THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Nov. 7            Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                           Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                           Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Nov. 9            Central Washington at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                           Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                           Live Webcast        Live stats
 

        Weekly release, with complete updated stats and rankings (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – They've won in a sweep. They've won in a couple of comebacks. Regardless of how they've done it for the past three weeks, the Seattle Pacific Falcons have kept winning on the volleyball court.
 
Coming off of a dramatic come-from-behind effort at Montana State Billings, SPU is back home in Brougham Pavilion this week to clash with Northwest Nazarene on Thursday and Central Washington on Saturday. The first serve for both Great Northwest Athletic Conference matches is at 7 p.m.
 
Last Saturday in Billings, the Falcons were down two games and 18-12 in the third game before they rallied to beat the Yellowjackets, 23-25, 21-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-12.
               
They'll have plenty of incentive to keep it going against NNU and Central. These were the last two teams to beat Seattle Pacific before the current winning streak took shape. Furthermore, at 12-8 overall (8-4 in the GNAC), the Falcons have played their way into the picture for a possible spot in the eight-team NCAA Division II West Regionals.
 
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 matches are provided by Sidearm Sports. Appropriate links for both can be found at the top of this story.

WELCOME TO THE TOP 5 – AND TO THE TOP 3, AS WELL
Nikki Lowell has blocked her way into a pair of prestigious positions on career statistical lists, not only for Seattle Pacific, but also for the GNAC.
                   
With her seven blocks in last Saturday's five-game victory at Montana State Billings, Lowell (Claremont, Calif.) now has 386 for her career. For the Falcons, that pushed her into the No. 5 spot past Lori Johnson, one of the team's original players. Johnson had 380 from 1986-89.
 
In the GNAC picture, Lowell moved up to No. 3 all time, now two blocks ahead of Emily Wofford (384 with Saint Martin's from 2001-04).
 
With six regular-season matches left, Lowell has a chance to climb one more place on each list: No. 4 for SPU (Gaylene MacDonald had 412 from 1987-88) and No. 2 for the GNAC (Louise Free of Northwest Nazarene had 402 from 1999-2002).
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- Madi Cavell is two kills away from the 500th of her career. Nikki Lowell is 23 kills away from No. 1,000. Brianna Leenders came up with her 1,000th career dig last Saturday at Billings.
-- The Falcons got off to a great start in last month's matches at Central and NNU. They were up 9-5 in the opening game in Ellensburg before the Wildcats ran off seven straight. Then two nights later in Nampa, SPU had a 20-14 lead in Game 1 before the Crusaders finished it with an 11-1 surge.
-- If the Falcons win on Thursday, it would match their most recent longest winning streak of six in a row from Oct. 15-29, 2011.
-- The last three SPU-CWU matches have gone to five games.
-- The series against Central Washington remains Seattle Pacific's closest of any conference opponent. The Falcons lead it, 34-31. The total games-won score between the two teams is close, too: It's SPU ahead, 126-113.
-- Now in his ninth year at the helm, Falcons coach Chris Johnson is 12-5 against NNU and 10-7 against Central.
-- It's now 17 out of 20 matches that the Falcons have kept their opponent below .200 hitting. SPU has won 11 of those.




                                                                 
SCOUTING THE NORTHWEST NAZARENE CRUSADERS: 13-6, 9-4 GNAC (3^rd)
All-time series: SPU leads, 20-7. Current series streak: NNU won 2. Last time: NNU 3, SPU 1 (25-21, 25-17, 23-25, 25-15; Oct. 12, 2013 at Nampa). Crusaders on the Web.
Crusaders in a nutshell: NNU had a three-match winning streak snapped last Saturday when it was swept at home by nationally ranked Western Washington. The Crusaders are just flat-out tall, with four starters topping 6 feet: outside hitter Taylor VanValey (6-2), and middle blockers Jenna Caywood (6-2), Elayna Rice (6-3), and Andrea Terpstra (6-4). None of them dominated against SPU last time, but three had double-digit kills (12 for Rice, 10 each for Terpstra and Caywood). Kaitlyn Tuholski, a 5-10 outside, also had 10. Rice (227, 3.44 per game) and Terpstra (220, 3.33) are nearly tied for the team lead in kills. Terepstra, a transfer from San Diego State and the sister of junior setter Michelle Terpstra, also has 85 blocks.
 
