THE SCHEDULE
Saturday, Nov. 1 Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
Live Webcast Live stats Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF) SEATTLE – The final homestand of the volleyball season also will be the longest one for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
With its last bye on Thursday, SPU will take the court just once this week, playing host to Montana State Billings on Saturday night at 7:00 in Brougham Pavilion.
It was on their home court where the Falcons (11-10, 5-8 GNAC) picked up their most recent victory, a five-gamer against Alaska Fairbanks on Oct. 18.
Seattle Pacific is coming off a tough week on the road, having fallen in five games at Simon Fraser and in four at No. 10 Western Washington.
The Falcons and Yellowjackets (10-11, 5-8 GNAC) are tied for sixth place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings. They've already gone to five games in their previous match this season, with SPU pulling out the win on Oct. 4 in Montana.
FOLLOW IT LIVELive stats and a free live Webcast will be available from this week's match. The Webcast will be through Stretch Internet, the official Internet provider of the GNAC. Appropriate links to both the Webcasts and stats can be found at the top of this story.
TICKET TALKTickets for home matches can be purchased at the door on match days. Prices are $6 for adults and $3 for youths, students, and seniors (65 and older). Complimentary programs are available at the entrance to the gym.
SENIOR DAY IS COMING FOR FLOCK OF FALCONSSeattle Pacific will honor the five senior members of this year's team on Saturday, Nov. 8, when nationally ranked Northwest Nazarene visits Brougham Pavilion. It's an unusual afternoon match, with the first serve set for 1 p.m.
A ceremony prior to the match will honor outside hitters
Madi Cavell and
Jessica Miller, setters
Sara Biondi and
Kendall Carver, and libero
Brianna Leenders.
Cavell, Miller, Carver, and Leenders have spent their entire careers at SPU. Biondi has played with the team for the past three seasons after beginning her career at Washington State.
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?-- The Falcons have won their last four matches against Montana State Billings.
-- SPU
had three double-doubles in the Oct. 4 match against the Yellowjackets: 19 kills and 15 digs for
Madi Cavell, 15 kills and 10 digs for
Ellie Britt, and 44 assists and 12 digs for
Sara Biondi.
-- It wasn't a double-double, but it was a double-digit career high for sophomore
Maddi Hommes, who had 10 block assists as the Falcons recorded 15 points on blocks that night.
-- That was Seattle Pacific's first
individual double-digit block performance in three years.
-- The Falcons prevailed in the first match even tough Billings had 10 more kills, 64-54.
-- Coach
Chris Johnson's teams are 10-6 all-time against the Yellowjackets.
SCOUTING THE MSUB YELLOWJACKETS: 10-11, 5-8 GNAC (tie 6th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 25-8.
Current series streak: SPU won 4.
Last time: SPU 3, MSUB 2 (25-20, 20-25, 25-21, 18-25, 15-13; Oct. 4 at Billings).
Yellowjackets on the Web.
Yellowjackets in a nutshell: Billings got everyone's attention on Sept. 27 when it shook off an opening-game loss to post a five-game victory against then-No. 11 Western Washington on the Jackets' home court. But it has been tough going in the seven matches since then, with the only win during that stretch being a three-game sweep of Alaska Fairbanks.
Chelsey Walter, a 6-foot-2 senior who can play on the outside or in the middle, is an offensive force. She leads the GNAC in hitting at .340, with 240 kills for the season, an average of 3.00 per game. She had 16 of those and just two errors on 28 attacks for a .500 hitting percentage in a five-game loss to SPU on Oct. 4. Equally dangerous at the net is 6-1 senior outside hitter
Monica Grimsrud, with 225 kills, a 2.96 per-game average. She also had 16 in the first match against the Falcons, as MSUB finished that match with 64. Freshman libero
Haley Wells helps keep opponents' attacks off the floor with an average of 4.55 digs per game.
FALCONS REPLAY--
Madi Cavell hammered 19 kills and
Jessica Miller had a season-high 18, but the Falcons fell short of Simon Fraser last Thursday in British Columbia,
25-17, 19-25, 25-17, 24-26, 16-14.
-- Miller put down 11 kills, but No. 10-ranked Western Washington dug up 102 of SPU's 177 attacks and came back from an opening-game loss to win the match,
26-28, 25-12, 25-13, 25-17.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTSSara Biondi had a season-high 50 assists, and also scooped up 12 digs last Thursday at Simon Fraser for Seattle Pacific's only double-double of the week. The Falcons now have 18 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 (7 season / 8 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; 50A-12D at Simon Fraser, Oct. 23.
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.
2014 triple-doubles:
Sara Biondi (1 season / 1 career): 12K-41A-18D vs. Academy of Art, Sept. 11.
Brianna LeendersMILESTONES IN FOCUSWith just five regular-season matches remaining, three Falcons are still knocking at the door of some significant career achievements.
