THE SCHEDULE
Saturday, Nov. 2 Seattle Pacific at Montana State Billings, 6:00 p.m. PDT
Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.
Live Webcast and live stats
Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
SEATTLE – Whether home or away, the Seattle Pacific Falcons have found their volleyball stride the past two weeks.
Now, having won their past four matches, SPU will look to maintain that stride this week when it's back on the road for a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match at Montana State Billings. The Falcons and Yellowjackets will serve it up on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time.
The Falcons (11-8, 7-4 GNAC) began their current surge two weeks ago at home with a come-from-behind five-game victory against Western Oregon, followed by a three-game sweep of Saint Martin's. Last week they kept it going in opposing gymnasiums, toppling then-No. 8 Western Washington on Thursday in Bellingham, and defeating Simon Fraser on Saturday in Burnaby, B.C., both in four games.
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live Webcasts and live stats will be available for every GNAC match, home and away. All live Webcasts are through Stretch Internet, the conference's official provider of streaming video. Live stats for Seattle Pacific home are provided by Sidearm Sports. Appropriate links for both can be found at the top of this story.
MAGICAL MILESTONE MOMENT
The Falcons knew that sometime this season, they would record the 500
th victory in SPU volleyball history.
What they didn't know was that their first shot at No. 500 would come against arch-rival Western Washington.
But that was the chance they had last Thursday night in Bellingham, and the Falcons made the most of it. Facing WWU on its home court – a place where the Vikings had lost just 13 times in the last 14 years – SPU put a four-game victory into the books, 27-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-23, coming from behind late in Games 1 and 4 to pull it out.
While their primary focus was on just winning the match regardless of the historical implications, coach
Chris Johnson said he and his players did talk about it before heading onto SportCourt in Carver Gymnasium.
"I used one of my favorite quotes: Great moments are born from great opportunity," Johnson said. "It was a chance to give Western their second straight loss at home, and that our next win was our 500th.
"It was going to happen at some point, and that's going to be written down somewhere," Johnson added of the milestone, "and it would be great to get it at Western."
Added senior middle blocker
Nikki Lowell, who came out on the winning end at Western for the first time in her career, "We played amazing. I'm so proud of the whole team. It was a team effort, we left it on the court, and it paid off."
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- Not only is the four-match winning streak the longest of this season, it's the longest since Seattle Pacific won six in a row from Oct. 15-29, 2011.
-- Last season, the Falcons lost a four-gamer in Billings, but swept the Yellowjackets in Seattle a few weeks later, part of a second-half surge during which they won 10 of 14 matches.
-- SPU's record outside of Brougham Pavilion is now all level at 7-7, including 4-4 in true road matches and 3-3 on neutral courts.
-- The Falcons have won three straight Game 1s – the first time this season that has happened – and went on to win all three of those matches. Overall, they are 7-1 this fall when taking the opening game.
-- Defensively, Seattle Pacific has kept its opponents below .200 hitting 16 times in 19 matches – and has won 10 of those.
-- The Falcons also have limited four teams to less than .100 hitting. Their best match in that regard came against Billings, which hit just .010 (28 kills-27 errors-96 attacks) on Oct. 5 in Seattle.
-- Coach
Chris Johnson is 8-6 all-time against the Yellowjackets, including 2-4 in Billings. He is 2-1 against second-year MSUB coach Lisa Axel.
SCOUTING THE MSU BILLINGS YELLOWJACKETS: 3-16, 1-10 GNAC (10th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 23-8.
Current series streak: SPU won 2.
Last time: SPU 3, MSUB 0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-14; Oct. 5, 2013 at Seattle).
Yellowjackets on the Web.
Yellowjackets in a nutshell: Billings has dropped seven straight in GNAC play, its only conference victory coming in a three-game sweep of Simon Fraser on Sept. 28 in Montana. The Yellowjackets picked up a non-conference win on Tuesday in four games against in-state rival Rocky Mountain. At the forefront of MSUB's offensive attack are 6-foot-1 junior outside hitter Monica Grimsrud and 6-2 junior hitter / blocker Chelsey Walter. Grimsrud has a team-leading 227 kills for the season, an average of 3.39 per game that ranks No. 6 in the GNAC, and she hits .186. Grimsrud also has 40 blocks, with 10 solos. Walter is the top hitter for the Yellowjackets at .258, the No. 12 mark in the conference, and has 188 kills for a 2.76 per-game average. She had seven kills against SPU last time, and Grimsrud put down just three. But 5-9 junior outside hitter Krista Norris stepped in with a match-high 14 kills, nearly a quarter of her season total of 63. Setting up those players is sophomore Kyndal Williams with her average of 9.58 assists per game that ranks fourth in the GNAC. Williams also has a team-leading 14 service aces.