SCOUTING THE CENTRAL WASHINGTON WILDCATS: 12-9, 8-5 GNAC (5th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 34-31. Current series streak: CWU won 1. Last time: CWU 3, SPU 2 (25-17, 19-25, 25-14, 22-25, 15-10; Oct. 10, 2013 at Ellensburg). Wildcats on the Web.
Wildcats in a nutshell: Central has four players among the GNAC's top 25 in hitting percentage, all of them above .200. Leading the way is 5-10 middle blocker Erin Smith at .238 (13th overall), with 6-1  middle blocker Kaitlin Quirk close behind at .233 (tied for 15th). Also in that group are outside hitter / middle blocker Linden Firethorne (tie 17th at .227) and  outside hitter Emmy Dolan (22nd at .217). One name not in there but who proved to be potent weapon last month in Ellensburg is freshman outside hitter Jordan Deming. She made her college debut against the Falcons, posting a double-double of 14 kills, 24 digs, and delivering five service aces. She has played every match since then, as Central has won six of its last seven. In those seven matches, Deming is hitting .153, averaging 1.96 kills and 2.88 digs per game, has14 aces and 12 total blocks.     
                                                                 
FALCONS REPLAY
-- Nikki Lowell hammered 15 kills, including the match clincher, and Jackie Arnold had a career-high 12 kills last Saturday as SPU  stormed back from two games down and 18-12 down in Game 3 to beat Montana State Billings on the road, 23-25, 21-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-12.
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DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Madi Cavell posted her third consecutive double-double, as she has 12 kills and 16 digs in last Saturday's comeback victory at Montana State Billings.
                                                                                     
For the season, the Falcons have 21 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 (9 season / 12 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. 17; 22K-15D at Western Washington, Oct. 24; 24K-14D at Simon Fraser, Oct. 26; 12K-16D at Montana State Billings, Nov. 2.
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.
 
GETTING EVEN
Both of this week's matches will present the Falcons with a chance to square the score against opponents who defeated them in previous matches this season.
 
So far, SPU is a perfect 2 for 2 in such opportunities. After opening the season with a four-game loss to Cal State Los Angeles in the Coyote Classic on Sept. 6, the Falcons beat the Golden Eagles in a five-gamer the following week at the Route 92 Invitational in Belmont, Calif.
 
On Sept. 28, Western Washington came to Brougham Pavilion and swept Seattle Pacific. But not quite a month later in Bellingham, the Falcons snared a four-game victory – which, of course, became the 500th in program history.
 
ANOTHER NEW ONE FOR BIONDI
Now in her second season at SPU, Sara Biondi has rewritten five of the career highs she established while at Washington State in 2010. The fifth of those new ones came last Saturday at Montana State Billings when Biondi dropped in six kills on the Yellowjackets. That beat her previous best of five against the University of San Francisco.
 
Previously, Biondi set new personal single-match standards for hitting percentage (1.000, twice), solo blocks (2, twice), block assists (6, twice, including Saturday at Billings) and total blocks (8). Those from WSU that she has yet to exceed are total attacks (12; she had 11 on Saturday), assists (58, her best with the Falcons is 29), service aces (2, she has not been part of the regular serving rotation here), and digs (10; her SPU best is 4).
 
GROWING PRESENCE IN THE MIDDLE
Falcon opponents have known for a long time how tough it is to stop senior middle blocker Nikki Lowell – and that's still very true. But now, those same opponents have twice as much of a challenge because of the steadily improved play of Jackie Arnold.
 
The sophomore from Anaheim, Calif., has had two matches of nine total blocks this season, and, with 67 blocks coming into the week, already has passed last year's total of 58.
 
