PACIFIC WEST-GNAC CROSSOVER SCHEDULE
All matches Conlan Center (Dominican University) / San Rafael,Calif.
                               
Thursday, Sept. 11              Seattle Pacific vs. Academy of Art, 4:30 p.m.
 
Friday, Sept. 12                    Seattle Pacific vs. Chaminade, 1:30 p.m.
                                              Seattle Pacific at Dominican, 6:30 p.m.
 
Saturday, Sept. 13               Seattle Pacific vs. Fresno Pacific,12:30 p.m.

        Live stats (all matches)
        Live Webcasts (all matches)
        TOURNAMENT CENTRAL 
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
        PHOTO GALLERY: Falcons vs. Cal State Los Angeles, Sept. 5 (HTML)
               
September 9, 2014

SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific Falcons will be packing more than just their uniforms when they head out on their first volleyball road trip of the year.
 
They'll be packing some momentum, too.
 
Coming off of three wins in four matches at their own season-opening Seattle Pacific Tournament last weekend, the Falcons head to California this week for the first Pacific West-Great Northwest Athletic Conference Crossover.
 
The three-day tourney at Dominican University in San Rafael begins Thursday with a 4:30 p.m. match against Academy of Art. SPU plays a pair on Friday, facing Chaminade and host Dominican, then wraps it up on Saturday afternoon against Fresno Pacific.
 
With victories against Chico State, Cal State Los Angeles, and Dixie State, the Falcons are off to their best start since 2011, when they started the season by winning three out of four at the Honolulu Invitational / Hawaii Pacific Challenge.
 
This will be the final tune-up before the start of GNAC play next Tuesday.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live stats and free live Webcasts will be available through Dominican's Tournament Central page by clicking on the links at the top of this story.





TOURNAMENT TALK
This is the first year of the tournament between the two West Region conferences. As conceived, it was to match the Nos. 1-4 finishers from the previous season at one site, and the Nos. 5-8 finishers at another site..
 
The Nos. 1-8 GNAC placers from 2013 are, in fact, playing. Western Washington, Alaska Anchorage, Northwest Nazarene, and Central Washington are in Riverside, Calif., while SPU is joined by Western Oregon, Simon Fraser, and Montana State Billings in San Rafael.
 
Pac West champion Brigham Young-Hawaii opted for a different preseason tournament, so No. 2 Point Loma Nazarene, No. 3 Dixie State, No. 4 Cal Baptist, and No. 5 Azusa Pacific are in Riverside. The Conlan Center venue at Dominican will include No. 7 Fresno Pacific, No. 8 Dominican, No.9 Academy of Art, and No. 11 Chaminade.
 
Altogether, the two conferences will meet in 32 matches over the three days, giving each conference a chance to boost its profile for when it eventually comes time to determine who makes the NCAA Tournament.

ALL-TOURNEY HONORS FOR CAVELL AND BIONDI
SPU seniors Madi Cavell and Sara Biondi earned a spot on the seven-player all-star team at last week's Seattle Pacific Tournament.
 

Senior outside hitter Cavell (Keizer, Ore.) had 55 kills (3.93 per game), hit .201, served five aces, and came up with 46 digs. She posted double-doubles in victories against Chico State (11 kills, 13 digs) and Dixie State (19 kills, 14 digs).
 

Senior setter Biondi (Sacramento, Calif.) did some of everything. She racked up 132 assists (9.43 per game), had 21 kills, hit .304, had 31 digs, and factored into 11 blocks (3 solo). She also posted two double-doubles: 31 assists and 11 digs in a four-game loss to Cal Poly Pomona, then 41 assists and 11 digs in a four-game victory against Dixie State.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
--Junior libero Breanne Wiekamp (Laguna Niguel, Calif.), who has played every set of every match as a Falcon, set two career highs last week: three service aces in the Dixie State match, and four assists against Chico State.
--Except for Chaminade, Seattle Pacific has very little history against any of its opponents this week. The Falcons have played just once against Academy of Art (the Urban Knights won in 2009), three times against Fresno Pacific (most recently in 2012 when SPU came from 2-0 down to win in five games), and never against Dominican.
--Chaminade, however, has been across the net from SPU 15 times, with the Falcons winning 10, most recently a four-gamer in 2012.
--In the match against Fresno Pacific two years ago, senior opposite Jessica Miller (Fife, Wash. / Fife HS) hammered what then was a career-high 19 kills. That mark lasted all of six days, as Miller, then a sophomore put down 20 the following week against Chico State.
--Through the years, the Falcons are 29-28 against current Pacific West members. The 29^th win, putting them back above the .500 mark, came in four games last Saturday night against Dixie State in the SPU Tournament.
--Seattle Pacific played for nine years in the Pacific West (1992-2000) before becoming one of the GNAC's charter members in 2001-02.
--Coach Chris Johnson is 5-1 against Chaminade, the only loss coming in 2008. He is 1-0 against Fresno Pacific, and 0-1 against Academy of Art.
               
COACH CHRIS JOHNSON SAYS …
(On the 3-1 start to the season)
"I'm really happy, not just with the record, but the way that we won the matches we won. When we play the way we want to and the way we coach them to, when we're in system, we're a really good team."
 

(On grinding one out against Dixie State after dropping the first game)
"We've got to expect that every match we play. There are a lot of good teams. It's just staying aggressive, getting into our rhythm, executing on the things we talked about in our scouting report, and doing things a little bit better."
 
