THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Oct. 23               Seattle Pacific at Simon Fraser, 7:00 p.m.
                                                West Gym / Burnaby, B.C.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats        
 
Saturday, Oct. 25               Seattle Pacific at No. 10 Western Washington
                                                Carver Gymnasium / Bellingham, Wash.      
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats                      
 
               
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
        PHOTO GALLERY: SPU vs. Alaska Fairbanks
 
SEATTLE – Having put a losing streak behind them, the Seattle Pacific Falcons will try to forge one on the other side of ledger.
 
SPU has spent most of October playing in opposing gymnasiums, and will do again on Thursday with a visit to Simon Fraser. The Falcons will come home afterward, then get back in the vans on Saturday for that night's match at Western Washington.
 
First serve for both contests is 7:00 p.m.
 
Seattle Pacific, fresh off of beating Alaska Fairbanks in five games last Saturday, is seeking a season split against both teams. Western Washington won in four games, and Simon Fraser pulled out a five-gamer last month in Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Falcons are back home next week to begin their longest home stretch of the season. After having Thursday night off, they'll welcome Montana State Billings to Brougham Pavilion on Saturday, Nov. 1, at 7:00 p.m.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live stats and free live Webcasts will be available for this week's road matches. Both will be through Stretch Internet, the official Internet provider of the conference. Appropriate links to both the Webcasts and stats can be found at the top of this story.
 
1,000^TH POINT IS NOW A DONE DEAL FOR CAVELL
Senior outside hitter Madi Cavell became the latest Falcon to join the 1,000-point club, hitting the 1K mark last Thursday night in Brougham Pavilion against Alaska Anchorage.
 
Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) began the night with 998.5 points. She had a kill on the very first point of the match, then got over the hump a few minutes later with another kill.
 
She wound up with 20 points against the Seawolves (15 kills, two service aces, two solo blocks, and two block assists). Cavell added another 14.5 points on Saturday (12 kills, two service aces and a block assist), and has 1,033 with seven regular-season matches remaining.





SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- That loss to the Clan was SPU's only one in five matches that have gone to the five-game limit this fall.
-- Although Simon Fraser snapped an overall 13-match losing streak to SPU, the Falcons still have won seven straight in Burnaby. Their last loss across the border was 1997.
-- Counting last month's result in Brougham, the road team has won the last four matches in the Seattle Pacific-Western Washington series.
-- That stretch includes last year's match in Bellingham, when the Falcons triumphed in four games for the 500th win in school history.
-- The match against Western will be SPU's fourth against a nationally ranked opponent this fall. The Vikings are No. 10 this week. They were No. 11 last time.
-- Coach Chris Johnson is 9-11 all-time against Western Washington and 8-1 against Simon Fraser.
-- Madi Cavell still has the most kills in the GNAC (282). Her 3.86 average is No. 2 behind Alaska Fairbanks star Sam Harthun (4.02).
 
SCOUTING THE SIMON FRASER CLAN: 12-6, 6-4 GNAC (5^th).
All-time series: SPU leads, 26-10. Current series streak: Simon Fraser won 1. Last time: Simon Fraser 3, SPU 2 (25-13, 22-25, 28-26, 19-25, 15-8; Sept. 27 at Seattle). Clan on the Web.
Clan in a nutshell: Simon Fraser has been one of the most improved teams in the GNAC. At 6-4 (including a homecourt sweep of nationally ranked Central Washington), the Clan already have matched last year's conference win total, and clearly are way ahead of the teams that went 4-14, 1-17, and 1-17 after joining the GNAC in 2010. Senior outside hitter Kelsey Robinson leads Simon Fraser with 195 kills, an average of 3.25 per game. That includes the 17 she got in Seattle last month. Sophomore outside Devon May also had 17 kills in that match, and averages 2.33 per game. Another of the Clan's biggest offensive threats is senior middle Amanda Renkema, who did not play in the first match against SPU, but has 131 kills for a 2.57 average and hits a solid .268, the latter ranking No. 7 in the GNAC.

