HONOLULU – Facing match point in the fifth set of their Thursday afternoon volleyball match against Emmanuel University, it would have been the ideal moment for the Seattle Pacific Falcons to call timeout.
It was also the ideal moment not to call it …
… and that turned out to be the better call.
Audra Rose and
Grace Holstrom kept SPU alive with a combined block, then
Megan Omlid hammered kills on the final two points to close out a 3-2 victory on the first day of the Hawaii Challenge tournament.
Scores inside Hawaii Pacific University's Shark Tank were 22-25, 25-18, 25-15, 19-25, 16-14.
FROM THE COACH
"I think we still had a timeout left, and I was kind of debating whether to take it when we were down 14-13," head coach
Jason Rhine said. "I felt the team was playing well toward the end of that last set, the points were falling pretty close back and forth, and I just felt like we knew what we had to try to do, and we were able to pull out those points back to back."
Rhine said Emmanuel, from Franklin Springs, Georgia, and which went 22-10 last year to win the Conference Carolinas Tournament and reach the NCAA Southeast Regionals, made the Falcons work for everything they got.
"One thing we talked about after Set 1 was that they were really low-errors. They didn't miss a lot of serves, didn't miss a lot of attacks, didn't get blocked too much – they really made us earn it," he said. "We really got a lot of kills in the sets we won. I think our team did a good job of finding those kills in a variety of ways against a good defense."
Rhine didn't mind at all having to go the five-set distance, knowing that more of those are likely coming as the season continues.
"It was a fun situation to have to face and have to pull out," he said. "It's something that we felt like our team responded to really well. Emmanuel made some lineup changes in Set 4 and played a more physical game than in the first three sets. To win a close set in a tight Set 5 against a little more physical lineup was really good, especially since that's going to happen in the GNAC with how physical (those teams) are and just how many close matches we usually face."
HOW IT HAPPENED
--The Falcons trailed for most of the fifth set, including 8-6 at the changeover, and then 12-9.
--They tied it up with a 3-0 run on an Emmanuel service error, a kill by
Joslyn Greff, and a Lions attack error.
--The teams traded the next two points, leaving it deadlocked at 13-13. A kill by Jada Porter gave Emmanuel a 14-13 edge and a chance to close it out.
--Rose and Holstrom's block leveled it at 14-14 and gave the serve back to freshman
Charlotte Hastings.
--Senior setter
Avery Veenendall set up Omlid's kill that provided a 15-14 lead and gave the Falcons match point. Omlid subsequently converted it, with junior libero
Makayla Hickman earning the assist.
--Seattle Pacific led for a good portion of the first set before ultimately falling three points short.
--The second set was tied at 15-15 when the Falcons went on a 10-3 run to close it out. The first four of those points came with Veenendall on the serve and included two aces.
--SPU led through most of Set 3, stretching it to as many as eight points at 21-13.
--Early in the fourth, Emmanuel strung together three straight point, turning an 8-7 deficit into a 10-8 lead, and stayed ahead the rest of the way to force a deciding fifth.
FROM THE BOX SCORE
Joslyn Greff
--Greff finished with a career-high 18 kills. That topped the 16 she had last Nov. 3 against Saint Martin's. Said Rhine, "It's fun to see her attack with confidence in a lot of different situations."
--Sophomore outside hitter Omlid put a season-high 19 kills onto the floor.
--Junior opposite / outside hitter
Amaya Evans had a season-high 14 kills, and sophomore middle blocker
Audra Rose added a season-high 12.
--Junior middle blocker
Brooke Williams had an error-free hitting day with six kills on nine attacks (.667). It was her third no-errors match in five outings so far this season.
--With the exception of Set 4, the Falcons had a solid hitting day all around, finishing at .247 (74 kills-25 errors-198 attacks). That included .296 in the deciding fifth set (11-3-27) and a .412 mark in Set 3 (17-3-34).
--Rose led the way with four blocks.
--Veenendall and sophomore
Peyton Ensign were equally effective setting their teammates. Veenendall racked up a career-high 27 assists and Ensign had 25.
--Senior libero
Christina Lopez came up with a career-high 28 digs.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
--This is the Falcons' first trip to Hawaii since 2017. That team went 2-2 in the Hawaii Challenge.
--Greff, who had 45 kills at last weekend's season-opening Yotes Classic Showcase at Cal State San Bernardino and was named to the All-Tournament squad, now has a team-leading 63 kills.
--Emmanuel, from Franklin Springs, Ga., was an NCAA-qualifying team last fall after winning the Conference Carolinas Tournament.
UP NEXT
The tournament continues on Friday with two matches for the Falcons. They play Hawaii Hilo at 1:00 p.m. PDT back at the Shark Tank, then take on Chaminade inside the Silverswords' home McCabe Gym at 10:00 p.m. PDT.
