THE SCHEDULE           Thursday, Oct. 21: SPU at Saint Martin's, 7:00 p.m. 
                                        Marcus Pavilion/Lacey, wash. 
                                        Live Webcast      No live stats

                                       Saturday, Oct. 23: W. Oregon at SPU, 1:00 p.m. 
                                       Brougham Pavilion (2,650)/Seattle, Wash. 
                                       Live Webcast        Live stats


       Weekly release, with complete stats (PDF)

SEATTLE – Now that's bounce-back.

The Seattle Pacific Falcons put their first and only loss of the season behind them in dominating fashion last week, and will look to keep their winning ways going when they travel to Saint Martin's on Thursday night, then come back home to Brougham Pavilion for a match against Western Oregon on Saturday afternoon.

After being swept in three sets at Western Washington on Oct. 9, the Falcons swiped the broom back for themselves to win in three games at always-noisy Northwest Nazarene last Thursday. Then, they did likewise at home two days later against a Central Washington team that had extended them to four games in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener in Ellensburg last month.

SPU heads into this week's matches still tied with WWU for first place atop the standings at 10-1. With seven matches remaining in the regular season and 18 victories already on the 'W' side of their ledger, the Falcons are all but officially assured of a spot in the NCAA Division II tournament.

But plenty remains at stake – in particular, the GNAC championship, along with which comes an automatic national berth, and a high seed in the regional rankings, and thus in the tournament itself.

HAVE HAMMER, WILL NAIL – A CAREER HIGH, THAT IS

Lindsey Wodrich didn't actually have a tool of the hardware store variety in her right hand last Saturday. But that same right hand pounded a career-high 26 kills against Central Washington to lead Seattle Pacific's three-game sweep in Brougham Pavilion, 25-20, 25-22, 25-21.

Wodrich's previous high-water mark for kills was 19, first set as a freshman in 2008 and matched as a sophomore in 2009. It also was the second-highest total in GNAC history for a three-game match. Only Mallory Bergstrom of Alaska Fairbanks had more in a three-gamer, getting 27 against Saint Martin's in November 2003.

WILL NAIL ANOTHER GNAC AWARD, TOO
For the second time this season, Wodrich has been honored as the GNAC volleyball Player of the Week, thanks to that 26-kill performance. Added to her numbers from last Thursday's sweep at Northwest Nazarene, Wodrich finished the week with 31 kills, .282 hitting, 18 digs and two service aces.

The weekly award, announced on Monday, made Wodrich the first SPU multiple winner in the same season since Alyssa Given won it three times in 2007.





SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
For Seattle Pacific coach Chris Johnson, the simplest proved to be the most effective last week after a couple of less-than-stellar hitting performances the previous week:

Go for what's there – not for what isn't.

“We've got the best defense in the conference and we're starting to have more confidence in that and understanding that if we don't have a great swing, we can hit in and dig 'em again, and go attack them again,” Johnson said.”We talked a bit about just taking better care of the ball and not making too many bad mistakes – just not giving the other team free points.”

SPU will aim for more of the same this week against Saint Martin's and Western Oregon.

“They're all tests of ourselves. That's what we have been talking about all year, and that's what has gotten us to where we are now,” Johnson said. “Western Oregon is a good team, and they've had some good matches lately. They have good hitters who can put the ball down, so we have to be ready for that.”

SCOUTING SAINT MARTIN'S (Oct. 21)
All-time series: SPU leads, 40-5. Current series streak: SPU won 17.
Last time: SPU 3, Saint Martin's 0 (25-10, 25-21, 25-7 at Seattle; Sept 25, 2010). Saint Martin's on the Web.
Saints in a nutshell: Earlier this season, Saint Martin's stopped a 29-match GNAC losing streak by beating Simon Fraser. But the going has continued to be tough for the Saints, who have dropped seven straight since then, although two of those losses have been of the 3-2 variety. Saint Martin's hits just .105 as a team, led by sophomore middle hitter Teilissa Tua at .173, and followed by fellow sophomore middle hitter Katy Ferguson at .145. Ferguson has a team-leading 109 kills, the only Saints player with more than 100. She also has a team-high 46 blocks (0.84 per game), ranking ninth in the conference by per-game average. When the teams met in Seattle on Sept. 25, SPU forced Saint Martin's into negative hitting for the match at -.136.

SCOUTING WESTERN OREGON (Oct. 23)
All-time series: SPU leads, 18-14. Current series streak: SPU won 3.
Last time: SPU 3, Western Oregon 0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-21 at Monmouth, Ore., Sept. 23, 2010). Western Oregon on the Web.
Wolves in a nutshell: Not a whole lot of people were looking at the Wolves before the season. But they definitely have grabbed people's attention with their 9-7 overall mark, including a fourth-place GNAC standing of 7-4. The Wolves are tough to hit against, ranking third defensively by allowing opponents just a .155 success rate. Sophomore outside hitter Danielle Reese ranks seventh in kills per game (2.98), first in service aces per game (0.52) and sixth in points per game (3.67). She had a double-double of 11 kills and 11 digs last time against SPU, but Western Oregon hit just .067 as a team in that match.

HOW TO THEY COMPARE?
(With conference ranking)             SPU             StM             WOU
Hitting percent                                  .228 (2)       .105 (9)      .173 (5)
Opponent's hitting percent           .120 (1)        .220 (8)     .155 (3)
Kills per game                                13.92 (1)        9.35 (9)   11.49 (5)
Assists per game                          13.00 (1)      8.40 (10)  10.72 (5)
Aces per game                                 1.67 (3)      1.16 (T9)    2.00 (1)
Blocks per game                              1.96 (4)      1.75 (7)      1.68 (9)
Digs per game                                16.57 (1)     15.44(4)    15.35 (5)

POLLING PLACE
The Falcons moved up four spots to No. 13 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association Division II poll, which was released on Monday. In so doing, SPU, which received 388 points in the voting, jumped past Western Washington. The Vikings were No. 16 last week, one position in front of SPU after sweeping the Falcons in Bellingham. Western is No. 17 this week with 337 points. Minnesota-Duluth remained No. 1.