SCOUTING THE WESTERN WASHINGTON VIKINGS: 15-4, 8-2 GNAC (3^rd)
All-time series: WWU leads, 39-26. Current series streak: WWU won 1. Last time: WWU 3, SPU 1 (29-27, 25-12, 25-27, 25-15; Sept. 25, 2014 at Seattle). Vikings on the Web.
Vikings in a nutshell: Western Washington enters the week on a five-match winning streak. Among those are four-game decisions in Bellingham against then-No. 18 Central Washington and then-No. 19 Northwest Nazarene, both still in the national top 25. It's simply tough to put a ball on the floor against the Vikings. They average 20.11 digs per game – the second time this month SPU will face a team that averages 20 per game (NNU was other). That's the fifth-best mark in Division II, and senior libero Samantha Hutchinson's 7.30 average per game not only leads D2, it also would lead D1, where the top average is 6.58. Senior middle blocker Kayla Erickson hits at a .287 clip, No. 4 in the GNAC, and leads Western in kills with 236. Two of her teammates also have topped the 200-kill mark: senior outside hitter Kelsey Moore (213) and junior outside Rachel Roeder (204). But it was junior opposite Jennica McPherson who did the most damage last month in Seattle with a team-leading 15 kills.
 
FALCONS REPLAY
-- Madi Cavell had a double-double of 15 kills and 10 digs, and put her 1,000^th career point into the books, but Alaska Anchorage wound 18 more kills as a team to beat Seattle Pacific, 25-21, 20-25, 25-16, 25-20.
--Hannah Lautenbach's 10^th kill of the night secured her first collegiate double-double and clinched the match as the Falcons got past Alaska Fairbanks, 25-22, 25-20, 16-25, 22-25, 15-13.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Madi Cavell had two double-doubles last week, and Hannah Lautenbach recorded one. The Falcons now have 17 double-doubles for the season.
                                                                                                                                     
2014 double-doubles:
Madi Cavell (8 season / 22 career): 11K-13D vs. Chico State, Sept. 4; 19K-14D vs. Cal State L.A., Sept. 5, 29K-19D vs. Western Oregon, Sept. 18, 14K-10D at Alaska Fairbanks, Sept. 20; 15K-13D vs. Simon Fraser, Sept. 27; 19K-15D at Montana State Billings, Oct. 4; 15K-10D vs. Alaska Anchorage, Oct. 16; 12K-13D vs. Alaska Fairbanks, Oct. 18.
Sara Biondi (4 season / 5 career): 34A-11D vs. Cal Poly Pomona, Sept. 5; 41A-11D vs. Dixie State, Sept. 6, 28A-10D vs. Saint Martin's, Sept. 16, 42A-13D vs. Western Oregon, Sept. 18; 40A-10D vs. Western Washington, Sept. 25; 44A-12D at Montana State Billings, Oct. 4.
Ellie Britt (2 season / 7 career):17K-10D vs. Fresno Pacific, Sept. 13; 15K-10D at Montana State Billings, Oct. 4.
Hannah Lautenbach (1 season / 1 career): 10K-12D vs. Alaska Fairbanks, Oct. 18.

QUICK IMPACT
Jessica Boyle, who transferred to Seattle Pacific after playing the past two seasons at Edmonds Community College, has worked and waited all year for her first NCAA action. It finally came last Saturday early in Game 3 against Alaska Fairbanks.
 
With the score tied at 1-1, Boyle (Lake Stevens, Wash. / Marysville-Pilchuck HS) subbed in. The 6-foot middle blocker factored into the very next point, combining with senior Madi Cavell on a block to give the Falcons a 2-1 lead.
 
Boyle finished the night with two block assists. She also had two attacks, although both were kept alive by the Nanooks.
 
