THE SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Oct. 13: Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
Live stats Live Webcast
Saturday, Oct. 15: Central Washington at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
Live stats Live Webcast
Weekly release, with complete stats (PDF)
Check out the PHOTO GALLERY from the SPU-WWU match
SEATTLE – Sometimes, they've won in a sweep. Recently, they've won by going the distance.
Either way, the Seattle Pacific volleyball team keeps winning – especially at home.
In the midst of a friendly October schedule, the 19
th-ranked Falcons wrap up a stretch of five straight matches in Brougham Pavilion this week when they play host to Northwest Nazarene on Thursday and Central Washington on Saturday, both at 7 p.m.
That effectively gets Seattle Pacific into the second half of its Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule, with the NNU contest being the ninth on the 18-match GNAC docket. It also will be the second time around against both schools – SPU opened conference play on the road last month in Ellensburg and Nampa, Idaho.
The Falcons have won four straight overall and 14 in a row at home heading into Thursday's match.
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live stats and live Webcasts will be available from both matches this week. Links to live stats can be found at the top of this story.
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- Thursday's match against
Northwest Nazarene will be the second straight GNAC contest in which SPU will match its top-rated defense (.158 opponent's hitting percentage) against the No. 1 hitting team (NNU is tied with Alaska Anchorage for the top spot at .220).
-- The Falcons and
Central Washington have played 62 times against each other over the years, and the series is now dead even at 31 victories apiece after SPU's four-game triumph at Ellensburg on Sept. 15.
-- SPU junior outside hitter
Cailin Fellows (Edmonds, Wash./Edmonds-Woodway HS) slammed a career-high 21 kills at Central Washington on Sept. 15 a four-game Falcons victory.
MILESTONE MATCH
When the Falcons take the court against Northwest Nazarene on Thursday night, it will be the 800
th match in SPU history. Through the first 799 matches, Seattle Pacific has a 468-331 record (.586). The Falcons are 3-4 in 'century' matches – and it will be their second straight such contest against NNU. The 700
th match for Seattle Pacific was on Sept. 15, 2007 in Brougham, when the Falcons beat the Crusaders in five games.
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
SPU beat both Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene in four games on the road in September. But coach
Chris Johnson made clear that that was then and this is now.
“Just because we beat them once doesn't mean we're going to take them for granted the second time,” he said. “NNU is a little bit unorthodox in their style of play and the way they attack you at times. We have to make sure we maintain our discipline and our composure and play our game and not get sucked into theirs. Central has some good hitters who are putting up some good numbers, so we have to be ready for them for sure.”
Johnson likes the position in which the Falcons find themselves as they head into the second half of the GNAC schedule.
“We're certainly playing well together as a team, especially this past weekend,” he said. “To be 7-1 in the GNAC right now and in first place at the moment, I'm certainly happy with that. I think we can continue to get better, but we've seen them get better through the first half of the season, too, which you always want to see.”
NORTHWEST NAZARENE CRUSADERS: 9-5, 6-3 GNAC (tie 4th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 19-4.
Current series streak: SPU won 6.
Last time: SPU 3, NNU 1 (25-18, 25-19, 21-25, 25-17; Sept. 17, 2011 at Nampa).
Crusaders on the Web.
Crusaders in a nutshell: NNU has been on a roll since its mid-September loss to Seattle Pacific, winning five of its six matches since then. That includes last Saturday's four-game victory against then-GNAC co-leader Alaska Anchorage in Nampa, Senior middle blocker
Haley Abbott from the Seattle suburb of Kenmore ranks No. 4 in conference hitting at .294, and also is fourth in blocks with 52.0 (1.04 per game). Abbott and freshman setter
Kaitlyn Tuholski give the Crusaders a solid 1-2 threat on offense. Tuholski has a team-leading 127 kills (including a team-high 11 against SPU on Sept. 17). Abbott is close behind with 122 (with seven against the Falcons).
CENTRAL WASHINGTON WILDCATS: 10-7, 4-5 GNAC (6th)
All-time series: Tied, 31-31.
Current series streak: SPU won 3.
Last time: SPU 3, CWU 1 (23-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-17; Sept. 15, 2011 at Ellensburg).
Wildcats on the Web.
Wildcats in a nutshell: Central played Anchorage tough in all three games last Thursday at Ellensburg, falling 25-23, 25-23, 25-22, then bounced back from a Game 1 loss to Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday to take the next three games. Junior outside hitter
Jordan Offutt, who put down 13 kills in the first match against SPU, continues to power Central's offense with a team-high 223 kills (3.78 per game) – and she hits a solid .265. Senior outside hitter
Meg Ryan (184 kills) and sophomore middle blocker
Erin Smith (127) also can do some serious damage to opposing defenses. Smith also has 54 blocks, with four solos.
HOW DO THEY COMPARE?
(With GNAC rankings)
SPU NNU CWU
Hitting percent .217(T3) .220 (T1) .217 (T3)
Opponent's hitting percent .158 (1) .179 (4) .195 (6)
Kills per game 12.8 (4) 12.2 (6) 13.4 (1)
Assists per game 11.9 (4) 11.3 (6) 12.0 (3)
Aces per game 1.3 (7) 1.7 (1) 1.4 (5)
Digs per game 15.9 (5) 15.2 (7) 15.4 (6)
Blocks per game 2.2 (1) 2.1 (2) 1.7 (6)
FALCONS REPLAY
--
Paige Hoffman and
Lindsey Wodrich hammered 10 kills apiece, leading SPU to a
sweep of Simon Fraser last Thursday in Brougham Pavilion, 25-13, 25-18, 25-11.
