MONMOUTH, Ore.--Western Oregon had a 2-1 lead on league-leading Seattle Pacific but the Falcons rallied back for a five-set win on Saturday afternoon in front of 232 Alumni Day fans at the Western Athletic Center.

The victory allowed the Falcons to remain in first place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with a 9-2 record, a half-game ahead of Central Washington, who still plays tonight. SPU is 14-5 overall. The Wolves are now 8-11 on the year and 4-7 in the GNAC.

The Wolves, who also took the Falcons to five sets in Seattle a month ago, gave the visitors everything that they could handle. WOU put SPU on notice right away, pulling out to a 15-10 lead. They pushed that margin to 22-15 before the visitors stormed back to 23-22. But WOU closed out with a pair of kills by Vivian Yount to close out the set. 

The Falcons grabbed the momentum back in the second, cruising to a 25-14 win, but the Wolves roared back in the third in a back-and-forth tussle. Tied at 22-22, WOU scored the final three points of the set on two kills by Payton Davis and an ace by Malena Mathis to take a 2-1 lead.

In the fourth, the two teams were tied at 11-11, but Seattle Pacific scored seven of the next eight points to pull away for the eventual 25-17 win. In the fifth, a 5-0 SPU run after trailing 3-1 gave them a lead that they wouldn't let go of to win 15-11. 

Seattle Pacific had five players in double-figure kill totals and Christina Lopez led her team in digs with 26. Western Oregon had balance as well on offense, led by Kate Markley's 16 kills. Davis had 14, Mathis 13 and Yount put down 11. Cali-Jo Shigemasa had 15 digs, Madi Noel had 14 and Kilinoelehua Helm added 13 digs. 

Western Oregon will hit the road next week with a Thursday match at Northwest Nazarene and a Saturday clash at Central Washington.