All 14 Falcons on the active roster now have seen match action.
 
DOUBLE GRAND
 

While Madi Cavell posted her 1,000th career point last week, Sara Biondi is approaching a millennium mark of her own. The senior setter from Sacramento, Calif., is just assists away from her 2,000th. Biondi racked up 68 last week, getting 41 of those in a five-game win against Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday.
 
Of the 1,992 assists in her ledger. Biondi has 1,121 of those the past two-plus seasons in a Falcons uniform. The first 871 of her career came as a freshman at Washington State in 2010. After sitting out 2011, she picked up 27 in just 17 games while playing behind senior All-GNAC setter Shelby Swanson in 2012, had another 457 last year while splitting time with Kendall Carver, and has 637 this year.
 
AS CLOSE TO PERFECT AS YOU CAN GET
Watch enough of SPU's matches, and it becomes readily apparent that senior libero Brianna Leenders is one of the most reliable servers to be found anywhere.

 

Just how reliable? Try 98.92 percent reliable. Leenders (Portland, Ore.) has served 280 times this season, the second-highest total on the etam. Of those, 264 have gone into play, 13 have been for aces – and only three have resulted in service errors.
 
Leenders has been behind the service line for several multiple-point runs by the Falcons. The latest of those was in last Saturday's deciding fifth game against Alaska Fairbanks. She got the ball with the score tied at 4-4, and SPU put the next three points on the board.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
Madi Cavell ranks in the top 25 among NCAA Division II players in two categories heading into this week's matches:
--11^th in attacks per game (11.79)
--19^th in total attacks (861).
 
She also is 34^th in points per set (4.42) and 42^nd in total kills (282).
 
SPU's highest ranking among the 287 teams playing D2 volleyball is 58^th in blocks per set (2.10).

Click on this link to see how SPU and the Falcon players stack up nationally. Click on this link to see where other GNAC teams and players rank.
 
AROUND THE WEST
Northwest Nazarene and Alaska Anchorage, the GNAC co-leaders, continue to own the best records in the West Region. The Crusaders are 17-2 overall; the Seawolves are 16-3. Both are 10-1 in the conference, and they will meet on Saturday night in Anchorage.
 
In the California Collegiate Athletic Association, Sonoma State and Cal State San Bernardino are both 13-4. Sonoma leads the conference pack at 11-2, with San Bernardino right behind at 10-3. They clash on Thursday in San Bernardino.
 
Brigham Young-Hawaii is the undisputed Pacific West Conference leader at 14-3 overall, 11-0 in the conference. The Seasiders and Dixie State were both unbeaten in Pac West play until last Thursday, when BYUH rolled to a 25-13, 25-14, 25-18 homecourt victory against the Red Storm (13-6 overall, 10-1 PWC).

MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100^th block            Jessica Boyle (has 95)
200^th assist            Brianna Leenders (has 192)
300^th point             Jessica Boyle (has 299.0)
400^th kill                 Ellie Britt (has 398)
2,000^th assist        Sara Biondi (has 1,992)
 
MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK
200^th kill                 Sara Biondi (has 201)
1,000^th point          Madi Cavell (has 1,033.0)
 
UP NEXT
Not only is SPU home for its upcoming three matches, the team has an extra day to work with next week. The Falcons have just one match on the docket, as Montana State Billings visits Brougham Pavilion on Saturday, Nov. 1, at 7:00 p.m. Those teams went five games on Oct. 4 in Montana, with Seattle Pacific winning it.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                GNAC    Overall
Northwest Nazarene           10-1         17-2
Alaska Anchorage               10-1         16-3
Western Washington             8-2         15-4
Central Washington               7-4         14-5
Simon Fraser                          6-4          12-6
Seattle Pacific                         5-6          11-8
Montana State Billings          5-6          10-9
Alaska Fairbanks                    2-9           2-17
Saint Martin's                          1-10          4-18
Western Oregon                     0-11          2-17