THE SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Oct. 25           SPU at Northwest Nazarene, 6:00 p.m. PDT
                                            Johnson Sports Center / Nampa, Idaho
                                            Live stats and live Webcast
 
Saturday, Oct. 27           SPU at Central Washington, 7:00 p.m.
                                            Nicholson Pavilion / Ellensburg, Wash.
                                            Live stats and live Webcast
 
                      
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
        PHOTO GALLERY: SPU vs. Montana State Billings 

SEATTLE – When they met last month in Brougham Pavilion, the Seattle Pacific Falcons got all they could handle from Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington.
                           
They're not expecting any less this week on the road.
 
Following their most complete performance of the season last Saturday in a three-game Brougham sweep of Montana State Billings, SPU returns to the road this week to continue the second half of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule.
 
The Falcons visit NNU on Thursday at 6 p.m. PDT in Nampa, Idaho, followed by a trip to Ellensburg on Saturday for a rematch against the No. 22 nationally ranked Wildcats.
 
Both matches in Seattle went all the way to five games. Central escaped with a victory, but SPU rallied from a two-games-to-one deficit to beat the Crusaders.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE                                                                                                  
Both of this week's matches will have a free live Webcasts on Stretch Internet, the new Webcast home for the GNAC. Live stats also will be available from both venues. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
                                                                                                                      
ALUMNI DAY COMING UP
The Falcons will host their annual Alumni Day on Saturday, Nov. 3, when Western Oregon visits for a GNAC match. The alumni event is in Falcon Lounge on the third floor of Brougham Pavilion from noon-2 p.m. Sandwiches and beverages will be provided.
 
More information about the event is available by contacting head coach Chris Johnson at (206) 281-2263, or by e-mailing to vbchris@spu.edu.
 





SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The five-gamer against Northwest Nazarene on Sept. 29 started Seattle Pacific on its current run of five victories in six matches. The only one of those six that didn't go the Falcons' way was a five-gamer against Alaska Anchorage on Oct. 11.
-- SPU has had five matches extend to five games this year, winning twice, going 2-3 in those.
-- The Falcons and Crusaders have gone five the last two times they've played, both of those in Seattle.
-- Seattle Pacific's Chris Johnson and Northwest Nazrene's Jared Sliger have been the head coaches of their respective programs since 2005. Johnson's teams have won 12 of the 15 matches, including 6 of 7 in Nampa.
-- Last time against NNU, the Falcons hit for .300 or better in three of the five games, and finished at .249.
-- NNU's Michelle Terpstra went for a triple-double of 13 kills, 43 assists, and 16 digs.
-- In the first match, SPU has more kills (72-56), attacks (203-192), assists (66-53), digs (92-81), and hit better (.182-.161) than Central Washington. But the Wildcats had 10 fewer attack errors (25-35).
 
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
Seattle Pacific has taken a big step up in play since the last time they met this week's opponents, and that was especially evident during last Saturday's dominance against Montana State Billings.
 
“We've definitely gotten better,” head coach Chris Johnson said. “Our defense has improved dramatically – Billings only hit .010 against us, and they hit over .300 against us last time. Our kids are coming into the gym every day thinking about getting better, and they're doing that.”
 
The Falcons have found some things that work, and they're sticking with it.
 
“Our lineup is a bit more solidified than it was when we played (Central and NNU) the first time around,” Johnson said. “They're both going to be a good challenge for us, so we'll see how far we've come.”
 
Sophomore opposite / middle blocker Madi Cavell also likes the direction her team is headed, but knows that Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington are tough opponents, especially on their own courts.
 
“We're not counting anyone out, but I think we're ready to go and do our thing, coming off (the Billings match) just knowing how it feels to play together as a team and play so hard.”
 
SCOUTING THE NORTHWEST NAZARENE CRUSADERS: 10-12, 3-8 GNAC (7^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 20-5. Current series streak: SPU won 1. Last time: SPU 3, NNU 2 (25-22, 20-25, 25-27, 25-20, 15-11; Sept. 29, 2012 at Seattle). Crusaders on the Web.
Crusaders in a nutshell: Sophomore setter Michelle Terpstra can do it all on the court for NNU, and she certainly did in the first match against Seattle Pacific with a triple-double of 13 kills, 43 assists, and 16 digs. She is tied for No. 8 in GNAC hitting percentage and .289, and senior middle blocker Becky Flores ranks 11^th at .262. Flores is the Crusader who can do some real damage at the net, with an average of 2.23 kills per game that ranks No. 12 in the conference. Northwest Nazarene, which has dropped three straight, is a team that is better than its record, with seven of its 12 losses coming in five games. That includes one at Alaska Anchorage, one at SPU, and one at Central Washington.
 
SCOUTING THE CENTRAL WASHINGTON WILDCATS: 15-5, 9-2 GNAC (2^nd)
All-time series: SPU leads, 33-30. Current series streak: CWU won 1. Last time: CWU 3, SPU 2 (25-23, 20-25, 20-25, 25-21, 15-13; Sept. 27, 2012 at Seattle). Wildcats on the Web.
Wildcats in a nutshell: Central Washington moved into the national rankings at No. 25 on Oct. 1, and have stayed there ever since. After getting swept in last week's first-place showdown at Western Washington, the Wildcats rallied from match point down in Game 5 to beat Simon Fraser. Central has a pair of potent forces up front. Senior outside hitter Marcy Hjellum is No. 3 in the GNAC at 3.67 kills per game, and junior middle blocker Erin Smith has the conference's third-best hitting percentage at .358. Hjellum is one of two players (Western Washington star Marlayna Geary is the other) who comes into the week with more than 300 points, totaling 313.0. Smith also is one of the GNAC's best blockers, averaging 0.99 per game, with 11 solos.
 
