SEATTLE -- The Seattle Pacific Falcons won't have much time to ponder what happened on Wednesday afternoon. That's because they have to be right back on the volleyball court on Thursday morning.
The Falcons won the first two games of Wednesday's nonconference match against Hawaii Hilo in Brougham Pavilion, but the Vulcans turned things around, snagging the momentum and a five-game victory.
Scores were 23-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-8.
Sarah Risser had 18 kills, and Lindsey Wodrich added 17 for the Falcons (2-3).
“At the start of the third set, it wasn't going well, and we didn't respond real well to that,” SPU coach Chris Johnson said. “We need to be able to bounce back after losing two points in a row and get back into our system of play.
“We're going to have to learn from this,” he added. “We have four matches coming up, and we have to be ready for all of them.”
Those four matches will be in the Central Washington Tournament, set for Thursday and Friday on the CWU campus in Ellensburg. The Falcons will help open the tournament at 11 a.m. Thursday against the Academy of Art from San Francisco, then return to the court at 7 p.m. to face 24th-ranked Sonoma State.
Seattle Pacific plays two more on Friday, taking on defending Pacific West Conference champion Brigham Young-Hawaii at 3 p.m., then winding up against The Evergreen State College at 7 p.m.
The Falcons will get multiple chances in Ellensburg to make their case as one of the teams to reckon with in the NCAA West Region. They certainly were doing that through the first two games on Wednesday against undefeated Hawaii Hilo (5-0) before the Vulcans came out of the 10-minute break following the second game and seized command.
Seattle Pacific wiped out an early four-point deficit to take Game 1, then led all the way in Game 2 except for a 14-14 tie. The third game was knotted at 7-7 when Hilo went on an 8-2 run to take command for a 15-9 advantage, and never let the Falcons get closer than two after that.
SPU climbed out of a six-point hole to tied the fourth game at 19-19 before the Vulcans went back ahead to stay. Hawaii Hilo then led the deciding fifth game from start to finish after scoring the first three points.
“Our blocking was good at the start, we were passing well and serving great the first two games,” Johnson said. “(Hilo) started to play better. Their serving was tougher, and we weren't passing as well. And they made a lot of good digs. We just hammered the ball at times, and they came up with a good dig.”
Risser (Santa Barbara, Calif.) hit .205 for the match. The Falcons hit .161 as a team. Hawaii Hilo, which now has beaten three Great Northwest Athletic Conference teams this season (Montana State Billings last week and Saint Martin's on Tuesday night) hit .206.
SPU junior setter Joelle Perez (Vancouver, Wash./Heritage HS) came up with 29 assists, sophomore libero Anna Herold (Bothell, Wash./Shorecrest HS) had 19 digs, and freshman Angie Pricco (Briar, Wash./Blanchet HS) had six of Seattle Pacific's 16 blocks.
