THE SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Sept. 29: Seattle Pacific at Alaska Anchorage, 8:00 p.m. PDT
Wells Fargo Center / Anchorage, Alaska
Live stats        Live Webcast

Saturday, Oct. 1: Seattle Pacific at Alaska Fairbanks, 4:00 p.m. PDT
The Patty Center / Fairbanks, Alaska
Live stats        Live Webcast


        Weekly release, with complete stats (PDF)

SEATTLE – Their first two home matches of the season went by quick – literally.

Now, it's back onto the volleyball road for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.

After sweeping past Western Oregon and Saint Martin's last week in Brougham Pavilion – the latter in just 64 minutes – the Falcons head north this week, visiting Alaska Anchorage on Thursday and Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday. The Falcons and Seawolves square off at 8 p.m. PDT, with the Fairbanks match set for a 4 p.m. PDT start.

SPU brings a four-match winning streak to Alaska, all four coming at the start of Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. And, thanks to Anchorage knocking off Western Washington in four games last Saturday at Bellingham, Seattle Pacific is the last remaining undefeated team in the GNAC, alone in first place with a 4-0 record.

Once the Falcons return from Fairbanks, they'll get to spend almost the entire month of October at home, with eight of their 10 remaining matches that month in Brougham Pavilion. That starts on Thursday, Oct. 6, with a visit from Simon Fraser at 7 p.m.





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.

CANADIAN CHAMPS ARE COMING
Among the matches on Seattle Pacific's home-friendly October schedule is a visit from the University of British Columbia for a non-conference contest on Monday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. The Thunderbirds are the four-time defending Canadian collegiate champions.

The teams met in 2009 during a tournament at Western Washington University in Bellingham. The Falcons swept to a 3-0 victory.

SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
--The Falcons have not won on Anchorage's floor since a 3-1 victory in 2007. The current crop of seniors – Anna Herold, Paige Hoffman, and Lindsey Wodrich – have won in every GNAC gym except the Wells Fargo Center.
--SPU has won 11 straight games from Fairbanks. The last one the Nanooks got off of the Falcons was the second game of a 3-1 Seattle Pacific homecourt victory in October 2009. SPU swept in Fairbanks later that season and swept both of last season's matches.
--The back-to-back 3-0 victories at home last week was the first time this season the Falcons have won two straight in sweeps.
--Last Sept. 30 in Brougham Pavilion, the Falcons swept past Anchorage to give coach Chris Johnson his 100th college coaching victory – all of them with Seattle Pacific.

SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
The visit to Alaska Anchorage is always one of the toughest contests of the year for coach Chris Johnson's team. But the Falcons definitely know what they're coming up against.

“That's a good team with a lot of talent and well coached,” Johnson said of the Seawolves. “They have a couple of the best hitters in the conference (Robyn Burton and Jackie Matthisen). Since one of them (Burton) is a middle, the best thing we can do is serve really tough. And more than anything, we have to be ready on defense.”

Johnson made clear that Alaska Fairbanks also will be a challenging customer, especially on the Nanooks' home floor.

“They played Western Washington tough, they took Western Oregon to five games – they're a team that is a lot better than their record indicates,” Johnson said. “They have some good hitters who are doing some good things. They took a game off Western Washington (in Bellingham), and almost took two.”

SCOUTING THE ALASKA ANCHORAGE SEAWOLVES
All-time series: SPU leads, 26-13. Current series streak: UAA won 1. Last time: UAA 3, SPU 1 (25-22, 16-25, 25-23, 25-20; Oct. 30, 2010 at Anchorage). Seawolves on the Web.

Seawolves in a nutshell: The Seawolves have won four straight since dropping a five-gamer at home to Western Oregon in their GNAC opener on Sept. 8. Anchorage has two of the conference's leading offensive threats in sophomore middle blocker Robyn Burton (the GNAC hitting leader at .405) and senior outside hitter Jackie Matthisen (178 kills for 3.79 per game, No. 3 in the GNAC). Burton had a double-double of 12 kills, 10 blocks and hit .409, and Matthisen had 18 kills and 10 digs in last Saturady's four-game victory at Western Washington.

SCOUTING THE ALASKA FAIRBANKS NANOOKS
All-time series: SPU leads, 28-9. Current series streak: SPU won 4. Last time: SPU 3, UAF 0 (25-20, 25-14,25-18; Oct. 28, 2010 at Fairbanks). Nanooks on the Web.

Nanooks in a nutshell: Fairbanks finally got a taste of victory last Saturday with a 3-1 decision at Simon Fraser. That came just two nights after the Nanooks gave Western Washington all it could handle in Bellingham in a four-gamer that included a 33-31 first game in Western's favor and a 25-22 second game that went to the Nanooks. Junior middle blocker Casey Tidwell is UAF's top hitter at .209, and sophomore outside hitter Keri Knight has put down a team-leading 109 kills. Junior libero Allison Oddy is among the GNAC's best at her position, coming up with 217 digs for an average of 4.72 per game that ranks No. 4 in the conference.