 HOW DO THEY COMPARE?
(2012 GNAC ranking)
                                                SPU                   NNU                  CWU
Hitting pct.                             .203 (6)             .206 (5)             .211 (4)
Opponent's hitting pct.       194 (7)             .197 (8)             .178 (6)
Kills per game                     12.7 (4)             12.4 (5)             13.0 (3)
Assists per game               11.8 (4)             12.1 (2)             11.3 (6)
Aces per game                      1.2 (9)               1.5 (5)                1.6 (3)
Digs per game                     16.1 (3)             15.2 (6)             15.6 (5)
Blocks per game                   1.7 (8)               1.9 (6)               2.2 (2)
 
 FALCONS REPLAY
-- Jackie Arnold had a career-high eight block assists, and teammates Cailin Fellows and Jessica Miller hammered 10 kills apiece, leading SPU to a 25-10, 25-17, 25-13 sweep of Montana State Billings last Saturday. It was the third sweep of the season for the Falcons.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Senior setter Shelby Swanson (Kennewick, Wash. / Kamiakin HS) leads the Falcons in double-doubles this season with nine. That includes five in the last seven matches, most recently 48 assists and 11 digs against Alaska Fairbanks on Oct. 13. She has 26 double-doubles for her career, all of them assist-dig.
 
Senior outside hitter Cailin Fellows (Edmonds, Wash. / Edmonds-Woodway HS) has two this year and four for her career. Sophomore middle blocker / opposite Madi Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) has one, giving SPU an even dozen as a team this season.
 
HITTING OVER THE TOP
For the first time this fall, the Falcons come into a new week with a better overall hitting percentage than their opponents. That's not all: Their team average is above .200 for the first time this year, now at .203. Meanwhile, SPU has knocked the overall average for its opponents below .200, now at .194.
 
Both of those numbers were helped in large part by last Saturday's production against Montana State Billings. Seattle Pacific hit a season-high .352 in that match, the first time this year above .300, and limited the Yellowjackets to .010 hitting, not allowing them even into the .100s in any of the three games (minus-.032, .000, and .062, respectively).
 
During their current run of five victories in six matches, the Falcons have topped .300 hitting in 10 of the 23 games, and have been at .200 or better in 19 of those games.
 
DEFENSE, DEFENSE
In those same 23 games, SPU has limited its five opponents to just four .300 hitting games, and kept them below .200 hitting 10 times. Included in those 10 games are three in minus territory.
 
The Falcons have picked up their blocking pace in the past two matches, as well. They had 22 block assists against Alaska Fairbanks on Oct. 13, and 24 against Billings.
 
HOW MANY IN A ROW WAS IT?
Was Shelby Swanson in a serving groove last Saturday, or what? Taking over midway through the first game against Montana State Billings, Swanson served up the last 11 points of a 12-0 Falcon scoring run that stretched an 11-8 lead to 22-8. In Game 2, Swanson was at it again. This time, it was six points in a row that pushed a 12-7 lead out to 18-7. Each of those surges featured one service ace.
 
Swanson wound up with just a single serve in the third game, as her teammates stepped up with some multiple-point efforts: three straight for Cailin Fellows, Madi Cavell and Breanne Wiekamp, a two-pointer for Cavell, and a two-pointer from Brianna Leenders to finish out the match.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
-- Cailin Fellows is as No. 24 for kills in NCAA Division II at 3.85 per game.
-- Fellows also ranks No. 45 in points per game at 4.15.
-- Shelby Swanson is No. 33 in assists per game at 10.39.
-- Sophomore libero Brianna Leenders (Portland, Ore.) is No. 41 in digs per game at 4.89.
 
Click on this link to see how SPU and other GNAC teams and players rank in the national stats.
 
POLLING PLACE
In this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national poll released on Monday, Southwest Minnesota State remained at No. 1, receiving 28 of the 32 first-place votes. The highest-ranked West Region team is still Brigham Young-Hawaii, receiving a first-place vote this week and remaining at No. 8 overall. Western Washington is up three spots to No. 12, and Central Washington dropped one place to No. 22. In all, six West teams are in the top 25, and two more were among 'others receiving votes.'
 
NUMERICAL MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100^th block            Shelby Swanson (has 98)
100^th point             Jackie Arnold (has 93.0)
200^th dig                Breanne Wiekamp (has 198)
200^th point             Madi Cavell (has 195.0)
300^th dig                Cailin Fellows (has 283)
600^th dig                Brianna Leenders (has 595)
700^th kill                 Nikki Lowell (has 690)
800^th dig                Shelby Swanson (has 781)
800^th kill                 Cailin Fellows (has 785)
 
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look a news, notes, results and stats from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
                                                                                     
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific is back home in Brougham Pavilion next week to take on Saint Martin's and Western Oregon. The Saints visit on Thursday night, Nov. 1, at 7 p.m., and the Wolves come in on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 3, at 2. The Falcons swept both teams on the road earlier this month.
 
                               
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                GNAC                    Overall
Western Washington          10-1                        17-2
Central Washington              9-2                        15-5
Alaska Anchorage                 8-3                        13-6
Western Oregon                    7-3                        14-5
Seattle Pacific                        6-4                          9-10
Montana State Billings         5-5                          8-10
Northwest Nazarene            3-8                        10-12
Saint Martin's                         2-8                          4-11
Alaska Fairbanks                  2-9                          4-13
Simon Fraser                        1-10                        4-14