-- Senior libero
Brianna Leenders (Portland, Ore.) begins the week with 1,497 career digs. She needs 56 more to pass Torii Mount for the No. 2 spot on SPU's all-time list, a mark that should be well within her reach.
-- Senior outside hitter
Madi Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) has 897 kills. Getting to 1,000 will be a challenge, but if she does, Cavell would be the second Falcon in as many years (
Nikki Lowell did it in 2013) and seventh all-time to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 points for her career. She already has passed the latter total, currently having 1,063 points.
-- Sophomore middle blocker
Maddi Hommes (Lynden, Wash. / Lynden HS) is at 76 total blocks for the season. She would need about five per match to reach 100.
Hannah Lautenbach has been racking up kills and digs.Freshman
Hannah Lautenbach, who had been playing middle blocker before coach
Chris Johnson switched her to the right side, has continued to deliver results. In the last five matches, Lautenbach has slammed 38 kills and come up with 58 digs. She also has had a hand in 11 blocks.
Last week, Lautenbach (Portland, Ore.) established three career highs. She had 35 attacks at Western Washington (getting eight of them down for kills) and had 20 digs at Simon Fraser. Her previous highs there were 30 and 12, respectively.
She also served up her first two collegiate aces, logging one in each of those two matches.
Lautenbach has been in double-digit digs for three consecutive matches. The first of those was on Oct. 18 in Brougham Pavilion, when she had 12 to go along with 10 kills – the last of which was the match-winning point – for her first SPU double-double.
Madi CavellNATIONALLY SPEAKINGMadi Cavell ranks in the top 20 among NCAA Division II players in two categories – including one spot in the top 10 – and is among the top 50 in three others heading into this week's matches:
-- 10
th in attacks per game (11.89)
-- 18
th in total attacks (975)
-- 41
st in kills per game (3.78)
-- 45
th in points per game (4.30)
-- 46
th in total kills (310)
The highest-ranked Falcon in addition to Cavell is
Brianna Leenders, who is 100th in digs per game at 4.55
SPU's highest ranking among the 287 teams playing D2 volleyball is 67
th in blocks per game (2.06).
Click on
this link to see how Seattle Pacific stacks up nationally. Click on
this link to see where other GNAC teams and players rank within Division II.
AROUND THE WESTThe top three records in the West Region belong to GNAC schools.
Northwest Nazarene, which took over sole possession of first place last Saturday with three-game sweep of then co-leader
Alaska Anchorage, is 19-2 (12-1 in the GNAC). The Seawolves and
Western Washington are both 17-4 overall, although UAA still has a slight lead in the standings (11-2 vs. 10-2), having played one more match.
Sonoma State leads the
California Collegiate Athletic Association at 12-3, one game ahead of
Cal State San Bernardino and
Humboldt State. All three of them are 14-5 overall.
Brigham Young-Hawaii, just one week after downing
Dixie State in a battle of
Pacific West Conference unbeatens, now finds itself tied for first with the Red Storm again. That's because the Seasiders were knocked off in five games by Fresno Pacific last Saturday. BYUH is 15-4 overall, 12-1 in the Pac West; Dixie is 15-6 and 12-1.
Click on
this link to see the first NCAA West Regional rankings of the season. Click on this link to see this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association
national poll.
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100th block Jessica Boyle (has 95)
Maddi Hommes (has 76)
100th kill Hannah Lautenbach (has 97)
200th assist Brianna Leenders (has 194)
400th kill Ellie Britt (has 398)
600th point Jessica Miller (has 583.0)
1,000th kill Madi Cavell (has 897)
1,553rd dig* Brianna Leenders (has 1,497)
*Torii Mount is No. 2 on the SPU career list with 1,552 digs. MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK
300th point Jessica Boyle (has 300.5)
500th kill Jessica Miller (has 512)
2,000th assist Sara Biondi (has 2,074)
AROUND THE GNACClick on
this link for results, news, and notes from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
UP NEXTThe final home matches of the season are set for next week when the Falcons welcome
Central Washington and
Northwest Nazarene to Brougham Pavilion. The Wildcats will come in on Thursday, Nov. 6, for a 7:00 p.m. first serve. The Crusaders call on Saturday the 8th for a special 1:00 p.m.Senior Day start time. SPU will be out for some better results in both, as NNU and Central both scored three-game sweeps on their respective home courts in early October.
GNAC STANDINGS
GNAC OverallNorthwest Nazarene 12-1 19-2
Alaska Anchorage 11-2 17-4
Western Washington 10-2 17-4
Simon Fraser 8-4 14-6
Central Washington 7-5 15-6
Seattle Pacific 5-8 11-10
Montana State Billings 5-8 10-11
Alaska Fairbanks 2-9 2-19
Saint Martin's 1-11 4-20
Western Oregon 1-11 3-17
