THE SCHEDULE: Thursday, Oct. 15: Alaska Anchorage at SPU, 7 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion (2,650)/Seattle, Wash.
Live Webcast and live stats on this link.
Saturday, Oct. 17: Alaska Fairbanks at SPU, 3 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion (2,650)/Seattle, Wash.
Live Webcast and live stats this link.
Weekly release, with complete stats (PDF)
SEATTLE – It's mid-term time on the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball schedule. But already, the Seattle Pacific Falcons have passed plenty of tough tests -- including two last week.
The Falcons, who've had the benefit of a home-friendly schedule through the early part of GNAC play, went on the road last Thursday for the first time in nearly three weeks and came back home with a four-game victory against Central Washington. They followed that last Saturday by fighting off a match point on their home court and pulling out a five-game victory against Northwest Nazarene.
Now, the Falcons will face the last two teams they have yet to see in conference play when Alaska Anchorage visits Royal Brougham Pavilion on Thursday night at 7, and Alaska Fairbanks comes calling on Saturday afternoon at 3.
Thursday's contest against the Seawolves will be the second consecutive 1-vs.-2 battle for GNAC-leading Seattle Pacific. Northwest Nazarene was in the No. 2 spot coming into last Saturday's match, but went home tied for third after the Falcons' 25-14, 23-25, 26-28, 27-25, 15-10 triumph. A win on Thursday would give SPU a two-game lead at the exact midpoint of its conference docket.
Anchorage and Seattle Pacific both finished in the bottom half of the GNAC standings last fall, but have improved their status significantly this season.
Alaska Fairbanks, on the other hand, was one of the conference's better teams in 2008, but has endured some ups and downs in '09. The Nanooks begin the week at .500 overall and currently reside in seventh place among the nine GNAC schools.
Continued success at home will be vital for the Falcons, as they play their next three and five of their final seven matches out of town, beginning with next Thursday's trip to Western Oregon, which built a two-game lead in Brougham on Sept. 24 before SPU came back for a five-game victory.
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
Things could have taken a wrong turn last week. But whether it was fighting off Central Washington's comeback or fighting off the match point against Northwest Nazarene, the Falcons came through at the right time.
“The girls just have that confidence and belief in themselves that they can get the job done,” coach Chris Johnson said after rallying for the win against NNU. “Four double-doubles, Anna (Herold) having 36 digs, Amber (Johnson) hitting .500 -- we just had some real strong performances.”
Johnson knew his bench would be a strong suit this fall, and that played out once again last Saturday when sophomore outside hitter Lindsey Wodrich (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) was out sick, and sophomore Priscilla Collings (Chula Vista, Calif.) stepped in against Northwest Nazarene and produced one of those double-doubles with 14 kills and 20 digs.
“This is the second time we've beaten them without one of our starting outside hitters,” Johnson said. “It's great to know that we have that depth.”
The sweep of last week's matches kept SPU atop the GNAC standings.
“As long was we have just one loss, we're still in control of our own destiny,” Johnson said. “And that's a good feeling.”
SCOUTING ALASKA ANCHORAGE
All-time series: SPU leads, 25-10. Current series streak: SPU won 1. Last time: SPU 3, UAA 0 (25-22, 29-27, 25-20 on Oct. 23, 2008 at Seattle). Alaska Anchorage on the Web.
Seawolves in a nutshell: The Seawolves were not highly regarded coming into the year, being picked for a seventh-place finish in the coaches preseason poll. Yet, here they are in second, just one game behind the GNAC-leading Falcons. Anchorage has three big threats at the net. Jackie Matthisen, a 5-11 sophomore, leads with 288 kills (second-highest total in the GNAC; her 3.89 per-game average is tied for No. 3); McKenzie Moss, another 5-11 soph, has 241; and Cortney Lundberg, a 6-1 junior, has 192, leads the team in hitting at .317 (No. 4 in the GNAC), and also is UAA's pace-setter in blocks with 74. Anchorage has edged past SPU as the conference's top-hitting team coming into this week, .213 to .212. The Seawolves scored a five-game victory at Western Washington last month, and come to town on a three-match winning streak.
SCOUTING ALASKA FAIRBANKS
All-time series: SPU leads, 24-9. Current series streak: UAF won 2. Last time: UAF 3, SPU 1 (21-25, 26-24, 26-24, 28-26 on Oct. 25, 2008 at Seattle). Alaska Fairbanks on the Web.
