Fighting until the last point, Seattle Pacific University women’s volleyball team finally got their victory over Alaska Anchorage, but their winning streak was soon stopped by Alaska Fairbanks.
As the Falcons approach their last two games of the season, they sit in the middle of the Great North Athletic Conference, coming in at No. 6 during the last week of regular season games.
It has been an up and down season for the Falcons, having split the number of their wins with losses at 9-9. This past week was representative of their 50-50 record with one win and one loss.
“This season flew by, we had some tough losses mixed in this season that could’ve gone the other way,” senior Hailey Gaines said. “I think this season can be described by responding, after a win or a loss our goal was to reset and focus on working towards the next match.”
This last week they went head to head with the No. 3 GNAC ranked team Alaska Anchorage and No. 4 Alaska Fairbanks.
The last time SPU faced Alaska Anchorage they went toe to toe in a five-set match. Unfortunately, in their first meeting the Sea Wolves took the match by three points.
In their second match up with Alaska Anchorage, on Thursday, Nov. 1, SPU was more successful this time and claimed the victory after another back and forth five-set match.
“Fifth games are tough, by that time you’re tired,” Gaines commented. “In the fifth set, there is no time to come out slow, you have to come out hard from the beginning.”
SPU took the lead in the first set, but the Sea Wolves answered it by winning the second set. From there the sets went back and forth, but SPU won the fifth and final set, scores were 25-15, 15-25, 25-15, 18-25, and 15-11.
In this match, up junior Gabby Oddo had 18 kills followed by Gaines with 12 kills. Senior Symone Tran also lead the team with 53 assists.
“We had great practices while we were on the road, and I think that translated into the games.”
After a victory at Alaska Anchorage the Falcons were hoping to continue their winning streak at Alaska Fairbanks, but the winning streak was short lived.
Much like Alaska Anchorage, the last time SPU played against Alaska Fairbanks they went head to head in a close five-set match but fell short of a victory. Unlike Thursday’s match, the Falcons were unable to claim a victory over the Nanooks.
On Saturday, Nov. 3, right out of the gates the Nanooks took the first set, but SPU answered right back by taking the second set. Unfortunately, the lady Falcons were not able to win two more sets and Alaska Fairbanks took the match in four sets, the scores were 22-25, 25-23, 22-25, and 23-25.
Beside the loss, Tran had a stand out moment beating SPU’s previous assist high record by 40 assists. The record of 4,009 assist once held by Jenna Von Moos from 2003-06 was surpassed by Tran, whose total career assist count reached 4,049 on Saturday.
“This was a huge week for Symone Tran, our setter, she broke the school record for assists,” Gaines said. “A standout moment this week was when she got the kill to win the game against Anchorage. We were hungry for a win, and it was such a great play to end the game, everyone went nuts when she got the kill.”
In their season closer at home this week, the Falcons will play No. 5 Simon Fraser on Nov. 8 and No. 1 Western Washington on Nov. 10.