She also is becoming a bigger force offensively, as she proved again last Saturday in Billings with a career-high 12 kills. That was one more than her previous best of 11 set in September 2012 against Central Washington. Arnold has been on the cusp of a career high three times this season, with one match of 10, and a pair of 9s, all in the past three weeks. On Oct. 17 in a five-game victory against Western Oregon in Seattle, Arnold nearly had a rare kill-block double-double, with 10 of the former and nine of the latter.
 
DON'T FLINCH, DON'T PANIC – JUST RALLY
Saturday's victory at Montana State Billings was the second time this fall that Seattle Pacific has bounced back after dropping the first two games. The first was against host and then-No. 14 Cal State San Bernardino on Sept. 7.
 
Overall, the Falcons have rallied from at least one game down to pull out the win in five matches this season.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
-- Seattle Pacific ranks No. 9 in Division II blocking this week at 2.58 per game.
-- Nikki Lowell is No. 15 in blocking at 1.28. Barely ahead of her – 14^th at 1.29 – is Thursday night opponent Andrea Terpstra of NNU at 1.29.
-- Jackie Arnold is No. 42 in blocking at 1.08.

Click on this link to see how the Falcons and other GNAC teams and players stack up nationally.
 
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 2nd in blocks (1.28 per game)
Madi Cavell 7th in points (3.89 per game), 9th in kills (3.28)
Brianna Leenders 5th in digs (4.18 per game)
Jackie Arnold 5th in hitting (.298), 6th in blocks (1.08 per game)
Kendall Langdon 9th in assists (5.68 per game)          
 
POLLING PLACE
The first NCAA West Regional rankings are out, and and four GNAC teams are in the top eight, although SPU is ot one of them. Alaska Anchorage is No. 5, followed in order by Western Washington, Central Washington, and Northwest Nazarene. The Falcons get another shot at three of those four, beginning with NNU and Central this week, and concluding the regular season on Nov. 23 at home against Anchorage.

UC San Diego, ranked No. 10 nationally, is No. 1 in the region. Brigham Young-Hawaii, the No. 4 team in the national poll, is No. 2 on the region list. The No. 1 team on the final regional list earns the right to host the eight-team tournament. The GNAC, CCAA and Pacific West champions earn automatic berths. The other five spots go to the five highest-ranked non-champion teams.
 
In the American Volleyball Coaches Association national poll, the top 10 remained unchanged from a week ago, with Concordia-St. Paul still a unanimous No. 1, and Western Washington at No. 10. SPU was among others receiving votes last week, but was not part of that list this week.
 
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)
 
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100^th dig                 Jessica Miller (has 96)
200^th dig                 Kendall Langdon (has 189)
200^th kill                 Jackie Arnold (has 195)
300^th point             Ellie Britt (has 291.5)
400^th block            Nikki Lowell (has 386)
500^th kill                 Madi Cavell (has 498)
1,000^th kill              Nikki Lowell (has 977)
                               
MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK
1,000^th dig             Brianna Leenders (has 1,013)
1,200^th assist        Sara Biondi (has 1,210)

AROUND THE GNAC          
Click on this link for news, notes, results and statistics from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
          
UP NEXT       
The Falcons take their final road trip of the regular season next week. On Thursday, Nov. 14, it's a quick jaunt down I-5 to visit Saint Martin's in Lacey. On Saturday, they're in Monmouth to take on Western Oregon, which is always one of the toughest teams in the conference on its home court. First serve for both matches is at 7:00 p.m.
                                                                                                                                    
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                               GNAC    Overall
Alaska Anchorage               11-2        17-8
Western Washington          10-2        17-3
Northwest Nazarene             9-4        13-6
Seattle Pacific                        8-4         12-8
Central Washington              8-5        12-9
Western Oregon                    5-7          8-14
Simon Fraser                         4-8          9-9
Saint Martin's                         3-9          7-17
Alaska Fairbanks                  3-10        4-20
Montana State Billings         1-11        4-17