THE SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Nov. 1                 Saint Martin's at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live stats        Live Webcast
 
Saturday, Nov. 3                  Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live stats        Live Webcast
 
                      
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – One of the teams has been giving the front runners some big challenges of late. The other is one of the hottest teams in the conference at the moment.
 
Both will bring their volleyball talents to Brougham Pavilion this week.
 
The Saint Martin's Saints, who recently took a set on the road at Alaska Anchorage, and also took one at home from nationally ranked Western Washington, will help Seattle Pacific get started on its next-to-last homestand of the season when they come to town Thursday night at 7 for a Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest.
 
On Saturday afternoon at 2, the Falcons will play host to Western Oregon, which has won five in a row – including a three-game sweep of then-No. 12 Western Washington last Saturday in Monmouth. The Wolves have won five straight and six out of seven since getting swept by SPU on Oct. 4 in Oregon. Their current surge also includes a three-game road sweep at Alaska Anchorage on Oct. 20.
 
Seattle Pacific is coming off a split of last week's road matches, both of which went the five-game distance. After falling short at Northwest Nazarene on Thursday, the Falcons bounced back for a 3-2 victory at Central Washington on Saturday.
 
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. Scott Breitbach will be on play-by-play, and former Seattle Pacific star Jessica Bettencourt will provide color commentary.The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
                                                                                                                      
ALUMNI DAY COMING UP
The Falcons will host their annual Alumni Day this Saturday, 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?
-- Seattle Pacific scored three-game sweeps against both the Wolves and Saints in early October – its first sweeps of the season. SPU now has three sweeps, having added Montana State Billings to that list on Oct. 20.
-- A victory on Thursday would put the Falcons' overall record back at .500 for the first time since Sept. 1 after they split four matches in the season-opening Honolulu Invitational and Hawaii Pacific Challenge.
-- Seattle Pacific coach Chris Johnson is undefeated in 15 all-time matches against Saint Martin's. Of those, 13 have been sweeps.
-- Johnson's teams also have been highly successful against Western Oregon, with 12 victories in 15 matches.
-- Last month at Western Oregon, Seattle Pacific was down 13-4 and 24-20 in Game 2, but came back to win it, 26-24, on the way to closing out the Wolves in three games.
-- A victory against either team would give the Falcons a sweep of the two-match season series.
-- SPU has completed three season series in conference play so far – Montana State Billings, Northwest Nazarene, and Central Washington – and split all three.
 
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
Seattle Pacific already has gone against both of this week's opponents, but just as the Falcons have stepped up their game, so have the Saints and Wolves.
                      
“Saint Martin's is improving, so we need to have our heads on straight and be focused as always,” head coach Chris Johnson said. “Western Oregon is playing very well offensively, and that's a huge reason for their success. I've been looking at their stats, and they aren't making very many errors right now – they've been at about 10 percent hitting errors or less in the last four or five matches.”
 
Last Saturday's five-game victory at Central Washington clearly was one of the most satisfying of the season for Johnson.
 
“We had a lot of career highs, and a lot of people playing the best they've ever played – it was fantastic,” he said. “The calm and poise and the unity among the team were the things I was the most proud of. I think we lost a little bit of that at Northwest Nazarene (in a five-game defeat last Thursday). So to come back two days later and regain that – especially in that first game at 32-30, to pull that thing out and fight off a couple of game points – that was impressive to me.”
 
SCOUTING THE SAINT MARTIN'S SAINTS: 6-12, 3-9 GNAC (8^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 43-5. Current series streak: SPU won 21. Last time: SPU 3, Saint Martin's 0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-14; Oct. 6, 2012 at Lacey). Saints on the Web.
 