Nanooks in a nutshell: After winning their conference opener, Alaska Fairbanks has struggled in the GNAC, losing four of its past five. But two of those have been five-gamers (at Central Washington and home against Western Oregon), so the Nanooks have been in the hunt. They took nationally ranked Hawaii Hilo to five games at home in a preseason tournament before falling short, and scored a four-game victory against defending Pacific West champion Brigham Young-Hawaii. Senior outside hitter Megan Thigpen has hammered 245 kills for UAF (3.89 per game, tied for third in the GNAC) and come up with 190 digs. The Nanooks have three of the conference's top 10 in service aces: Jessica Hill (second at 0.49 per game, 27 total), Thipgen (tied for sixth at 0.38, 24 total) and Allison Oddy (tied for sixth at 0.38, 22 total).
HOW TO THEY COMPARE?
(GNAC rank in parentheses)
Hitting percent SPU .212 (2) UAA .213 (1) UAF .200 (4)
Opponent hit percent SPU .147 (1) UAA .169 (4) UAF .197 (7)
Kills per game SPU 13.29 (1) UAA 12.80 (3) UAF 12.65 (4)
Assists per game SPU 12.36 (1) UAA 11.71 (3) UAF 11.48 (3)
Aces per game SPU 1.25 (8) UAA 1.45 (7) UAF 1.92 (1)
Blocks per game SPU 1.86 (5) UAA 2.03 (1) UAF 1.57 (7)
Digs per game SPU 16.75 (3) UAA 13.96 (8) UAF 14.71 (7)
MOST RECENT SPU STARTERS
Oct. 10 vs. Northwest Nazarene
Kills Pct. Aces Ast Digs Blocks
Sarah Risser 22 .214 1 0 27 0
Paige Hoffman 6 .263 0 0 4 1
Amber Johnson 14 .500 0 0 5 5
Priscilla Collings 14 .045 1 0 20 1
Angie Pricco 4 .133 1 0 5 3
Cortney Weedman 1 .000 1 39 12 0
Anna Herold (LIB) 0 -1.000 0 3 36 0
SEATTLE PACIFIC 69 .181 4 65 127 14
DOUBLE-DOUBLES AND OTHER DELIGHTFUL DIGITS
-- Sarah Risser and Cortney Weedman doubled up on double-doubles last week. Junior outside hitter Risser (Santa Barbara, Calf.) and senior setter Weedman (Scottsdale, Ariz.) got one in each of SPU's two victories. And each player had a career-high in the process. Risser set a personal mark for kills in a match with 22 last Thursday at Central Washington, then matched it on Saturday against Northwest Nazarene. Weedman racked up 39 assists against NNU, the most she has ever had in a single match. Freshman setter Shelby Swanson (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin HS) and sophomore outside hitter Priscilla Collings also double-doubled against the Crusaders on Saturday.
-- The Falcons now have 27 double-doubles this fall. Risser has 10 for the year and 13 for her career. Weedman has five in 2009 and six altogether, and Collings racked up her third of the season. Sophomore outside hitter Lindsey Wodrich has five this fall and 10 total,and junior setter Joelle Perez (Vancouver, Wash./Heritage HS) has two this season.
-- Risser, Wodrich and Collings are all kill-dig double-double combos; Weedman, Perez and Swanson are assist-dig combos.
-- Risser is now among the top 25 in Division II for kills per game. Risser ranks No. 22 this week at 3.86. Topping the list is Tatiana Kuhn of Henderson State at 4.92.
-- Although Alaska Anchorage has snuck past Seattle Pacific as the top-hitting team in the GNAC this week (.213 to .212), the Falcons still lead the GNAC in three other statistical departments: kills per game (13.29), assists per game (12.36) and toughest team to hit against (.147). SPU's streak of keeping its opponents below .200 hitting has reached 12, including four below .100 during that stretch.
Click on this link for a complete look at GNAC statistics. Click on this link for a look at SPU's national rankings.
MARCHING TOWARD A MILLENNIAL MILESTONE
Sophomore libero Anna Herold (Bothell, Wash./Shorecrest HS) is on the brink of her 1,000th dig. Herold had two monster matches in that department last week, coming up with 32 at Central Washington and 36 against Northwest Nazarene. That gives her 411 for the season and 990 for her career.
With nine regular-season matches left, Herold needs to average 18.8 digs per match to break her own single-season school record total of 579 set last year. In just those two matches last week, she boosted her season average from 5.12 digs per game (24th in Division II last week) to 5.41 (No. 17 in the national rankings this week). Last year, Herold finished fourth in D-2 at 6.03 per game. Lauren Flynn of Texas A&M-Commerce is the D-2 leader this fall at 6.32.
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
-- SPU is on the brink of its 100th Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory The Falcons now have 96 since conference play began in 2001.
