THE SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Oct. 27: Alaska Fairbanks at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
Live Webcast Live stats
Saturday, Oct. 29: Alaska Anchorage at Seattle Pacific, 3:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
Live Webcast Live stats
Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
SEATTLE – The month of October opened with eight home matches looming on Seattle Pacific's volleyball schedule. Now, just like that, the Falcons are down to those final two home contests of the month – and of the season.
SPU winds up the Brougham Pavilion portion of the 2011 season this week when Alaska Fairbanks comes to town on Thursday night at 7, followed by Alaska Anchorage on Senior Day Saturday at 3 p.m.
The Falcons already have played at home once this week, sweeping past a scrappy Montana State Billings squad on Monday. They are 7-1 on their homecourt this season, with four sweeps, a four-gamer and a pair of five-gamers in the victory column.
Seattle Pacific also has found good success on the road, with an 8-1 record (plus 2-3 at neutral sites). That road mark includes last week's three-game sweeps at Saint Martin's and Western Oregon. The road is where the Falcons will wind up the regular season with three straight matches, starting with next Thursday's battle in Bellingham against Western Washington.
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live Webcasts and live stats will not be available from both matches this week. Links can be found at the top of this story.
SPU RANKED 3RD IN REGION
The first NCAA West Region rankings of the season are out, and
Seattle Pacific is in the No. 3 spot on the list. As expected, undefeated
Cal State San Bernardino is on top, followed by
Brigham Young-Hawaii. Also from the GNAC,
Northwest Nazarene is No. 7, and
Alaska Anchorage is No. 9.
The three conference champions – GNAC, CCAA and Pacific West – plus the top five teams from among the non-champions in the final rankings qualify for the NCAA West Regionals.
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
--The Falcons come into Thursday's match having won four in a row, matching their two-time 2011 season-best.
--SPU also has won 12 straight games during that stretch after dropping three straight games (and the match) to Northwest Nazarene on Oct. 13 and the opening game at home to Central Washington on Oct. 15.
--Seattle Pacific has beaten Alaska Fairbanks five straight times, the last four in sweeps.
--The Falcons and Alaska Anchorage settled for a split last season, each team winning at home. That trend has held true so far this year, with the Seawolves scoring a four-game victory against SPU on Sept. 29 in Alaska.
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
Having seen both of the Alaska schools last month, coach
Chris Johnson knows that both will pose their own challenges when they visit Brougham this week.
“Fairbanks has some good arms and some good weapons,” he said. “If they're firing and they're on, they'll be tough to defend.”
Against Anchorage, Johnson said the Falcons simply have to deliver a better performance than they did on the Seawolves' court.
“They did a good job of digging us and blocking us,” he said. “But we came away from that match feeling like we didn't play our best. If we do play our best on Saturday, it'll be a different story.
ALASKA FAIRBANKS NANOOKS: 2-18, 2-10 GNAC (9th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 29-9.
Current series streak: SPU won 5.
Last time: SPU 3, Fairbanks 0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-15; Oct. 1, 2011 at Fairbanks).
Nanooks on the Web.
Nanooks in a nutshell: After an 0-12 start, Alaska Fairbanks put together a modest two-match winning streak just prior to facing the Falcons on Oct. 1. They have dropped six straight since then. The key to the Nanooks' offense is junior middle blocker
Casey Tidwell, who leads the team with 176 kills and a .245 hitting percentage. She was a tough challenge for SPU last time in Fairbanks with 14 kills and just one error for a .619 percentage. Tidwell also is one of UAF's defensive stalwarts with 48 blocks, including eight solos. Sophomore outside hitter
Keri Knight (164 kills) and junior outside hitter
Reilly Stevens (154) also can put the ball on the floor.
ALASKA ANCHORAGE SEAWOLVES: 14-6, 10-2 GNAC (2nd)
All-time series: SPU leads, 26-14.
Current series streak: Anchorage won 1.
Last time: Anchorage 3, SPU 1 (26-24, 22-25, 25-15, 25-20; Sept. 29, 2011 at Anchorage).
Seawolves on the Web.
Seawolves in a nutshell: Anchorage routed Western Washington last week in Alaska, 25-12, 25-23, 25-15 in a match that caught everyone's attention in the GNAC. Setting the season offensive pace is sophomore middle blocker
Robyn Burton with a phenomenal hitting mark of .418. She averages 3.24 kills per game (10
th in GNAC) and hammered 14 against SPU in September, hitting .344 in that match. Senior outside hitter
Jackie Matthisen is No. 2 on the conference kills-per-game list at 4.07, and put down a match-high 17 against the Falcons last month. The Seawolves are tall across the front and seemed to play event taller in the September contest, getting 13 points on blocks. Burton, whose 1.07 blocks-per-game average is tied for second in the GNAC, had three solos and six block assists that night.
HOW DO THEY COMPARE?
(With GNAC rankings)
SPU UAF UAA
Hitting percent .220 (2) .116 (9) .232 (1)
Opponent's hitting percent .153 (1) .228 (9) .180 (5)
Kills per game 13.06 (3) 10.6 (9) 13.1 (1)
Assists per game 12.27 (3) 9.8 (9) 12.3 (1)
Aces per game 1.4 (4) 1.3 (5) 1.7 (1)
Digs per game 16.5 (4) 14.8 (8) 14.7 (9)
Blocks per game 2.1 (2) 1.4 (9) 2.0 (4)
FALCONS REPLAY
--
Cailin Fellows hammered 19 kills as Seattle Pacific rolled to a sweep of Saint Martin's last Thursday in Lacey,
25-19, 25-8, 25-18.