Of more immediate concern to Seattle Pacific's NCAA tournament hopes is the West Region rankings -- and in the first of those, which was released on Wednesday, the Falcons are No. 2. Only defending West champion Cal State San Bernardino is ahead of SPU.

The three conference champions – GNAC, California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) and Pacific West – automatically qualify for the NCAA West Regionals. The next five highest-ranked teams among the non-champions get the remaining berths.

The top-ranked regional team earns the right to host the tournament.

No more undefeated Division II teams remain, as Northern Michigan (17-1) and Dowling of New York (17-1) both were hit with their first losses last week. Both, however, remained in the poll – Northern Michigan at No. 15, and Dowling at No. 24.

MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
-- Junior libero Anna Herold now has 1,529 digs for her career and needs just 24 more to pass the SPU career mark of 1,552 set by Torii Mount from 2005-08.
-- Sarah Risser is 68.5 points away from 1,000 for her career.
--Junior outside hitter Paige Hoffman is 25 kills way from 500.
-- Freshman middle blocker Nikki Lowell needs 24 kills to reach 200.

MILESTONES MADE
-- Talk about nice round numbers: In last Saturday's match against Central Washington, sophomore middle Angie Pricco had two kills to give her 100 for her career, one block to give her 100, and six total attacks to give her 300.
-- Nikki Lowell easily moved past the career 200-point mark last week. She now has 213.0.

DOUBLE-DOUBLES AND OTHER DELIGHTFUL DIGITS
-- Through 19 matches, the Falcons have put 21 double-doubles into the book: nine by Sarah Risser, six by Lindsey Wodrich, four by Shelby Swanson, and two by Paige Hoffman. All are kill-dig double-doubles except for Swanson's, whose are assist-dig. Risser now has 28 for her career, Wodrich has 16 and Swanson has seven. Both of Hoffman's have come this year.
-- SPU has kept 17 of its 19 opponents below .200 hitting this season. In five of those matches, opponents went steadily down in hitting percentage from first game to last. They also have kept seven opponents below .100 hitting, including a -.136 by Saint Martin's that ranked as the third-best defensive mark in GNAC history.
-- The Falcons lead the GNAC in four major statistical categories: opponents' hitting percentage (.120), kills per game (13.92), assists per game (13.00) and digs per game (16.57). Their assist-per game average is at 13.00 for the first time this season.
-- Individually, Shelby Swanson leads the GNAC in assists at 11.62 per game.
-- Risser is No. 2 in kills at 4.06 per game, and No. 2 in points at 4.61. Thanks to SPU's defense limiting kills-per-game leader Kady Try of Central Washington to just seven last Saturday, Risser is now closing in on Try's GNAC-leading points-per-game average of 4.80.
-- Anna Herold is No. 2 in the GNAC in digs per game at 5.33.
--Nikki Lowell is No. 2 in GNAC hitting at .368. She also is No. 8 in points at 3.38 per game.
-- Lowell and Angie Pricco are No. 7 and No. 8 in blocks per game at 1.00 and 0.93, respectively.
-- Thanks to those 26 kills against Central, Lindsey Wodrich has climbed above 3.00 per game to 3.17, which is fifth in the GNAC.

NATIONALLY SPEAKING
-- Shelby Swanson has climbed one notch to No. 5 in all of Division II for assists per game at 11.62. The leader is Amanda Konetchy of Concordia-St. Paul at 12.57.
-- Sarah Risser jumped four spots to No. 13 in kills per game at 4.06. She also moved up five places to No. 16 in points per game at 4.61.
-- Anna Herold ranks No. 20 in digs per game at 5.33.
-- Nikki Lowell is No. 28 on the national hitting list at .368.
-- The Falcons, who have hit the 13.00 mark in assists per game for the first time this season, moved up one spot to No. 12 in D-2. They rank 17th in kills at 13.92. The top marks are 14.41 assists and 15.52 kills, both by Southwest Minnesota State.

Click on this link for a look at where Seattle Pacific and GNAC players and teams rank in NCAA Division II statistics.

UP NEXT
It's a two-match road trip to Alaska awaiting the Falcons next week. Seattle Pacific visits Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday at 8 p.m. PDT for a rematch against the Nanooks. Then on Saturday, the Falcons journey to Alaska Anchorage for their second match of the season against the defending GNAC champion Seawolves at 8 p.m. SPU swept both opponents when they came to Brougham earlier in the season.

TICKET TALK
Tickets for SPU's home matches can be purchased at Brougham Pavilion (3414 3rd Ave. W.) on match day. Ticket windows open one hour prior to the listed start time for all home matches.

General admission tickets are priced at $6 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens. Groups or teams of 10 or more may qualify for special general admission rates by calling (206) 281-2085 at least 72 hours in advance.

SPU students who show their school identification will be admitted free to all home matches.

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at results, schedules, stats and notes from the GNAC.


GNAC STANDINGS 
                                                Conference         Overall
Seattle Pacific                             10-1                 18-1
Western Washington                10-1                 13-2
Alaska Anchorage                        7-3                 12-6
Western Oregon                           7-4                   9-7
Central Washington                     6-5                   8-8
Northwest Nazarene                    5-7                  5-13
Alaska Fairbanks                         3-7                   3-11
Montana State Billings                3-8                   3-17
Simon Fraser                                3-9                   3-13
Saint Martin's                                1-10                 1-15