FALCONS REPLAY
--
Madi Cavell slammed a career-high 22 kills – including the match-winner, freshman
Lexi Biondi had a career-high 13 kills, and senior
Nikki Lowell also had 13 as SPU knocked off No. 8-ranked Western Washington last Thursday in Bellingham,
27-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-23.
-- Cavell set a career high for kills for the second consecutive match, this time putting down 24, as SPU beat Simon Fraser in Burnaby, B.C.,
25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 25-17.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Madi Cavell and
Kendall Langdon each notched double-doubles in both matches last week, and freshman
Lexi Biondi recorded the first one of her career, as she had 13 kills and 11 digs in Thursday's four-game victory at Western Washington. The five double-doubles were the most in any week for SPU this fall.
For the season, the Falcons have 20 double-doubles:
Lexi Biondi (1 season / 1 career) – 13K-11D at Western Washington, Oct. 24.
Ellie Britt (5 season / 5 career) – 16K-12D at Cal State San Bernardino, Sept. 7; 14K-12D vs. Holy Names, Sept. 13; 12K-12D vs. Cal State Los Angeles, Sept. 13; 12K-12D vs. Western Washington, Sept. 28; 14K-11D at Central Washington, Oct. 10.
Madi Cavell (8 season / 11 career) – 18K-11D at Cal State San Bernardino, Sept. 7; 11K-11D vs. Cal State Los Angeles, Sept. 13; 10K-13D vs. Cal State East Bay, Sept. 14; 15K-10D at Alaska Anchorage, Sept. 19; 10K-13D vs. Western Washington, Sept. 28; 15K-16D vs. Western Oregon, Oct. 19; 22K-15D at Western Washington, Oct. 24; 24K-14D at Simon Fraser, Oct. 26.
Kendall Langdon (6 season / 6 career) – 25A-12D vs. Cal State L.A., Sept. 6; 23A-15D at Alaska Anchorage, Sept. 19; 13A-11D vs. Western Washington, Sept. 28; 23A-13D at Central Washington, Oct. 10; 52A-13D at Western Washington, Oct. 24; 49A-17D at Simon Fraser, Oct. 26.
CAVELL GARNERS FIRST GNAC HONOR
Junior outside hitter
Madi Cavell, who set career highs for kills and posted double-doubles in SPU's back-to-back road victories, was named the GNAC Offensive Player of the Week for Oct. 24-26.
The junior outside hitter slammed 22 kills and came up with 15 digs last Thursday at Western Washington, then followed with 24 kills and 14 digs at Simon Fraser on Saturday.
The weekly award is the first for Cavell. She is the second Falcon in as many weeks and third this season to win it. Senior middle blocker
Nikki Lowell (Sept. 9) and sophomore middle blocker
Jackie Arnold (Oct. 21) both won the Defensive Player of the Week award.
TWO DIGS AWAY FROM 1K
With her steady play at the libero position, SPU junior
Brianna Leenders is likely to pick up her 1,000
th dig early in Saturday 's match at Billings.
Leenders (Gresham, Ore.), now in her second year full-time at the libero spot, has 998 digs for her career. The total includes a team-leading 315 this season, an average of 4.26 per game that ranks No. 5 in the GNAC.
In Seattle Pacific's 19 matches, Leenders has double-digit digs in 17 of those. She has been the team leader for digs in 15 of the 19 matches, and has the highest single-match digs total this year with 28, that coming in a four-game at Alaska Anchorage on Sept. 19.
WHILE WE'RE DIGGING IT …
Although Leeders is by far and away SPU's digs leader, several of her teammates are doing their parts, as well.
That was especially noticeable last week in the matches at Western Washington and Simon Fraser. On Thursday in Bellingham, the Falcons totaled a season-high 89 digs – seven more than they came up with in a five-game match at Central Washington on Oct. 10. Factoring into those 89 were five players in double digits: Leenders (25), sophomore libero
Breanne Wiekamp (20),
Madi Cavell (15), junior setter Kendall Langdon (13), and
Lexi Biondi (11).
At Simon Fraser two nights later, SPU had 70 digs, with four double-digit performances: Langdon (17), Cavell (14), Leenders (13), and Biondi (10).
5 TIMES 2 EQUALS WOW
There are productive weeks, and then there are productive weeks like the kind
Kendall Langdon and
Lexi Biondi enjoyed.
