BURNABY, B.C. – SFU dropped a heart-breaking five-set contest on Thursday evening, as the Seattle Pacific Falcons, who came into the West Gym ranked 18th in the national poll, took the final frame 15-13 to avoid the upset and claim the 3-2 decision.
 
SFU (13-8, 8-5 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) came out strong in front of the home crowd, winning the opening set 25-17. SPU (19-3, 13-1 GNAC) rebounded well, taking the second and third sets 25-22 and 25-18, respectively, before the Red Leafs forced the tiebreaker by winning the fourth frame 25-19.
 
"I liked the way we executed our gameplan, I thought we did do a good job of that in terms of our serving and our blocking defence, and I thought we just competed hard," said SFU head coach Gina Schmidt. "There were a lot of good things we can take away for the remainder of the season. We're right there with the top teams in the conference and every match is an opportunity to learn, so I think we will learn a lot from this. If we can continue getting better every match like we have, then we'll be in a good spot."
 
The final set was a spectacular display of volleyball, with no clear separation between the two sides. After the first point, the two sides were all tied up at eight different times during the tiebreaker. Neither team was able to pull ahead by more than two points.
 
SFU got kills from five separate players in that final frame, including five alone from senior middle Kalyn Hartmann (Langley, B.C.). The last two of Hartmann's kills were especially key, as they put SFU up 13-12 with a chance to score the upset.
 
However, a service error evened the score at 13-13. From there, the Falcons' Maddie Pruden got the go-ahead kill before combining with Hannah Hair for a block to seal the visitors' win.
 

SFU's offence saw several terrific performances, as junior outside hitter Jocelyn Sherman (Victoria, B.C.) had a game-high 20 kills, which was her second-highest total of the season (22 vs. West Virginia in non-conference play in August). Junior opposite Sophie Lachapelle of Kelowna, B.C. (14), Hartmann (13), and senior outside hitter Hanna Kolof of Vancouver (12) all hit double digits in kills. Sherman and Hartmann also notched a team-high three aces apiece. Rookie libero Macyn Unger (Prince George, B.C.) led the Red Leafs with 20 digs, while sophomore setter Eva Person (Brentwood Bay, B.C.) had a game-best 45 assists.
 
SFU had a 68-48 advantage in kills overall, but SPU recorded 18 blocks to nine for the home side. Hair had one solo block and nine block assists alone.
 
"It was a tough loss but I think it was a learning moment where we needed to come up clutch in crucial moments and we didn't, so we're going to back to the drawing board, and hopefully, we'll get to play them again soon," said Kolof.
 
The Red Leafs will have little time to recover from the five-set marathon, as they're set to host the Montana State Billings Yellowjackets this Saturday, November 4. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the West Gym.
 
Tickets can be purchased at: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/sfu-volleyball-vs-montana-state-university-billings-tickets-679623270497
 
- with files from Jacob Lazare

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