After five away games over the first four weeks of their 2024 season, Seattle Pacific University’s women’s volleyball team will play four consecutive home games across two weekends at SPU’s Royal Brougham Pavilion.
In their first match of the weekend, SPU won three sets out of five against Western Oregon University on Thursday, Oct. 17. This was SPU’s first home win of the season, and they came out firing in each set, keeping WOU on their toes.
Western Oregon had a two-point lead at the start of the first set but fell behind after the score was tied 5-5. SPU went on a five-point run and held the lead for the remainder of the set. WOU tried to disrupt SPU at game point but lost the set 25-14.
The second set was a closer match. Seattle Pacific and WOU tied the score nine times before a blocking error from SPU put WOU ahead 19-21. WOU won the set 22-25. SPU held the lead for most of the third set, only falling behind one point during a four-point run from WOU. Seattle Pacific quickly pulled ahead 18-16 and won the set 25-19.
The fourth set was a precision game with both teams landing service aces and clean kills from their hitters. SPU held the lead initially at 14-7 thanks to solid blocks from fifth-years Hannah Hair (middle blocker) and Erin Smith (outside hitter). Play errors from SPU allowed WOU to gain and tie the score 16-16. Following an SPU timeout, WOU won the set 19-25.
SPU won the final set 15-7.
Freshman outside hitter Eva LaRochelle said the team’s liberos, sophomore Christina Lopez and fifth-year Zoe Shuckhart, were key to meeting WOU’s challenge.
“Western gave us a run for our money on some of their swings. They would pick up the little things and that made the plays so much better,” LaRochelle said. “We started off the game with two aces, and then the serve received from Christina and Zoe especially was phenomenal.”
Playing five sets usually amounts to pressure near the end of the game, but Lopez thought the team became more confident as the game progressed.
“There was more pressure at the beginning of the game,” Lopez said. “Getting in our groove just sometimes takes a minute, [but] we felt more confident towards the end and knew we were on top and could pull this out.”
Head Coach Jason Rhine was glad to see the team’s recovery in set five.
“One of the things we learned from winning our big five-setter last week was that we have that in us, that we can execute well in set five,” Rhine said. “I thought our team did a really good job to finish out and bounce back from the end of set four.”
SPU women’s volleyball returned to the court against Saint Martin’s University on Saturday, Oct. 19. Riding the energy from their last win, SPU beat SMU three sets to one.
SPU won the first two sets 25-13 and 25-19 and nearly came away with a three-set win when they reached game point at 24-23. SMU would tie the score nine times before winning the third set 32-34. The fourth set started with a 6-1 lead for SMU, but SPU caught up 8-9 and spent the rest of the set behind by one or two points before a four-point run sent them ahead. SPU won the set 25-23.
SPU is tied for fourth in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings with WOU and the University of Alaska Anchorage. SPU’s conference record is 4-5 and 4-13, overall 4-11. WOU and UAA have overall records of 12-6 and 10-9 respectively.
Women’s volleyball returns to the court against Central Washington University on Thursday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. at Royal Brougham Pavilion.
