Box Score Box score, play-by-play BURNABY, B.C. – Career highs in bunches. A commanding lead in the deciding fifth game. Seemed as if it might be enough for the Seattle Pacific Falcons on Thursday night.
It wasn't.
Lexi Biondi's 25 kills and
Hannah Lautenbach's 19 both easily eclipsed their previous bests, but the Falcons, despite winning the first two games, then building an 8-1 lead in Game 5, fell to Simon Fraser in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball opener for both schools,3-2.
Scores in West Gym were 19-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-20, 16-14. The two teams played for 2 hours, 23 minutes.
Sophomore outside hitter Biondi (Albuquerque, N.M.) went past her previous single-match high of 13 kills – set twice, most recently on Sept. 5 at Cal State Los Angeles – by midway through the third set for Seattle Pacific (2-7, 0-1 GNAC). She hit .236 for the match, taking 72 swings at the ball, nearly double her old high of 38.
Hannah
LautenbachFalcons sophomore Lautenbach (Portland, Ore.) bettered her old high of 12 kills, set on Sept. 4 in a season-opening sweep of Molloy College. She also tied her career high of 20 digs to record her second double-double of the season
Freshman setter
Symone Tran (Portland, Ore.) set career highs of 51 assists (previous was 37) and 15 digs (previous 11). That was her third double-double.
Breanne WiekampSenior libero
Breanne Wiekamp (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) came up with a career-high 35 digs, erasing her old mark of 29, which she set twice during her 2012 freshman season. Freshman libero / defensive specialist
Amanda Ganete (Hillsboro, Ore.) had 16 digs, more than double her previous career high of seven.
SPU plays 16
th-ranked Western Washington on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham.
The Falcons were on top for all but the first point of the opening game, and for all but a pair of early ties in Game 2.
Simon Fraser (5-4, 1-0 GNAC) used a four-point run to take charge of the third game, expanding a 13-12 lead to 17-12. A 5-1 spurt left the Clan up 11-7 in Game 4, and Seattle Pacific never got closer than two after that at 15-13.
But with Biondi putting down five kills, the Falcons raced out to an 8-1 lead in the deciding game, with Tran on the serve for the last four of those points.
The Clan chipped away. Down 11-7, they got a key call when an attack by Devon May that originally was thought to have gone out was ruled instead to have been tipped out by SPU. So instead of a 12-7 lead, it was now 11-8.
Seattle Pacific had one more three-point lead at 12-9. Simon Fraser than ran off five in a row to set up a double match-point opportunity at 14-12.
Biondi saved both of those with kills, leveling it at 14-14. But a kill by Devon May made it 15-14 for the Clan, and a successful block on the next point finished off the match.
Simon Fraser now has won three consecutive five-gamers against the Falcons.
SPU hit .149 for the match (62 kills-30 errors-215 attacks). Simon Fraser, which had three players in double-digit kills, led by the 18 of Christine Howlett, finished at .168 (62-28-214).
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALLThursday, Sept. 17, 2015West Gym / Burnaby, B.C. Simon Fraser 3, Seattle Pacific 2 Game scores – 19-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-20, 16-14.
Service aces – SPU 3 (3 players with 1), SFU 4 (Tamara Nipp 2).
Kills – SPU 62 (
Lexi Biondi 25,
Hannah Lautenbach 19), SFU 64 (Christine Howlett 18).
Assists – SPU 59 (
Symone Tran 51), SFU 62 (Danielle Curtis 33).
Digs – SPU 101 (
Breanne Wiekamp 35, Lautenbach 20), SFU 108 (Alison McKay 29);
Block assists / solo – SPU 20 / 0 solo (Lautenbach 5 / 0 solo,
Jessica Boyle 5 / 0 solo), SFU 28 / 0 solo (Madison Power 10 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 62-30-215--.149 (Lautenbach 19-5-50--.280), SFU 64-28-214--.168 (Tessa May 12-1-28--.393).
Attendance – 425.
Records – Seattle Pacific 2-7, 0-1 GNAC. Simon Fraser 5-4, 1-0 GNAC.
Next match – Seattle Pacific at Western Washington (Whatcom CC – Bellingham), Saturday, 7:00 p.m.