SCOUTING THE WESTERN OREGON WOLVES: 16-5, 9-3 GNAC (tie 2^nd)
All-time series: SPU leads, 22-14. Current series streak: SPU won 7. Last time: SPU 3, WOU 0 (25-18, 26-24, 25-22; Oct. 4, 2012 at Monmouth). Wolves on the Web.
Wolves in a nutshell: The Wolves lost the first game at Alaska Fairbanks on Oct. 18, and haven't lost since, taking the final three from the Nanooks, then sweeping Anchorage, Western Washington and Simon Fraser. Senior outside hitter Danielle Reese is the reigning GNAC Offensive Player of the Week after piling up 26 kills, 30 digs, and hitting at a combined .419 clip in last week's victories against Western and Simon. Reese's average of 3.65 kills per game (263 total) ranks No. 4 in the conference. Junior middle blocker Krissi Kemper is the GNAC's top hitter with a stratospheric .404 average. Junior middle blocker Becky Blees is fourth in hitting at .338 and No. 1 in blocking at 1.30 per game (90.0 total, including four solos).
 
 
HOW DO THEY COMPARE?
(2012 GNAC ranking)
                                                SPU                        StM                         WOU
Hitting pct.                            .203 (6)                  .149 (9)                  .246 (2)
Opponent's hitting pct.     .195 (7)                  .203 (9)                  .155 (1)
Kills per game                     12.7 (4)                  10.8 (9)                  12.5 (6)
Assists per game               11.8 (4)                    9.9 (9)                  11.4 (5)
Aces per game                      1.2 (9)                    1.5 (6)                    1.7 (1)
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
-- Cailin Fellows and Shelby Swanson both recorded double-doubles, but the Falcons saw a two-games-to-one lead slip away and dropped a five-game decision at Northwest Nazarene last Thursday, 25-21, 19-25, 18-25, 25-12, 15-10.
-- Fellows slammed a career-high and GNAC 2012 season-high 28 kills, Madi Cavell had career-highs for kills and digs, and Swanson racked up a career-best 70 assists as Seattle Pacific pulled out a five-game victory at Central Washington last Saturday, 32-30, 25-15, 22-25, 18-25, 15-9.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Senior setter Shelby Swanson (Kennewick, Wash. / Kamiakin HS) recorded double-doubles in both matches last week, pushing her season total to 11 and her career total to 28. Last Thursday at Northwest Nazarene, Swanson had 46 assists and 14 digs; she followed that with a career-high 70 assists, along with 23 digs, in Saturday's match at Central Washington.
                    
Senior outside hitter Cailin Fellows (Edmonds, Wash. / Edmonds-Woodway HS) had 18 kills and 14 digs at NNU, giving her three double-doubles this season and five for her career. Sophomore opposite / middle blocker Madi Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) put her second double-double into the books on Saturday at Central with career highs of 16 kills and 17 digs.
 
EVERYONE INTO THE ACT
When sophomore libero Brianna Leenders (Portland, Ore.) was forced out of the match with an injury midway through Game 2 last Saturday at Central Washington, coach Chris Johnson was forced to do some quick shuffling and made it all work.
 
Freshman Ellie Britt (Orange, Calif.) stepped in right away for Leenders and helped the Falcons finish out a Game 2 victory for an overall lead of two games to none. Freshman Breanne Wiekamp (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) took over that spot for the final three games, and came up with 21 of her career high-tying 29 digs.
 
Sophomore setter Sara Biondi (Sacramento, Calif.) came off the bench for the final three games as a serving and defensive specialist, coming up with nine digs and delivering one ace. Junior Nicole Schwend (Oregon City, Ore.) played in three games, contributing one kill and one dig, and freshman Brielle Van Zonneveld (Lynden, Wash. / Lynden Christian HS) saw some action in the third game.
 
“We got good contributions from everyone we used,” Johnson said. “I'm really happy with the way our supporting players played when they were in there.”
 
A CAREER NIGHT, AND THEN SOME
It wasn't by the most minimum of margins that Cailin Fellows, Madi Cavell and Shelby Swanson rewrote their career highs last Saturday night in Ellensburg. It was by a lot.
 
Fellows had 28 kills, shattering her old record of 21, which she had hit three times, most recently against Central exactly one month earlier – Sept. 27 – in Seattle. Fellows also had 67 attacks, breaking her old mark of 63, which came on Sept. 29 in a five-setter at home against Northwest Nazarene.
 
Cavell had 16 kills, 50 attacks and 17 digs in Ellensburg. Her old marks were 13 kills (three times, most recently against NNU on Sept. 29), 39 attacks (same NNU match) and 12 digs (at Simon Fraser on Sept. 13).
 
