THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Nov. 13       Seattle Pacific at Western Oregon, 7:00 p.m.
                                         New P.E. Building / Monmouth, Ore.
                                         Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Nov. 15       Seattle Pacific at Saint Martin's, 7:00 p.m.
                                        Capital High School / Lacey, Wash.
                                         No live Webcast        Live stats
                                               
 
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – Even in the last week of the season, the Seattle Pacific Falcons have plenty to play for in their final two volleyball matches.
 
The Falcons will be out to snap a five-match losing streak and level their overall record at .500 when the hit the road to conclude the 2014 calendar at Western Oregon on Thursday and Saint Martin's on Saturday. The first serve for both contests will be at 7:00 p.m.
 
SPU brings an 11-13 overall record into the week. Its last victory coming in five games at home against Alaska Fairbanks on Oct.18.
 
It was against these two opponents that the Falcons began Great Northwest Athletic Conference play in mid-September. They swept the Saints and twice came from a game down for a five-game victory against the Wolves. Both of those matches were in Brougham Pavilion.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live stats will be available from both of this week's matches, and a free live Webcast will be offered from Thursday's contest at Western Oregon. 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.
 
DIFFERENT VENUE ON SATURDAY
Seattle Pacific and Saint Martin's will square off at Capital High School in Olympia on Saturday. Marcus Pavilion, the regular home venue for the Saints, will be hosting the Class 4A and 3A state high school girls volleyball tournaments both days.
 
Capital is located at 2707 Conger Ave. N.W., about 3 ½ miles north and west of Saint Martin's. Click on this link for driving directions from Bing.

CAVELL AMONG THE SMARTEST IN THE WEST
Madi Cavell's accomplishments on the volleyball court are exceeded only by what she has done in the classroom.
 

The senior outside hitter was named last week as one of the six players on the CoSIDA Academic All-District team for the West Region.
 
Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) has a 3.71 grade-point average as an English major, and in on target to graduate in December. She already has been on the GNAC All-Academic team twice, and will be a member of that team for a third time when it is released later this week.
 
Cavell is SPU's leader in kills, attacks and points. Last month, she passed the 1,000-point mark, and also has topped 900 kills and 600 digs.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- SPU has a chance to put two more season sweeps into the book with victories in both matches.
-- The only other 2014 season sweep was against Alaska Fairbanks.
-- It's not unusual to have a little drama at Western Oregon, which is always tough on its home court. Last year, the Falcons came from 7-6 down in Game 5 to win it, 15-10, and the secure the victory. In 2012, SPU was down 13-4 in Game 2, but stormed back to win it, 26-24, and wound up with a three-game sweep.
-- In fact, drama between those two teams can happen anywhere. The last three matches between Seattle Pacific and Western Oregon have gone to five games, with the Falcons winning all three.
-- Although starting the week in seventh place in the GNAC, the Falcons (5-11) still can finish as high as sixth. They would need to win both while Montana State Billings (6-10), which visits Saint Martin's on Thursday and Western Oregon on Saturday, would have to split or lose both.
-- Senior Madi Cavell, who had been playing outside hitter, but recently switched back to middle blocker, still leads the GNAC in total kills with 336, but it's a tight three-way race heading into the final week. Kayla Erickson of Western Washington has 334, Linden Firethorne of Central Washington has 332, and Sam Harthun of Alaska Fairbanks has 327.
-- Cavell ranks No. 3 among GNAC players at 3.61 kills per game; Harthun is first at 4.14, Firethorne second at 3.73, and Erickson fourth at 3.52.
-- Senior setter Sara Biondi remains in the GNAC top 10 in three categories: service aces (No. 4 at 0.32 per game), assists (No. 6 at 8.78 per game), and hitting percentage (No. 8 at .271)
-- SPU coach Chris Johnson, in his 10^th year, is 14-5 vs. Western Oregon and 19-0 vs. Saint Martin's.
-- The last Saints victory against Seattle Pacific was in five games at Lacey in 2001. The Falcons have won 25 straight since then.
 
SCOUTING THE WESTERN OREGON WOLVES: 4-20, 2-14 GNAC (9^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 24-15. Current series streak: SPU won 3. Last time: SPU 3, WOU 2 (22-25, 25-19, 15-25, 25-18, 15-12; Sept. 18 at Seattle). Wolves on the Web.
Wolves in a nutshell: The season has been a struggle from the start. Western Oregon is a resilient bunch, five times taking an opponent into a fifth game (coming from behind in three of those matches) before ultimately falling short. The Wolves have two players in particular who can do some damage to the opposition. Hannah Deede, a 6-foot-2 senior opposite, pushed past the 200-kill mark last week. She's also tough on the block with 72 for the season, six of them solo. Cherene O'Hara, a 6-foot senior middle, has put down 178 kills. She got 10 of those in September against the Falcons. A pair of bright spots for the Wolves have been two redshirt freshmen: 5-11 outside hitter Alisha Bettinson, and  5-11 middle blocker Maddi Ober. Bettinson had a match-high 12 kills against the Falcons, and Ober came up with six kills and five blocks. Bettinson leads the GNAC in total service aces (34) and aces per game (0.42), and ranks No. 3 for WOU in kills. Ober is averaging nearly a block per game.
 