--
Lindsey Wodrich and
Shelby Swanson both posted double-doubles, and
Anna Herold came up with 24 digs in just three games, leading SPU past Western Oregon last Saturday in Monmouth,
25-21, 25-21, 25-20.
-- Wodrich had 12 kills and tied her career high with five service aces as Seattle Pacific moved into first place in the GNAC standings by sweeping Montana State Billings on Monday,
25-23, 25-15, 25-22.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
It was two more kill-dig double-doubles for senior outside hitter
Lindsey Wodrich (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) last week. Wodrich now has an even dozen double-doubles this season, of which nine have come against GNAC opponents. She has 31 for her career.
Junior setter
Shelby Swanson (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin HS) logged 32 assists and 15 digs at Western Oregon for her fifth double-double of the season and 15th of her career. All of hers are assist-dig.
Senior outside hitter
Paige Hoffman (Encinitas, Calif.) has one double-double this fall and five as a Falcon. Junior outside hitter
Cailin Fellows also has two for her career – both this year with SPU. All of theirs are kill-dig.
SALUTING THE SENIORS
They've been together for four years, and have experienced the highs (26-3 as juniors), the lows (8-18 as freshmen) and all of the in-betweens of a college career. Now, seniors
Anna Herold,
Paige Hoffman,
Angie Pricco and
Lindsey Wodrich are getting ready for their final home match, and will be honored prior to the first serve on Saturday against Alaska Anchorage.
--
Herold (Bothell, Wash./Shorecrest HS) very likely has put the SPU digs record out of reach. The old mark was 1,552, which she broke midway through last season. She comes into this weekend's contests with 2,135, and has five regular-season matches plus any postseason matches to keep adding to it.
--As a freshman,
Hoffman showed her capabilities with 135 kills and a .169 hitting percentage. The only direction those numbers have gone since then is up – way up. Her current career totals are 754 kills, a .252 hitting percentage and 909.5 career points.
--
Pricco (Brier, Wash./Blanchet HS) is just a junior athletically, but is a senior academically, and recently decided that she will move on after graduating next spring. Just last week, she passed 200 career kills, and is approaching 200 career blocks.
--
Wodrich has become a go-to player for the Falcons. In the past two weeks, she has surpassed career milestones of 1,000 points, 100 blocks, and, just this past Monday against Montana State Billings, 100 service aces. She also has a shot at 1,000 career kills, coming into Thursday with 930.
SWEEP CITY
For the first time this season, Seattle Pacific has strung together three consecutive sweeps: last Thursday at Saint Martin's, last Saturday at Western Oregon, and Monday at home against Montana State Billings. The Falcons now have nine sweeps for the season, tied with Alaska Anchorage for most in the GNAC. Western Washington is right behind with eight sweeps.
NO FEAR OF HEIGHTS ON ASSIST LIST
By the end of this weekend, setter
Shelby Swanson might very well have climbed another four rungs on the GNAC career assists ladder. She will begin play against Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday in 18th place with 2,389. The next total up the list is 2,400 – and since Swanson averages 11-plus assists per game, she could be there by the end of Game 1. Then it's up to 2,402 for 16th place, then 2,417 for 15th, and 2,445 for 14th.
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
--As expected, senior libero
Anna Herold moved up the NCAA Division II digs list this week, climbing from 22
nd to 14
th with her 5.55 average. The leader is still Maggie Murphy of Mars Hill (N.C.) at 6.83.
--
Shelby Swanson also made a big move, climbing from 17
th to 13
th in assists per game at 11.16. Season-long leader Amanda Konetchy of Concordia-St. Paul is still No. 1 at 12.71.
--Thanks to Swanson, the Falcons rank 35th in assists per game at 12.27.
Click on
this link to see how GNAC players and teams stack up nationally. Click on
this link for a look at GNAC stat leaders.
POLLING PLACE
In spite of winning both matches in sweeps last week, Seattle Pacific dropped one place to No. 24 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA)
national poll. The Falcons received 65 points in the voting, but are still the only GNAC team in the top 25.
Concordia-St. Paul is no longer unbeaten – and no longer No. 1. The four-time defending national champion Golden Bears saw their 44-match overall winning streak, 61-match homecourt winning streak and 85-match Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference winning streak end last Saturday with a five-game loss at home to then-No. 4 Minnesota Duluth.
Tampa (23-0) took over the top spot ahead of
Minnesota Duluth (23-0) and No. 3
Cal State San Bernardino (20-0).
A total of four West Region teams are now among the top 25: San Bernardino,
UC San Diego (15-4 and still No. 18), Sonoma
State (18-3 and No. 22, up two places), and SPU.
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
The Falcons head north to Bellingham next Thursday night for their rematch against
Western Washington at 7 p.m. SPU won a five-game nail-biter on Oct. 8 in Seattle. Then on Saturday, it's across the border to Burnaby, B.C., to take on
Simon Fraser at 7 p.m. The Falcons swept the Clan in Seattle on Oct. 6.
GNAC STANDINGS
GNAC Season
Seattle Pacific 11-2 17-5
Alaska Anchorage 10-2 14-6
Western Washington 10-3 12-5
Northwest Nazarene 9-3 14-5
Western Oregon 8-5 9-8
Central Washington 5-7 11-9
Saint Martin's 4-9 5-14
Montana State Billings 3-10 9-13
Alaska Fairbanks 2-10 2-18
Simon Fraser 1-12 1-16