-- Lindsey Wodrich is just two kills away from 300. She also is just 14 digs away from 300.
-- Robin De Jong (Santa Barbara, Calif.), who has missed the early part of the season with an injury, is nine kills away from 200.
-- Kylie Johnson (Tucson, Ariz.) needs just five kills to reach 100.
-- Joelle Perez, after racking up 1,718 assists in her first two seasons, needs 71 to reach 2,000. Now at 1,929 after picking up nine against Western Oregon last week, Perez has climbed into the GNAC's all-time top 20 for assists.
-- Though she is in just her second and final season here, reaching 1,000 assists as a Falcon isn't out of the question for Cortney Weedman. She is at 818 with nine matches to go, with 431 of those this season.
-- Paige Hoffman (Encinitas, Calif.) needs seven more blocks to reach 100 and eight more points for 300.
MILESTONES MADE
-- Coming off the bench for 12 kills last Thursday at Central Washington, Priscilla Collings passed the 200 mark for her career. Along with the 14 that she tallied on Saturday against Northwest Nazarene, she comes into the week with 218.
-- With 6.5 points against Northwest Nazarene last Saturday, Paige Hoffman passed the 300-point mark. She enters this week at 304.0.
-- Sarah Risser, with 23 points against NNU, broke through the 500-point barrier. She now has 506.0.
FALCON REPLAY
Last Thursday, Seattle Pacific fought off a potential fifth game at Central Washington. On Saturday, they came back from the brink to get into one.
Both final outcomes went the Falcons' way.
With a 2-0 lead on the verge of evaporating into a 2-2 tie in Ellensburg, SPU scored the last four points of the match to close out the Wildcats, 25-12, 25-23, 23-25, 26-24. Central had the momentum, taking the third game to cut Seattle Pacific's lead to 2-1, then taking a 24-22 lead in the fourth game, one point away from taking that momentum into a tie-breaker. But a kill by Sarah Risser made it 24-23, then back-to-back-to-back blocks at the net by Jessica Bettencourt and Angie Pricco snared the last three points -- and the match -- for the Falcons.
On Saturday, Northwest Nazarene had taken Games 2 and 3, and had match point at 24-23 in Game 4. But a Crusaders error gave the Falcons new life, consecutive kills by Amber Johnson (Mount Vernon, Wash./Mount Vernon HS) and Risser snapped a 25-25 tie to force Game 5, and SPU led most of the way in that decider to close out a 25-14, 23-25, 26-28, 27-25, 15-10 victory.
POLLING PLACE
For the second time this season, the Falcons have caught some national attention, receiving four votes in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association poll that was released on Oct. 12. Seattle Pacific was the only GNAC team receiving votes, and was one of seven teams in the West Region to be ranked or receive votes.
The first NCAA regional rankings will be released Thursday, Oct. 15. The three regional conference champions (GNAC, California Collegiate Athletic Association and Pacific West), plus the five highest-ranked teams West which did not win their conference titles will advance to the NCAA Division II tournament.
ON THE HONOR ROLL
-- Junior outside hitter Sarah Risser was named the GNAC Player of the Week for Oct. 5-10, the first Falcon to be honored by the conference this season. Risser had a career-high 22 kills, along with 14 digs, in last Thursday's four-game win at Central Washington, then had another 22 kills and 27 digs as SPU beat Northwest Nazarene in five games last Saturday.
-- Risser and sophomore middle blocker Amber Johnson were named to the all-tournament team at the Western Washington Invitational on Sept. 12. In the four tournament matches against Notre Dame de Namur, Grand Canyon, No. 7-ranked West Texas A&M and defending Canadian champion British Columbia, Risser led in kills per game (4.27), pounding 64 altogether. She double-doubled in kills and digs in the first three matches. Johnson set the pace in hitting percentage at .477, with 27 kills and just three errors on 51 attacks.
UP NEXT
The road beckons the Falcons for most of the remaining conference schedule. SPU plays its next three away from home, starting next Thursday, Oct. 22 at Western Oregon. That will be their only match of the week, as they have the second of their two byes next Saturday.
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at results, schedules and notes from the GNAC.
GNAC STANDINGS
Conference Overall
Seattle Pacific 6-1 12-7
Alaska Anchorage 5-2 13-7
Western Washington 5-3 12-7
Northwest Nazarene 5-3 12-8
Montana State Billings 4-3 10-8
Western Oregon 4-4 7-12
Alaska Fairbanks 2-4 8-9
Central Washington 2-5 10-8
Saint Martin's 0-8 1-14
