VOLLEYBALL: 

On Thursday, Oct. 21, the Seattle Pacific University volleyball team continued their home game winning streak as they defeated the University of Alaska Anchorage. The last time the Falcons played the Seawolves on Sept. 25, the Falcons were shut out. This time, SPU returned the favor as they beat them, 3-0. 

In the first set of the match, the Falcons and the Seawolves engaged in an intense battle. In the end, the Falcons came out on top with a score of 25-22. The final point of the match was scored off a kill by sophomore opposite Maddie Pruden. 

SPU began the second set at a disadvantage as the Seawolves immediately scored three points. The Falcons were only able to score one point off an attack error by the Seawolves’ Mahala Kaapuni.

The SPU volleyball team quickly began to rally as they felt the set begin to slip away. In the end, SPU took the set with a score of 25-21. 

Sophomore Hannah Hair scored the winning point of the set off a kill. She has the second-highest amount of kills for SPU at 131.

Despite the Seawolves best efforts, the Falcons also won the final set of the match, 25-22.

On Saturday, Oct. 23, the Falcons were once again on their home court as they took on University of Alaska Fairbanks. The match was highly competitive, and all five sets had to be played to decide a winner. 

In the first set, the Nanooks dominated and did not allow SPU to pull ahead of them at any point. The Falcons struggled to keep up with the tough competition as Alaska Fairbanks won with a score of 25-21. 

SPU soon battled back as they won the second set of the game, 25-21. They stopped the Nanooks from winning another set after an attack error from Fairbanks’ Lahra Weber brought their score to the golden 25. 

Alaska Anchorage won the third set of the game, 25-19, which led them to be up 2 sets to 1 against the Falcons. However, SPU would not give up and let them take the victory. The Falcons once again tied the score as they won the fourth set, 25-23. 

In the last set of the match, both teams went in with two wins, but the Falcons were the team to come out victorious with a score of 15-11. SPU now has a home game-winning streak of nine games in a row.

CROSS COUNTRY:

The cross country team traveled to Lacey, Washington for the Great Northwestern Athletic Conference Championships on Saturday, Oct. 23. They raced against ten other teams in the 6k and 8k races. 

In the women’s 6k race, sophomore Annika Esvelt placed ninth with a time of 22:06. Esvelt set a new personal best with this race as she ran nine seconds faster than she had at the Pacific Lutheran Open on Sept. 8.

Sophomore Ellie Rising placed within the top 25 as she finished with a time of 25:27. Her finishing time placed her into 21st place. 

Esvelt’s placing at the GNAC Championships helped the women’s team take the last spot in the top five. The women’s team finished the meet with 161 points. Simon Fraser University took home the championship win. 

In the men’s 8k race, senior Colin Boutin led SPU in the race and was the only member of the team to finish within the top 30. Boutin finished the race with a time of 25:30 and secured 30th place by eight seconds over Central Washington’s Trevor Allen. 

The men’s team placed last overall out of the ten teams in attendance with 228 points. 

Both teams now look ahead to the NCAA Division II West Region Championships on Saturday, Nov. 6 at Ash Creek Preserve in Monmouth, Oregon. 

WOMEN’S SOCCER:

The women’s soccer team journeyed to Bellingham, Washington on Thursday, Oct. 21 to play Western Washington University. The Falcons took full control of the game and did not allow the Vikings to score a single goal. The final score of the game was 3-0. 

The Falcons’ first goal of the game was scored in 51 seconds by senior midfielder Makena Rietz after an assisted turnover near midfield by senior forward Sophia Chilczuk. She has the most assists this season at 10. 

Thirty-eight minutes later, with a little over six minutes left of play in the first half, a foul was called on the Vikings’ Sophie Butterfield, leading to a free-kick from 28 yards by sophomore defender Emmy Moore. Senior defender Madison Ibale took advantage of the kick by Moore and scored the goal. 

The last goal of the game was scored in the second half and was easily tapped in by Chilczuk after a cross by sophomore Sophie Beadle. 

On Saturday, Oct. 23, SPU took a quick trip over to Canada to play Simon Fraser University. The Falcons once again took home a shutout victory winning, 3-0. 

The first two goals of the game were scored by Rietz in the first half of the game. She scored her first goal in seven minutes and nine minutes later scored her second goal after an assist from Chilczuk. Rietz is tied with teammate sophomore Lauren Forster for the most goals this season at seven. 

The last goal of the game was scored by junior midfielder Toni Miranda with a low shot from 25 yards away to the right side. 

SPU has only lost one game this season and holds a conference record of 8-1-1. The team will play their next game on their home field at Interbay Stadium against Saint Martin’s University on Thursday, Oct. 28.