Seattle Pacific volleyball team silences the Seawolves and their big crowd

A season-best UAA volleyball crowd of 1,551 saw the Seawolves take a step in the wrong direction Thursday night at the Alaska Airlines Center.

Seattle Pacific stunned the Seawolves in five sets, delivering a blow that comes amid UAA's quest for a playoff spot.

Vanessa Boyer's 16 kills kept UAA in the match but Seattle Pacific's Gabby Oddo had an even bigger effort with 18 kills and 16 digs to lead the Falcons to the 25-15, 15-25, 25-15, 18-25, 15-11 upset.

The win was Seattle Pacific's first over UAA since 2012.

With the match tied 9-9 in the first set, the Falcons silenced the crowd by reeling off eight straight points to take command. In the fifth set, they jumped to a 4-0 lead and allowed UAA to come within a point just once, 7-6.

UAA suffered through a poor hitting night, finishing with a .168 attack percentage. Tara Melton furnished 10 kills on .318 hitting, but no one else topped the .200 mark for the Seawolves. Boyer was second-best at .189.

"We got off to another slow start and it came back to hurt us," UAA coach Chris Green said in a release from the school. "We never got into an offensive rhythm, and SPU played a much better defensive game than we did."

Symone Tran handed out 53 assists and Amanda Ganete had 25 out of 70 digs for the Falcons, who hit .223 while improving to 11-13 overall and 9-8 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

The Seawolves dropped to 19-6, 12-5 with three matches remaining and their playoff hopes on the line. They entered the week in playoff position as the seventh-ranked team in the West Region, which will send eight teams to the playoffs.

The Seawolves play their final home match Saturday at 7 p.m. against Saint Martin's.