THE SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Sept. 22: Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific, 7:30 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
Live stats        Live Webcast

Saturday, Sept. 24 Saint Martin's at Seattle Pacific, 3:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
Live stats         Live Webcast


        Weekly release, with complete stats (PDF)

SEATTLE – Home at last.

After starting the season with 10 straight road matches that took them from Honolulu to Denver, Ellensburg to Nampa, the Seattle Pacific Falcons get to play some volleyball in Brougham Pavilion that goes beyond just another practice.

SPU entertains Western Oregon in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest on Thursday at 7:30 p.m., followed by a visit from Saint Martin's on Saturday afternoon at 3.

In spite of playing in either neutral gyms with sparse crowds, or hostile gyms filled with loud fans, Seattle Pacific won seven of those 10 road matches to start the season. That included their first two in GNAC play last week, with four-game victories at Central Washington and at Northwest Nazarene.

The Falcons won't be home for long. It's back out on the road next week for their annual trip to Alaska. But October is much more schedule-friendly, with eight of 10 matches in Brougham.

SWANSON SNARES GNAC HONOR
Junior setter Shelby Swanson (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin HS) earned a share of the GNAC volleyball Player of the Week award for Sept. 12-17. Swanson set a career high for assists with 58 in last Thursday's 3-1 victory at Central Washington. That was two more than her previous best. She followed that with 52 assists last Saturday as SPU won at Northwest Nazarene, 3-1.

For the week, Swanson factored into 122 of Seattle Pacific's 194 points. She set up 110 of them with her assists, also had five kills, one service ace, one solo block, and five block assists that led to points.

Swanson split the award with Western Washington's Marlayna Geary. She was the first Falcon honored this season. It is her second Player of the Week award, having won her first one last October.





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?
--The Falcons are 19-6 all-time in their home openers. That includes last year's 3-0 sweep of Northwest Nazarene.
--Western Oregon traditionally has been one of SPU's tougher opponents. The all-time series is close, with the Falcons owning a 19-14 edge, scoring three-game sweeps of both matches last fall.
--In contrast, Seattle Pacific has had its way with Saint Martin's, leading 41-5 with 18 straight victories. The last win for the Saints in the series was a five-gamer on Oct. 20, 2001 in Lacey.

SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
Even with two wins to open GNAC play last week, coach Chris Johnson constantly reminds his team that every conference match will be challenging.

That starts with Western Oregon on Thursday. The Wolves have won in five games at Alaska Anchorage, and took a 2-0 lead against Western Washington last week before falling in five.

“They're definitely competing with what have been projected to be the better teams in the conference,” Johnson said. “Danielle Reese is a good hitter on the outside, Samantha Ward and Krissi Kemper are playing well. They're a well-coached team.”

Like others in the GNAC, Johnson has taken notice of Saint Martin's getting off to a much better start than in the past.

“They're looking like a team on the rise for sure,” he said. “They have good outside hitter (freshman Kristyn Ross) who is playing very well. It's good to see a team getting better like that.”

SCOUTING THE WESTERN OREGON WOLVES
All-time series: SPU leads, 19-14. Current series streak: SPU won 4. Last time: SPU 3, WOU 0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-15; Oct. 23, 2010 at Seattle). Wolves on the Web.
Wolves in a nutshell: The Wolves got out of the GNAC blocks quickly, winning their first three matches before falling victim to a big Western Washington comeback last Saturday in Monmouth, 23-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-20, 15-8. WOU is led on offense by junior outside hitter Danielle Reese and sophomore middle blocker Krissi Kemper. Reese is far and away the team's leader in kills (118), with a 3.69 per-game average that ranks No. 5 in the conference. She hits at an even .200 clip. Kemper hits a solid .317 (third-best in the GNAC) and is second with 75 kills.

SCOUTING THE SAINT MARTIN'S SAINTS
All-time series: SPU leads, 41-5. Current series streak: SPU won 18. Last time: SPU 3, Saint Martin's 0 (25-9, 25-18, 25-20; Oct. 21, 2010 at Lacey). Saints on the Web.
Saints in a nutshell: The Saints are already ahead of where they finished last year, when they won just once in 18 conference matches and went 2-22 overall. They have split their four GNAC contests so far, with 3-0 sweeps of Alaska Fairbanks and Simon Fraser, and are 3-5 overall. Leading the way is 5-foot-10 freshman outside hitter Kristyn Ross with 113 kills. Telissa Tua, a 6-0 junior middle blocker, hits a team-best .244 with 48 kills and also has 24 blocks (including five solos). Putting the ball on the floor against Saint Martin's isn't easy. The Saints allow their opponents to hit just .186, and their average digs per game of 17.43 is tops in the GNAC.

