Gallery • 3 Photos

Jacky Chen

Maddie Pruden spikes the ball into the two Viking blockers after setter Lindsey Lambert set ups her up.

Men’s Soccer

In their first game of the season, Seattle Pacific University’s men’s soccer team fell short against Saint Martin’s, 2-1. The Falcons won their next two games, and got the opportunity to face Saint Martin’s again on Saturday, April 24.

Saint Martin’s wasted no time scoring the first goal of the game in the ninth minute.

“We need to start games better! We’ve been too flat at the start of games and have made it more difficult on ourselves by conceding early goals,” head coach Mark Collings said following the game.

Soon after, senior Travis Swallow evened the match for SPU with his first goal of the season in the 23rd minute.

The Falcons managed to get two more goals, both by Alden Massey, and held on for their third straight win. Massey, who was named GNAC Men’s Soccer player of the week, was able to produce his second career multi-goal game, the first coming in 2018 with a hat trick against Hawaii Hilo.

Collings was pleased with how the team finished the game, but not with how it started.

“Defensively I wasn’t pleased with how we started the game, but felt like we did a better job, as the game went on, of putting them under pressure and forcing turnovers,” Collings said.

SPU will try to keep things moving in the right direction in their next two games, an exhibition against the Tacoma Defiance and a conference contest against Western Washington. Both games will be at home for the Falcons at Interbay Stadium on May 1 and May 8.

Volleyball

The Falcons volleyball team looked to keep their three game win streak intact going into the weekend facing Western Washington University. The first matchup on Friday night did not end in the Falcons favor, resulting in a three sets to zero loss to the Vikings. The Falcons led the first and third sets but the Vikings came back in each of those sets to win the match. Redshirt freshman Maddie Pruden and freshman Hannah Hair led the Falcons with 12 kills each.

SPU looked to even out the series the next day with a doubleheader against WWU. The Falcons came away victorious winning three sets to one. This is the first time the Vikings had been beaten by SPU since 2013. Falcon senior Maddie Batiste had 20 kills and sophomore Lindsey Lambert recorded a double-double with 47 assists and 18 digs.

As they headed into the final match of the series, SPU hoped to keep the momentum going. However, the Falcons would come up short. Despite playing well, Seattle Pacific made some key mistakes towards the end of the fourth set. The Falcons were up 23-22 when the Vikings came back on an attack error, a service ace, and final kill.

SPU’s next game is a doubleheader at home against Western Oregon on May eighth.

Track and Field

Seattle Pacific’s track and field teams traveled to Tacoma to compete in the Peyton Shotwell Invitational on Saturday. Sophomore Brayden Schultz and freshman J.R Hentges ran in the 800 meter event. Both finished in the top ten; Schultz in third and Hentges in eighth. Schultz logged a time of 1:59.22, making it his new personal best.

Junior Elius Graff and Schultz were able to secure nine points for the Falcons in the 1500 meter event. Graff ran a personal best after, turning in a time of 3:58.29.

Sophomore David Njeri finished in top spot for the men’s long jump, with a jump of 6.81 meters, securing 10 points, and came in second in the triple jump with a distance of 13.90 meters, securing another eighth points. The men were able to finish fifth with 53 points

Sophomore Peace Igbonagwam and senior Grace Bley took the second and third spots in the women’s 400 meters combining for 14 points. Igbonagwam nearly finished first, only coming in second by a quarter of a second.

Freshman Ellie Rising finished in first place in the women’s 800 meter event, securing ten points for the team and finishing with a time of 2:15.64,

The women were able to secure a second place finish with 111 points, finishing behind Central Washington University who had 257 points.

Both men’s and women’s track teams will be attending the Buc Scoring Invitational in Spokane, WA on Friday and the Ralph Vernacchia Invitational in Bellingham, WA on Saturday.