THE SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Oct. 6:                  Simon Fraser at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live stats       Live Webcast
 
Saturday, Oct. 8:                   Western Washington at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live stats       Live Webcast
 
Monday, Oct. 10:                   British Columbia at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live stats       Live Webcast
 
  
        Weekly release, with complete stats (PDF)
 
       RECENT HOME MATCH PHOTO GALLERIES:
        Western Oregon (Sept. 22)
        Saint Martin's (Sept. 24) 

SEATTLE – They're back – and this time, they're staying around for a while.
 
With12 road matches out of their first 14 now in the behind them, the Seattle Pacific Falcons are eagerly anticipating a friendly month of October, during which they will play eight of their 10 matches in Brougham Pavilion. That includes five in a row, starting with Thursday night's Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest against Simon Fraser at 7 p.m.
 
Conference arch-rival Western Washington comes calling on Saturday night at 7. Then on Monday, the University of British Columbia, which has won the last four Canadian collegiate national championships, visits for a 7 p.m. non-conference match.
 
The only time the Falcons travel during October are a short trip down I-5 to face Saint Martin's in Lacey on Thursday, Oct. 20, and another ride south on Oct. 22 for a match against Western Oregon in Monmouth.
 
SPU closed out its lengthy segment of away matches with a split last week, falling at Alaska Anchorage on Thursday, but posting a sweep at Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday.
 
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?
--Home definitely has been a friendly place to the Falcons recently. They have won their last 11 in Brougham Pavilion, dating back to a 3-2 loss to Central Washington in the 2009 finale.
--SPU's last three home matches have ended in three-game sweeps. That started with the 2010 home final against Simon Fraser.
--Although Western Washington is now the only GNAC team that leads an all-time series against SPU, the Falcons still have a slight edge of 13-11 at home.
 
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
Naturally, coach Chris Johnson and the rest of the Falcons are looking forward to Saturday's Western Washington match. But first things first – and that's elevating their own level of play as they prepare for Thursday's visit from Simon Fraser.
 
“Especially after our Alaska trip, we need to focus on consistency and our own side of the net and our own offense,” Johnson said. “It's great to get a win in Fairbanks after a long trip – but I would have been a lot happier if we had hit higher than .200. That will be our focus, and playing to our own best ability.”
 
SPU will need every bit of that best ability when Western arrives at Brougham on Saturday.
 
“That's just a great rivalry and has been for years” Johnson said. “The girls have that one marked as extra special, but we tell them we have to have that same mentality for everyone. Western runs the slide better than anybody. Between (Emily) Jepsen running the slide and (Marlayna) Geary on the outside – those two we have to make sure we have an answer for.”
 
SCOUTING THE SIMON FRASER CLAN
All-time series: SPU leads, 20-9. Current series streak: SPU won 7. Last time: SPU 3, Simon Fraser 0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-13; Nov. 6, 2010). Clan on the Web.
Clan in a nutshell: It has been tough going all season for Simon Fraser, which is still seeking its first victory. Senior middle blocker Kristjana Fridfinnson is the top player on the floor for Simon Fraser, hitting at a .228 clip with a team-leading 64 kills. Fridfinnson also leads Simon Fraser in blocks with 20, including eight solos. Freshman libero Alanna Chan helps keep the ball in play with a team-leading 103 digs.
                                                                                                                                       
SCOUTING THE WESTERN WASHINGTON VIKINGS
All-time series: WWU leads, 37-22. Current series streak: SPU won 2. Last time: SPU 3, WWU 2 (12-25, 25-20, 27-25, 22-25, 15-11; Nov. 18, 2010 at San Bernardino, Calif.) Vikings on the Web.
Vikings in a nutshell: Western Washington is as strong as ever, coming into the week tied with Alaska Anchorage for first place in the GNAC at 6-1, just half a game ahead of the Falcons. The Vikings will match their conference-leading hitting (.227) against SPU's conference-leading defense (.161 opponents' hitting). Junior outside hitter Marlayna Geary leads the GNAC in kills at 4.33 per game, and in points at 4.76 per game. Putting the balls in position for her is junior setter Laurie Yearout, who has the GNAC's top per-game assist average of 11.21. Senior defensive specialist/libero Haleigh Adkins leads the conference in service aces per game at 0.51 (20 total).
 
SCOUTING THE BRITISH COLUMBIA THUNDERBIRDS
All-time series: SPU leads, 2-0. Current series streak: SPU won 2. Last time: SPU 3, UBC 0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-15; Sept, 12, 2009 at Bellingham). Thunderbirds on the Web.
Thunderbirds in a nutshell: This is just the third match-up between the Falcons and UBC – and the first one in Seattle. Part of that is because women's volleyball is a winter sport in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) system, with the first regular-season matches not scheduled until late October. UBC is coming off a 24-7 season and their fourth straight Canadian crown. They bring an overall 11-match winning streak to Seattle. Outside hitter Shanice Marcelle had more than 300 kills for UBC last season, and Jessica Von Schilling hit .321 with nearly 100 blocks.
 
                                                                                  
HOW DO THEY COMPARE?
(With GNAC rankings)
                                                    SPU              SFU            WWU      UBC*
Hitting percent                          .214 (T4)    .046 (10)      .227 (1)    .246
Opponent's hitting percent    .161 (1)        .292 (10)      .174 (2)    .131
Kills per game                           12.9 (4)        8.1 (10)      13.5 (1)     13.2
Assists per game                     12.1 (1)         7.6 (10)      12.6 (1)     12.4
Aces per game                            1.2 (8)        1.0 (10)        1.6 (3)       2.3
Digs per game                           16.2 (3)      11.9 (10)      15.7 (4)     13.6
Blocks per game                      2.15 (1)         1.0 (10)      1.95 (4)      2.6 
*UBC statistics are from 2010-11 season.
 