--
Cailin Fellows put down 20 kills last Saturday, just one short of her career high, and
Angie Pricco had a career-high 13 block assists Seattle Pacific pulled out a
five-game victory against GNAC arch-rival Western Washington in Brougham, 21-25, 25-17, 25-14, 21-25, 15-10.
--Wodrich had 17 kills and 11 digs for her eighth double-double of the year, and Pricco slammed a career-high 10 kills, leading SPU past four-time defending Canadian champion British Columbia in a homecourt non-conference match,
31-29, 17-25, 25-22, 29-31, 15-12.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Senior outside hitter
Lindsey Wodrich (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) tallied two more kill-dig double-doubles in the past three matches – one against Western Washington, another against British Columbia. She now has eight for the season and 27 for her career.
Junior setter
Shelby Swanson (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin HS) has two assist-dig double-doubles this season and is at an even dozen for her career. Junior outside hitter
Cailin Fellows has two career double-doubles – both this fall with the Falcons after having none in her two seasons with Boise State. Senior outside hitter
Paige Hoffman (Encinitas, Calif.) has four career double-doubles. Those for Fellows and Hoffman are all kill-dig.
FALCON FRESHMEN ARE FLYIN'
When coach
Chris Johnson had to make some lineup adjustments after the first two games on Monday against British Columbia, it gave two SPU freshmen a chance to shine on the floor at the same time – and they did.
Brianna Leenders (Portland, Ore./Sam Barlow HS), who has been getting regular time as a libero and serving specialist, took over at libero for
Anna Herold in Games 3, 4 and 5. Her final stats included 13 digs and three service aces, the latter of which tied her career high.
Outside hitter
Jessica Miller (Fife, Wash./Fife HS), who had played in four games all season, was in action for the final three against UBC. She responded with a career-high nine kills, easily surpassing her previous best of three. She also had her first block as a Falcon – and it was a solo – and came up with her first six collegiate digs.
MAGNIFICENT MILLENNIALS
Just one week after setter
Shelby Swanson moved past 2,000 assists for her career, senior libero
Anna Herold collected her 2,000
th dig, and
Lindsey Wodrich picked up her 1,000
th point.
Herold got dig No. 2,000 in last Saturday's five-game victory against Western Washington. She now has 2,023 heading into Thursday's match against Northwest Nazarene.
Wodrich got back-to-back points early in Game 5 on Monday against British Columbia to reach 1,000: a kill for 999, followed by a solo block for 1,000. Later in that game, she put down another kill for a match-point opportunity at 14-11, and sending Wodrich into Thursday's NNU contest with 1,001 career points.
LET'S PLAY FIVE
It's not Ernie Banks and a Chicago Cubs baseball doubleheader, but Seattle Pacific is more than holding its own in five-game matches of late. The Falcons won all three of their five-gamers in 2010. They've also taken all three in 2011: a come-from-behind thriller against Sonoma State in Honolulu on Sept. 3 (SPU was down 14-11 in the fifth game, but won it, 16-14), then last Saturday against Western Washington and Monday against British Columbia.
CLIMBING THE LADDER, PRICCO-STYLE
Sure,
Angie Pricco was getting up there to record 13 block assists last Saturday against Western Washington. Along with the four she had last Thursday against Simon Fraser, she's now up to an average of 1.13 blocks per game – and that was enough to send her soaring up the national chart this week. Pricco now ranks 22
nd in all of NCAA Division II. That's a jump of 64 places from her No. 86 ranking last week. Nikki James of Carson-Newman (Tenn.) is the D-2 leader at 1.62 per game.
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
--
Anna Herold is up another two places in digs per game this week. Her 5.51 average ranks 17
th. Jenny Young of Catawba (N.C.) leads at 6.39.
--
Shelby Swanson ranks 18
th in assists per game at 10.95. Amanda Konetchy of Concordia-St. Paul remains the leader at 12.86.
--
The Falcons rank 18
th in blocks per game at 2.27. Hillsdale (Mich.) is still No. 1 at 2.71.
Click on
this link to see how Seattle Pacific and other GNAC teams fare in the national statistics.
NUMERICAL MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100th ace Lindsey Wodrich (has 93)
100th block Lindsey Wodrich (has 98)
200th kill Angie Pricco (has 190)
500th dig Shelby Swanson (has 485)
500th kill Cailin Fellows (has 442),
Nikki Lowell (has 433)
500th point Cailin Fellows (has 477.5)
POLLING PLACE
Seattle Pacific moved up one place to No. 19 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA)
national poll. The Falcons collected 227 points in the voting and remain the only GNAC team in the top 25.
Unbeaten
Concordia-St. Paul (18-0) remained a unanimous No. 1 with 32 first-place votes and 800 points. From the West Region, unbeaten
Cal State San Bernardino (16-0) remained No. 3,
UC San Diego (11-4) fell two spots to No. 18, just 13 points ahead of SPU with 240.
Chico State (14-3) moved climbed one place to No. 23.
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on
this link for a look at news, notes, results and stats from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific heads back out onto the road next week, but neither trip is a long one. The Falcons go south on Interstate 5 to Lacey to face
Saint Martin's on Thursday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m. They'll come home that night, then on Friday head down to Monmouth, Ore., for a match against
Western Oregon on Saturday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m. SPU swept both teams in Seattle last month.
GNAC STANDINGS
GNAC Season
Seattle Pacific 7-1 13-4
Western Washington 7-2 9-4
Alaska Anchorage 7-2 13-6
Northwest Nazarene 6-3 9-5
Western Oregon 6-3 7-6
Central Washington 4-5 10-7
Montana State Billings 3-5 9-8
Saint Martin's 2-7 3-12
Alaska Fairbanks 2-7 2-15
Simon Fraser 0-9 0-13