HOW DO THEY COMPARE?
(With GNAC rankings)
                                                     SPU            UAA           UAF
Hitting percent                         .226 (1)     .220 (2)     .108 (9)    
Opponent's hitting percent  .164 (1)     .194 (5)     .229 (4)
Kills per game                         13.0 (3)     12.8 (4)     10.5 (9)
Assists per game                   12.1 (2)     11.9 (3)       9.8 (9)
Aces per game                        1.24 (8)       1.6 (3)     1.17 (9)
Digs per game                         15.8 (4)     14.0 (9)     14.1 (7)
Blocks per game                    2.25 (1)     1.87 (5)     1.59 (8)

FALCONS REPLAY
--Lindsey Wodrich put down 14 kills, and Shelby Swanson racked up 34 assists as SPU swept past Western Oregon last Thursday, 25-19, 25-21, 25-22.
--Swanson recorded the 11th double-double of her career, and Wodrich slammed 15 kills, leading SPU to a 25-9, 25-19, 25-16 sweep of Saint Martin's last Saturday.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Junior setter Shelby Swanson (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin HS) didn't need much time in Saturday's match against Saint Martin's to log her first double-double this season and the 11th of her career. Swanson had 18 assists and 10 digs by the end of the second game. By day's end, she had pumped those totals to 28 assists and 16 digs. Now in her third season with the Falcons, all of Swanson's double-doubles have been assist-dig.

Senior outside hitter Lindsey Wodrich (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) has five double-doubles this season and 24 for her career. Senior outside hitter Paige Hoffman (Encinitas, Calif.) has four career double-doubles, and junior outside hitter Cailin Fellows (Edmonds, Wash./Edmonds-Woodway HS) has one. All of theirs are kill-dig.

LOOK OUT FOR LEENDERS
Subbing in as a serving specialist and as a libero, freshman Brianna Leenders (Portland, Ore.) has become a regular part of SPU's rotation – and the stats prove why she has. Last Saturday against Saint Martin's, Leenders set a career high with three service aces. She had served two aces in two previous matches, most recently against Nebraska-Omaha on Sept. 9 in Denver. She now has 11 for the season – second-most on the team behind Shelby Swanson's 15.

Leenders also is closing in her 100th career dig, entering this week with 96.

THAT'S A FIRST – TIMES TWO
Sophomore outside hitter Nicole Schwend (Oregon City, Ore.) got into her first match of the season when she took the court to start Game 3 against Saint Martin's. Schwend put down the first two kills of her career, and also came up with her second career dig.

A DIFFERENT LOOK
Coach Chris Johnson changed things up a bit to open Game 3 on Saturday against Saint Martin's. In addition to Nicole Schwend, mentioned above, he also had freshman middle blocker Madi Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) on the floor at the outset. Cavell responded with one kill and one block assist.

CAN'T STOP 'EM ALL AT ONCE
The SPU front line is usually very effective regardless of opponent. But since the start of GNAC competition, Lindsey Wodrich, Nikki Lowell and Paige Hoffman have been putting up even more solid numbers.

Senior outside hitter Wodrich has recorded double-figure kills in all four matches, averaging 4.57 per game, well above her 3.45 season average. Sophomore middle blocker Lowell (Claremont, Calif.), who is hitting .351 for the season, has a .449 average in conference play. Senior outside hitter Hoffman (Encinitas, Calif.), has hit at a .295 clip against four GNAC opponents – including .389 against Central Washington and .412 against Saint Martin's. Hoffman is close to that number for the entire season, hitting .287 through 12 matches.

NATIONALLY SPEAKING
--Junior setter Shelby Swanson remains at No. 10 in this week's NCAA Division II national stats in average assists per game at 11.19. The leader is still Amanda Konetchy of Concordia-St. Paul at 12.83.
--Senior libero Anna Herold (Bothell, Wash./Shorecrest HS) moved up five places to 20th nationally in digs per game at 5.38. The leader is Rhianon Brady of Clarion at 6.14.
--SPU ranks 25th in blocks per game at 2.25. Kutztown (Pa.) leads at 2.67.

POLLING PLACE
Seattle Pacific remained at No. 15 this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national poll. The Falcons had 323 points in the voting, 24 more than last week. 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 fell back out of the top 25 after losing at home to Alaska Anchorage. The Vikings are now 29th overall. Cal State San Bernardino remained No. 3 with its perfect 11-0 record, but UC San Diego slipped two spots to No. 12 after losing to Chico State in five games at home.

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 begin a much-welcome stretch of home matches next week when Simon Fraser comes to town on Thursday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m., followed by rival Western Washington on Saturday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m. SPU and Western shared last year's GNAC title with identical 16-2 records. That included a split of their two regular-season matches, with each team winning at home. They played again in the NCAA West Regional semifinals, with the Falcons winning in five games.


GNAC STANDINGS
                                                    GNAC     Season
Seattle Pacific                             4-0           9-3
Western Washington                5-1           7-3
Alaska Anchorage                     4-1           8-5
Northwest Nazarene                 3-2           6-4
Western Oregon                        3-3           4-6
Montana State Billings             2-2           8-5
Central Washington                 2-3           8-5
Saint Martin's                             2-4           3-8
Alaska Fairbanks                      1-4           1-12
Simon Fraser                             0-6           0-10