FALCONS REPLAY
-- Jackie Matthisen put down 17 kills, offsetting another double-double by Seattle Pacific's Lindsey Wodrich as Alaska Anchorage  knocked off the Falcons last Thursday in Alaska, 26-24, 22-25, 25-15, 25-20.
- -Cailin Fellows and Shelby Swanson both registered double-doubles on Saturday, helping SPU bounce back from Thursday's loss at Anchorage to sweep Alaska Fairbanks, 25-19, 25-22, 25-15.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Shelby Swanson (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin HS) now has two double-doubles in her last three matches for Seattle Pacific. The junior setter racked up 36 assists and 11 digs in last Saturday's sweep at Fairbanks. Those two for this season now give her 12 for her career. Junior outside hitter Cailin Fellows (Edmonds, Wash./Edmonds-Woodway HS) also had a double-double of 15 kills and 11 digs at Fairbanks, giving her two for her career – both of them this season with SPU after transferring her from Boise State.
 
Senior outside hitter Lindsey Wodrich (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) went double-double at Alaska Anchorage last Thursday with 15 kills and 12 digs. She now has six this season and 25 for her career. Senior outside hitter Paige Hoffman (Encinitas, Calif.) has four career double-doubles.
 
A2K IN Y2K11
What that alphabet soup is really spelling out is a major statistical milestone for Falcons setter Shelby Swanson. With 37 assists at Alaska Anchorage last week, she passed 2,000 for her career. She became the 21^st player in the history of the GNAC to break through that barrer, and comes into this week with 2,040.
 
Swanson is 70 assists away from cracking the all-time GNAC top 20. The 20^th spot currently is occupied by former Western Washington star Kari Rice, who finished her career last season with 2,110 assists. Barring the unexpected, Swanson easily should be in the GNAC top 15 by season's end (2,417) and approaching the top 10 (2,740), with her full senior season still to play in 2012.
 
WHILE WE'RE TALKING MILLENNIAL MARKS …
Senior outside hitter Lindsey Wodrich is on the brink of becoming the second Falcons in as many seasons to crack the 1,000-point career mark. She enters the week with 954.0. Last year, outside hitter Sarah Risser pushed past 1,000, finishing her career with 1,051.0.
 
HEROLD'S (ALMOST) NO. 2
By the end of this week, SPU senior libero Anna Herold (Bothell, Wash./Shorecrest HS) probably will be in the No. 2 spot on the GNAC's all-time career digs list. Herold, who already owns the Seattle Pacific career record for digs, comes into this week at No. 3 with 1,970. The conference's second-best career total is 2,008, set by Maggie Safranski of Seattle University from 2002-05.
 
The top spot, however, likely is out of reach. Courtney Schneider came up with 2,695 digs while starring for Western Washington from 2004-07.
 
THE BOUNCE-BACK KIDS
Things aren't always going to go their way. But even when that happens, this group of Seattle Pacific players has developed what it takes to leave a loss behind them and get back on track in the next match. The last 11 times the Falcons have fallen short in regular-season play, they've come back to win the next time they take the court. That includes last week's trip to Alaska when they shook off a loss at Anchorage to sweep Fairbanks two days later.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
--Junior setter Shelby Swanson is at No. 12 in this week's NCAA Division II national stats for average assists per game at 11.08. The leader is still Amanda Konetchy of Concordia-St. Paul at 12.61.
--Senior libero Anna Herold climbed another spot to No. 19 in digs per game at 5.38. The leader is Maggie Murphy of Mars Hill (N.C.) at 6.32.
--SPU ranks 30th in blocks per game at 2.25. Hillsdale (Mich.) is No. 1 at 2.80.
 
POLLING PLACE
Following their split in Alaska last week, Seattle Pacific fell five places to No. 20 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national poll. SPUreceived 217 points in the voting. Even so, the Falcons remain the only ranked team from the GNAC. Alaska Anchorage, despite beating then-No. 25 Western Washington on the road, followed by a homecourt win against then-No. 15 SPU, received five points in this week's voting. Western Washington is tied for 29^th with 16 points.
 
Unbeaten Concordia-St. Paul (15-0) remained a unanimous No. 1 with 32 first-place votes and 800 points. From the West Region, unbeaten Cal State San Bernardino (13-0) is No. 3, UC San Diego (10-2) is No. 16, and Chico State (12-3) moved in at No. 24.
                                                                                                                                       
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 reaches the midpoint of its GNAC schedule next Thursday, Oct. 13, in Brougham Pavilion when Northwest Nazarene visits at 7 p.m. Then on Oct. 15, Central Washington comes to town. The Falcons opened conference play last month with four-game road victories against both of those teams.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                           GNAC    Season
Western Washington           6-1          8-3
Alaska Anchorage               6-1        10-5
Seattle Pacific                     5-1        10-4
Western Oregon                 5-3          6-6
Northwest Nazarene           4-3          7-5
Central Washington            3-4          9-6
Montana State Billings        2-4          8-7
Alaska Fairbanks                2-5          2-13
Saint Martin's                      2-6          3-11
Simon Fraser                      0-7          0-11