Junior setter Langdon (Irvine, Calif.) and freshman outside hitter Biondi (Albuquerque, N.M.) each set five career highs over the course of last week's matches at Western Washington and Simon Fraser.
At Western on Thursday, Langdon had 52 assists, nearly doubling her previous career best of 27, set on Sept. 13 in a five-game victory against Cal State Los Angeles. On Saturday at Simon Fraser, Langdon set career highs for attacks (6, previous best was 1), digs (17, previous 15), block assists (2, previous 1), and total blocks (2, previous 1).
All of Biondi's career highs came in the match at Western: 13 kills (previous 12), 38 attacks (34), 11 digs (5), 2 block assists (1), and two total blocks (1).
LOWELL'S ALMOST THERE
Senior middle blocker
Nikki Lowell (Claremont, Calif.) is just two blocks away from taking over the No. 5 spots on SPU's career list for total blocks. Lowell begins the week with 379 blocks. Currently occupying No. 5 is Lori Johnson, who had 380 from 1986-89. The next rung up is Gaylene MacDonald, with 412 from 1987-88.
Lowell also continues to climb the GNAC career blocking lists. Her 379 total is No. 4 all-time, and is well within reach of No. 3 Emily Wofford of Saint Martin's (384 from 2001-04) and No. 2 Louise Free of Northwest Nazarene (402 from 1999-2002). The only one not catchable is NNU's Cammy Dranginis, who had 473 from 2006-09.
Of Lowell's 379 total, 342 of those are block assists, which is now No. 3 in the GNAC. Ahead of her are Dranginis (367) and current Western Oregon senior Becky Blees (360).
In this week's
national stats, Lowell is 13th in NCAA Division II at 1.27 blocks per game, and SPU is 11th at 2.54.
TRACKING THOSE TOP 10s
Among Seattle Pacific's regulars, five are in the top 10 of at least one GNAC statistical category heading into this week:
Nikki Lowell 2
nd in blocks (1.27 per game)
Madi Cavell 5
th in points (3.98 per game), 8
th in kills (3.34) and tie 10
th in aces (0.27)
Brianna Leenders 5
th in digs (4.26 per game)
Jackie Arnold 6
th in hitting (.284), 7
th in blocks (1.07 per game)
Kendall Langdon 9
th in assists (5.76 per game)
POLLING PLACE: FALCONS GETTING SOME NOTICE
For the first time this season,
SPU is receiving votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA)
national poll.
The Falcons, thanks to their 11-8 overall record and a four-match winning streak that included last Thursday's victory at then-No. 8 Western Washington, picked up three points, enough to put them on the "others receiving votes" list and 38th overall.
The last time Seattle Pacific was listed in the national poll was Sept, 3, 2012, the first poll of the regular season, when it also was among "others receiving votes."
Concordia-St. Paul was a unanimous No. 1 this week. From the West Region,
Brigham Young-Hawaii climbed one place to No. 4,
Western Washington dropped two to No. 10,
UC San Diego moved up one to No. 12,
Cal State San Bernardino is down one to No. 13,
Sonoma State stayed at No. 14, and
Point Loma Nazarene moved back into the top 25 at No. 25.
Fresno Pacific, which was No. 23 last week, dropped out, but is atop the "others receiving votes" list at No. 26.
The first NCAA West Region rankings – which ultimately determine who gets into the national tournament – will be released next Wednesday.
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100th dig Jessica Miller (has 96)
200th dig Kendall Langdon (has 186)
200th kill Jackie Arnold (has 183)
300th point Ellie Britt (has 289.0)
1,000th dig Brianna Leenders (has 998)
1,000th kill Nikki Lowell (has 962)
1,200th assist Sara Biondi (has 1,187)
MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK
500th team win Seattle Pacific (has 501)
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on
this link for news, notes, results and statistics from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
UP NEXT
The Falcons are back in Brougham Pavilion next week for two matches that loom as key to keeping their postseason hopes alive.
Northwest Nazarene comes to town on Thursday, followed by
Central Washington on Saturday, both at 7 p.m. SPU dropped four-gamers on the road to both teams in early October.
GNAC STANDINGS
GNAC Overall
Alaska Anchorage 9-2 15-8
Western Washington 8-2 15-3
Northwest Nazarene 8-3 12-5
Central Washington 7-4 11-8
Seattle Pacific 7-4 11-8
Simon Fraser 4-6 8-7
Western Oregon 4-6 7-13
Saint Martin's 3-7 7-15
Alaska Fairbanks 2-9 3-19
Montana State Billings 1-10 3-16
