SEATTLE – For almost 2 ½ hours on Saturday afternoon, Seattle Pacific' volleyball match against Alaska Anchorage was hanging in the balance.
Now, their hopes of making the NCAA Tournament will be hanging in the balance for several hours more.
Maiya Lester slammed 17 kills and the Falcons delivered 14 service aces, but UAA jumped to a commanding lead in the deciding fifth set and never let SPU catch up, going on to a 3-2 victory.
Scores of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest inside Brougham Pavilion were 19-25, 25-22, 25-20, 21-25, 15-10.
The Falcons (18-8, 13-5 GNAC) came into the afternoon sitting in the No. 8 spot on the NCAA's West Region NPI rankings list. Anchorage (21-7, 14-4) was in the No. 10 spot.
When the final list is calculated after all of Saturday's matches are complete, the top eight teams will receive a bid to the West Region tournament. The announcement of the qualifiers will be made on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. The Selection Show will be streamed on NCAA.com.
FROM COACH JASON RHINE
"I thought it was a good tactical battle," Rhine said. "We started off with bit of an advantage, then Anchorage switched systems. They did a good job of playing real consistent volleyball and passing well. The fourth set, I thought we responded really well and had a good set, built a good lead and survived their comeback."
Even after the Seawolves raced to a 6-2 lead in the fifth set, SPU kept climbing back, getting as close as 9-8 before Anchorage expanded its lead again.
"That Set 5 could have gone either way. A couple of points at the start didn't fall our way," Rhine said. "It's tough to come back on a team that has good serves and good defense."
While the wait continues until Sunday night, Rhine was able to reflect on Seattle Pacific's best season since going 22-5 in 2023.
"It was a great GNAC season, really competitive, and the top teams really played each other close in some matches," said Rhine, whose Falcons were picked sixth in the preseason poll but wound up fourth in the standings behind Central Washington (15-3), Alaska Anchorage (14-4) and Simon Fraser (14-4). "Our team being a little younger and really developing from last year to this year, I thought we made some good jumps in our play and our ability to score in transition and our ability to play a bit more aggressive on defense.
"I thought those things paid off in some close matches," he added. "We were able to pull out a few that we didn't necessarily win last year. I was hopeful for the development that we've seen this season, but you never know until you play some matches. I was happy to see some more wins and some great matches, and hopefully, our team had a great experience."
HOW IT HAPPENED
--The Falcons took a quick 7-3 lead in the opening set before Anchorage went on a 6-1 run to take a 9-8 edge.
--SPU had a pair of 3-0 runs, the first of which produced a 14-11 advantage and the second of which made it 17-12. Then, up 19-16, the Falcons ran off five in a row on the way to closing out the set.
--Anchorage had the upper hand for most of Set 2. Seattle Pacific twice climbed back into a tie, first at 17-17 and again at 18-18. The Seawolves put the next four points on the board to go up 22-18.
--The third set was all UAA as it went up 6-1 early, stretched it to 18-9, and never let the Falcons get closer than four
--It was the Falcons building an 18-9 lead. But the Seawolves stormed back, three times getting within one point at 20-19, 21-20, and 22-21. SPU secured the final three points on Anchorage attack errors to force the deciding fifth set.
FROM THE BOX SCORE
--Along with Lester's career high-tying 17 kills,
Megan Omlid hammered 14 and
Amaya Evans added 12.
--Omlid double-doubled by also coming up with 11 digs.
--Evans got dozen kills on a team-leading .323 hitting.
--
Charlotte Hastings had a career-high four of SPU's 14 aces.
Peyton Ensign and
Audra Rose dropped in three apiece.
--Ensign also racked up 43 assists and made it a double-double with 11 digs.
--In her final regular-season match, senior libero
Christina Lopez had 27 digs, just one shy of her career high.
--The Falcons hit 163 (55 kills-25 errors-184 attacks). Anchorage hit .201 (59-24-174)
--
Charlotte Hastings had 13 digs to tie her career high.
AN ACE OF A FINISH
Saturday was Senior Day in honor of setter
Sophia Chambers, setter
Avery Veenendall, and libero Lopez.
Chambers, who got injured during the season-opening Yotes Classic Showcase at Cal State San Bernardino, missed the entire rest of the season – until Saturday. She was able to get onto the court Saturday as coach
Jason Rhine gave her the start and the ball for the opening serve
The Falcons got the first point, so Chambers stayed in. She then served an ace on the second point, and SPU then up the third point before Anchorage finally got sideout. Chambers came out after that
UP NEXT
The NCAA Selection Show is on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. If the Falcons make the tournament, Tentative tournament dates are set for either Nov. 19-21 or Nov. 20-22.
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