Williams also shined on defense with one solo block and a team-leading six block assists.
- The setter duo of Avery Veenendall (19) and Sophia Chambers (17) combined for 36 of the Falcons 41 assists.
- Four different Falcons served up an ace, including two apiece by Makayla Hickman and Madeline Eggerth.
- SPU's finest sideout percentage, at 50%, came during the set No. 3 victory.
UP NEXT
The SPU spikers return home to Brougham Pavilion for a pair of GNAC matches next week. They host Northwest Nazarene on Thursday at 7 p.m. before Central Washington visits on Saturday for a 2 p.m. clash.
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