HOW DO THEY COMPARE? (2010 STATS)
(With GNAC rankings)
                                                            SPU             WOU             StM
Hitting percent                                 .225 (1)     .187 (6)         .150 (8)
Opponent's hitting percent          .173 (1)      .205 (8)         .186 (4)
Kills per game                                 13.0 (2)    11.59 (6)      11.61 (5)
Assists per game                           12.1 (1)      11.1 (5)         10.4 (7)
Aces per game                                 1.11(9)     1.62 (4)         1.61 (5)
Digs per game                                 15.6 (4)      15.2 (5)         17.4 (1)
Blocks per game                             2.35 (1)     1.78 (5)         1.50 (9)

FALCONS REPLAY
--Calin Fellows put down a career-high 21 kills, Lindsey Wodrich had her fourth double-double of the year, and Shelby Swanson set up a career-high 58 assists as SPU bounced back from a first-game loss to beat Central Washington in Ellensburg last Thursday, 23-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-17.
--Wodrich hammered 17 kills and had her second double-double of the week, and Paige Hoffman added a season-high 14 kills, leading the Falcons past Northwest Nazarene on the Crusaders' floor, 25-18,2 5-19, 21-25, 25-17.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Senior outside hitter Lindsey Wodrich (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) put two more kill-dig double-doubles into the books last week, giving her three in the last four matches, and five for the season. Wodrich had 18 kills and 12 digs in a four-game victory at Central Washington last Thursday, followed by 17 kills and 15 digs at Northwest Nazarene in another four-game triumph on Saturday. Wodrich is up to 24 double-doubles for her career.

Among the other Falcons, junior setter Shelby Swanson has 10 double-doubles, senior outside hitter Paige Hoffman has four, and junior outside hitter Cailin Fellows has one. All are kill-dig except for Swanson's, whose are assist-dig.

NOT SO BAD AFTER ALL
Sure, 10 straight road matches to start the season is no easy task. But while the Falcons most definitely are happy to be playing at home this week, this group had it much easier than the 1988 team. That group of Falcons played its first 23 matches away from Brougham Pavilion. Of course, there was some time home in between. But the first home match that season didn't happen until Oct. 7, ending in a three-game sweep of current GNAC member Simon Fraser when both schools played in NAIA District 1.

RISING TO THE TOP OF GNAC
In the past week, Seattle Pacific has gone from leading the conference in just one statistical category (blocks per game) to leading it in four. The Falcons are now No. 1 in hitting percentage (.225), lowest opponent's hitting percentage (.173), assists per game (12.06) and blocks per game (2.35). Thanks to some solid performances at both Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene, SPU added 14 points to its hitting, climbing from last week's mark of .211.

PRICCO ON THE RISE, TOO
Junior middle blocker Angie Pricco (Brier, Wash./Blanchet HS) reached a milestone of sorts last week. After playing error-free volleyball and hitting .364 at Central Washington, and then adding two kills with just one error on eight swings at Northwest Nazarene, Pricco has boosted her career hitting average past the .200 mark for the first time. She come into the current week at .202.

MAKING THE MOST OF IT
With a largely veteran lineup, it's often hard for younger players to break into the action. But sophomore opposite Emily Oslie (Salem, Ore.) took advantage just such an opportunity last Thursday night at Central Washington. Coming onto the court with SPU having match point at 24-17, Oslie put down the kill that clinched the victory. That was her first kill of the season.

NATIONALLY SPEAKING
--Junior setter Shelby Swanson ranks No. 10 in all of NCAA Division II this week in average assists per game at 11.33. The leader is Amanda Konetchy of Concordia-St. Paul at 12.63.
--Senior libero Anna Herold (Bothell, Wash./Shorecrest HS) is 25th nationally in digs per game at 5.33. Emily Vaughan of Indiana (Pa.) leads at 6.64.
--SPU ranks 19th in blocks per game at 2.35. Kutztown (Pa.) leads at 2.91.

POLLING PLACE
Last week's two victories to start GNAC play helped Seattle Pacific move up one place to No. 15 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national poll. The Falcons picked up 299 points in the voting. Four-time defending national champion Concordia-St. Paul remained a unanimous No. 1 with all 32 first-place votes and 800 points.

GNAC rival Western Washington moved back into the top 25 one week after slipping out of it. The Vikings are right at No. 25 with 68 points. West Region rival Cal State San Bernardino remained No. 3 with its perfect 8-0 record, and UC San Diego, also at 8-0, climbed two places into a tie for No. 10.

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 home matches were a nice breather, but it's back out of town next week for the Falcons. The good news is it'll be their last trip of the regular season that requires a flight. SPU visits Alaska Anchorage next Thursday, Sept. 29, at 8 p.m. PDT, then heads up to Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday, Oct. 1, for a 3 p.m. PDT match against the Nanooks.


GNAC STANDINGS
                                                GNAC     Season
Western Washington             4-0         6-2
Seattle Pacific                          2-0         7-3
Western Oregon                     3-1         4-4
Alaska Anchorage                  2-1         6-5
Central Washington               2-2         7-4
Northwest Nazarene              2-2         4-4
Saint Martin's                           2-2         3-5
Montana State Billings           0-2         6-5
Alaska Fairbanks                    0-3         0-11
Simon Fraser                           0-4         0-8