Swanson earned 70 assists, 10 more than her old mark of 60, which came on Sept. 7 in a five-gamer against Chico State at the Seawolf Spike on Sonoma State's home court.
 
WHILE WE'RE TALKING ASSISTS …
With her 116 assists last week (she also had 46 at Northwest Nazarene), Swanson now has 3,511 for her career and is just 33 away from sole possession of seventh place on the all-time GNAC list and third place on the Seattle Pacific career list. Both of those spots are occupied by former Falcons star Katy Higgins, who totaled 3,549 from 2000-03.
 
Swanson, who started the season at No. 12 on the GNAC list, has a good chance of accomplishing that on Thursday, given her average of 10.57 per game. The next step on the conference ladder (No. 6 all-time) is very close: 3,560 by Alexa Sherman of Alaska Fairbanks (2006-09). The last spot in the GNAC all-time top five is Mindy Swanson of Northwest Nazarene (3,742 from 2000-03).
 
MILLENNIUM WATCH
Cailin Fellows and junior middle blocker Nikki Lowell (Claremont, Calif.) are closing in on the 1,000-point mark for their careers.
 
Fellows, a senior, is at 895.0 points, and has six matches left to get the final 105. Of those 895 points, 636 have come in the past two years at Seattle Pacific. She accumulated the first 259 of them during her two seasons at Boise State. Lowell, a junior, has 868.5 points. She not only has the rest of this season, but all of next season to get to a grand.
 
PULLING RANK
Saturday's result at Central Washington was the Falcons' first victory against a nationally ranked team this season. At the time, the Wildcats were No. 22 on the American Volleyball Coaches Association list.
 
SPU beat now-No. 12 Fresno Pacific in the third match of the season, but the Sunbirds were not ranked then – and that five-game decision remains their only loss on an otherwise sterling 19-1 record.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
-- Cailin Fellows is at No. 22 for kills in NCAA Division II at 3.95 per game. She's up two places from last week.
-- Fellows also ranks No. 42 in points per game at 4.23, up three places.
-- Shelby Swanson is No. 26 in assists per game at 10.57 – a leap of seven spots in a week.
-- Sophomore libero Brianna Leenders (Portland, Ore.) is No. 59 in digs per game at 4.74.
 
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 29 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 fell five spots to No. 17 after its three-game loss at Western Oregon.
 
NUMERICAL MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100^th kill               Jackie Arnold (has 81)
200^th kill               Madi Cavell (has 177)
900^th assist         Sara Biondi (has 896)
1,000^th point        Cailin Fellows (has 895.0)
                                Nikki Lowell (has 868.5)
3,543^rd assist*    Shelby Swanson (has 3,511)
* 3,543 will put Swanson at No. 3 on the all-time SPU list and No. 6 on the all-time GNAC list.
 
MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK
100^th block           Shelby Swanson (has 107)
100^th point            Jackie Arnold (has 106.0)
200^th dig                Breanne Wiekamp (has 235)
200^th point            Madi Cavell (has 225.0)
300^th dig                Cailin Fellows (has 302)
600^th dig                Brianna Leenders (has 617)
700^th kill                Nikki Lowell (has 715)         
800^th dig                Shelby Swanson (has 819)
800^th kill                Cailin Fellows (has 831)
                                                                 
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
The Falcons take their final road trip of the season next week when they visit the Alaska schools. SPU will play at Fairbanks on Thursday, Nov. 8, and face Anchorage on Saturday, Nov. 10. Both matches start at 8 p.m. PDT. Seattle Pacific dropped a five-gamer to Anchorage, and beat Fairbanks in four games earlier this season in Brougham Pavilion.


GNAC STANDINGS
                                                GNAC                    Overall
Western Washington          11-2                        18-3
Western Oregon                    9-3                        16-5
Alaska Anchorage                 9-3                         14-6               
Central Washington             9-4                         15-7
Seattle Pacific                        7-5                        10-11
Montana State Billings         6-6                          9-11
Northwest Nazarene            5-8                        12-12
Saint Martin's                         3-9                          6-12
Alaska Fairbanks                  2-10                        4-14
Simon Fraser                         1-12                       4-16