Monmouth, Or. (Sept. 6) -- A .265 hitting percentage was not enough for 23rd ranked Seattle Pacific Thursday as the Falcons were upset by Western Oregon University, 30-26, 30-24, 30-28, in the conference opener for both teams.

The Falcons (7-2) brought a four game win streak and a national AVCA ranking into Monmouth only to lose to the Wolves (4-4) in straight games.

SPU started the match strong, jumping out to a 16-8 lead before WOU stepped up their defense tremendously and never looked back. The Wolves recorded 105 digs, held the Falcons to a season-low 39 kills and notched 12.5 blocks to stifle the Falcons typically high-powered offense.

Cathleen Price (Fr., Gresham, Or./Sam Barlow) led the Falcons with 13 kills on 32 attempts while Andrea Dettorre (So., Vancouver, Wa./Prairie) led the team in digs with 14.

The Wolves were led by 14 kills and five blocks from Gwen Kreitzberg.

Seattle Pacific will try to rebound on Saturday versus Humboldt State in Arcata, Calif. The match begins at 7 p.m.

Western Oregon def. SPU, 30-26, 30-24, 30-28

Kills-SPU 39 (Price 13), WOU 44 (Kreitzberg 14)

Digs-SPU 63 (Dettorre 14), WOU 105 (Shank 26)

Blocks-SPU 1.5 (Abrahamson 1), WOU 12.5 (Kreitzberg 5)

Assists-SPU 31 (Higgins 21), WOU 37 (Wilson 36)