SCOUTING THE SAINT MARTIN'S SAINTS: 4-24, 1-15 GNAC (10^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 47-5. Current series streak: SPU won 25. Last time: SPU 3, StM 0 (25-11, 26-24, 25-14; Sept. 16 at Seattle). Saints on the Web.
Saints in a nutshell: After back-to-back victories in late September, Saint Martin's has lost its last 12 matches, winning just four games in the process. Senior Kristyn Ross a 5-foot-10 outside hitter, continues to be the go-to player on offense. Her 241 kills (2.94 per game) is more than 100 ahead of her nearest teammate (junior middle blocker Kyra Davidson has 140). Davidson is one of the GNAC's best blockers, totaling 97 for the season, an average of 1.09 that ranks No. 4 in the conference. Her 11 solos is tied for the second-best GNAC total. Another individual standout for the Saints is sophomore outside hitter Jessica Riddle. She has 28 service aces, ranking No. 6 in the conference at 0.29 per game. The Saint Martin's offense never got untracked in the match against Seattle Pacific two months ago in Brougham Paviion, as no one had more than four kills and on a night when the team hit just .070.
 
FALCONS REPLAY
– Jessica Miller slammed a career-high 21 kills last, but in a 2¼-hour battle that stretched to five games, SPU fell just short of Central Washington, 22-25, 25-13, 16-25, 26-24, 15-12.
– Madi Cavell had eight kills and nine digs last Saturday, but 11^th-ranked Northwest Nazarene clinched the GNAC championship with a  three-game sweep of the Falcons, 25-13, 25-16, 25-19.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Madi Cavell notched another double-double for SPU last week, recording 13 kills and 13 digs in a five-game loss to Central Washington. The Falcons now have 19 double-doubles for the season.
                                                                                                                                     
2014 double-doubles:
Madi Cavell (9 season / 23 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; 13K-13D vs. Central Washington, Nov. 6.
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.
 
SPU TOP 2, GNAC TOP 10 BOTH REACHABLE FOR LEENDERS
Heading into the final two matches of her career, senior libero Brianna Leenders is well within range of two significant statistical milestones.
 

Leenders (Portland, Ore.) comes into this week with 1,544 career digs. With just nine more – and for her, that could happen in the course of a single set – Leenders will have 1,553 and take over the No. 2 spot on Seattle Pacific's all-time list from Torii Mount.
 
The other one will take a little more doing, but it's definitely do-able. With 35 or more digs in the final two matches combined, Leenders can move into the GNAC's all-time top 10. She is currently No. 12. The No. 10 spot belongs to Claire Carpenter of Western Oregon, who had 1,578 from 2004-07. Mount is No. 11 with her 1,552.
 
Central Washington's Kaely Kight, with one regular-season match plus the NCAA Tournament still to go, jumped into the top 10 earlier this season, and Western Washington's Samantha Hutchinson already was there at the start of 2014. Leenders is the only other active player currently in the top 20.
 
SINGLE-SEASON BESTS: BIONDI, CAVELL ALMOST THERE
Senior hitter / blocker Madi Cavell, and senior setter Sara Biondi have a chance to achieve some career-best numbers before they take off their SPU jerseys for the final time.
 

Biondi (Sacramento, Calif.) has 799 assists this fall. She would need 72 over the course of the final two matches to surpass the 871 she racked up as a freshman at Washington State in 2010, a mark that ranked No. 8 in the Pacific-10 Conference.
 
Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) begins the week with 336 kills and 388.5 points in 2014. Her single-season bests in those two categories both came last year, when she had 348 kills and 411.0 points.
 
MAKING THE MOST OF 24 HOURS
While many of the Falcons combine excellent classroom work with all of the time devoted to volleyball (a school-record eight players have been nominated for this year's GNAC All-Academic team), two of this year's seniors manage to cram even more into most every day.

 

Outside hitter Jessica Miller (Fife, Wash. / Fife HS), majoring in Global Development Studies, is a core team member of Sharpen Ministries, which reaches out to commuter and transfer students, is the secretary for the Falconettes women's service group, and is the historian and publicist for Ivy Honorary, the college equivalent of the National Honor Society.
 
Libero Brianna Leenders (Portland, Ore.), a nursing major, is involved with Ivy Honorary and Children of the Nations, among other things. She also has lent her efforts to an anti-bullying campaign, feeding the homeless in Seattle and Portland, and volunteering at a camp for medically fragile children in the Portland area.

NATIONALLY SPEAKING
Madi Cavell ranks in the top 20 among NCAA Division II players in one category, and is among the top 50 in one other heading into this week's matches:
--17^th in attacks per game (11.56)
--44^th in total attacks (1,075)

The highest-ranked Falcon in addition to Cavell is Brianna Leenders, who is 112^th in digs per game at 4.52.
 
SPU's highest ranking among the 287 teams playing D2 volleyball is 80^th in blocks per game (2.01).
 
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.
 

MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100^th block            Jessica Boyle (has 95)
                                 Maddi Hommes (has 81)
200^th assist          Brianna Leenders (has 199)
500^th point            Ellie Britt (has 484.5)
1,100^th point         Madi Cavell (Has 1099.0)
1,553^rd dig*           Brianna Leenders (has 1,544)
 *Torii Mount is No. 2 on the SPU career list with 1,552 digs.
 
MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK
600th point        Jessica Miller (has 617.0)

 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                GNAC    Overall
Northwest Nazarene           16-1         23-2
Alaska Anchorage               14-2         20-4
Western Washington          12-4         19-6
Central Washington            12-5         19-6
Simon Fraser                        10-6         16-8
Montana State Billings          6-10      11-14
Seattle Pacific                         5-11      11-13
Alaska Fairbanks                   3-11        3-21
Western Oregon                     2-14        4-20
Saint Martin's                          1-15        4-24