(On SPU's defense, especially against Dixie State)
"I love looking at scoresheets and seeing our opponent's hitting percentage going down every set."
 
(On hitting the road for the first time)
"I think we're ready. This weekend showed us some things we need to work on. We're pretty prepared and raring to go next week."
 
SCOUTING THE ACADAMY OF ART URBAN KNIGHTS: 3-1, 0-0 Pac West
All-time series: Art leads, 1-0. Current series streak: Art won 1. Last time: Art 3, SPU 2 (25-16, 24-26, 27-25, 16-25, 16-14; Sept. 3, 2009 at Ellensburg). Urban Knights on the Web.
Knights in a nutshell: After dropping a five-gamer to Humboldt State in the opener of last week's Route 92 Showdown in California, Academy of Art put three straight wins into the book, all in three-game sweeps, and hit.246 as a team while doing so. By far, the biggest offensive threat for the Urban Knights is 5-9 sophomore outside hitter Melissa Brum. She slammed 73 kills (5.21 per game) and made just 18 errors on 159 attacks for a high-flying .346 hitting percentage. Brun had 19 kills apiece in two of Art's three sweeps, and logged three double-doubles in the four matches. Emily Papale, a 6-2 sophomore outside, added 33 kills, and seven more points on service aces. Freshman middle blocker Safua Elisaia, at 5-11, had 18 block assists
 
SCOUTING THE CHAMINADE SILVERSWORDS: 4-0, 0-0 Pac West
All-time series: SPU leads, 10-5. Current series streak: SPU won 3. Last time: SPU 3, Chaminade 1 (21-25, 25-21, 27-25, 27-25; Aug. 31, 2012 at Honolulu.). Silverswords on the Web.
Silverswords in a nutshell: By winning its first four matches, Chaminade is off to its best start since 2007. The Silverswords dropped just two games altogether at last week's East-West Challenge in Honolulu, winning a pair of matches against Daemen College (N.Y.), sweeping Florida Tech, and downing Pac West stablemate Hawaii Hilo in four. Chaminade had five players record 20 or more kills, led by the 49 of 6-foot-1 sophomore right side / outside Cassie Rushlow, as she hit at a .231 clip. Junior outside / right side Suncica Bakic added 31 kills and hit .284, as the Swords hit .275 as a team. Chaminade also delivered 28 service aces, an average of 2.00 per game, led by the half dozen of junior outside / libero Waihilo Chartrand.
 
SCOUTING THE DOMINICAN PENGUINS: 0-4, 0-0 Pac West
All-time series: First meeting. Penguins on the Web.
Penguins in a nutshell: It was a rough start for Dominican last week at the Oredigger Classic in Golden, Colo., as they came up short in all four matches and winning just one game. A pair of younger players provided a good chunk of the offense for the Penguins. Freshman outside hitter / opposite Aimee Steinwand led the way with 33 kills, an average of 2.54 per game. Sophomore outside Madeline Powelson had 31 (2.38 per game) on a team-leading 127 attacks. Steinwand also sent five service aces across the net. Senior 6-foot middle blocker Samantha Rains had 15 total blocks, including two solos.
 
SCOUTING THE FRESNO PACIFIC SUNBIRDS: 1-3, 0-0 Pac West
All-time series: Fresno leads, 2-1. Current series streak: SPU won 1. Last time: SPU 3, Fresno 1 (19-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-14, 15-10; Sept. 1, 2012 at Honolulu). Sunbirds on the Web.
Sunbirds in a nutshell: After winning its opener against Cal State Monterey Bay, Fresno Pacific dropped its next three at the Seaside Invitational in San Diego last week. Out front for the Sunbirds on offense is 6-foot-1 senior outside hitter Rupia Inck, who had 58 kills (3.87 per game) in the four matches, hitting .178. When Inck wasn't hammering it home, she was scoring with her serve, racking up seven aces. She also led the Sunbirds on the block, with 10 total, including three solos. Gabriela Macedo, a 5-9 freshman outside hitter, added 38 kills. Also coming up big defensively was 6-1 senior middle blocker Kathleen Anderson. She had nine total blocks, three of them solos..
               
SEATTLE PACIFIC TOURNAMENT REPLAY
-- Madi Cavell recorded a double-double of 11 kills and 13 digs, and SPU hit a solid .260 as a team to open the season with a 25-12, 25-11, 25-17 sweep of Chico State.
-- Cal Poly Pomona came up with 11 blocks, and built big leads in the second, third, and fourth games to beat the Falcons, 19-25, 25-13, 27-25, 25-20.
-- Jessica Miller had 13 kills and hit .462, and SPU finished the match on a 10-0 scoring run to beat Cal State Los Angeles, 25-17, 25-19, 25-19.
-- Cavell and Sara Biondi each registered their second double-doubles of the year, and the Falcons shook off a first-game loss to beat Dixie State, 19-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-17.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
The Falcons already have four double-doubles in 2014 – two each for senior outside hitter Madi Cavell and senior setter Sara Biondi. SPU had 24 double-doubles last season, with 11 of those by Cavell and one by Biondi. The Falcons had five players with at least one double-double in 2013, and all of them are back.
 
2014 double-doubles:
Madi Cavell (2 season / 16 career): 11K-13D vs. Chico State, Sept. 4; 19K-14D vs. Cal State L.A., Sept. 5).
Sara Biondi (2 season / 3 career): 34A-11D vs. Cal Poly Pomona, Sept. 5; 41A-11D vs. Dixie State, Sept. 6).
Kendall Carver (0 season / 6 career).
Ellie Britt (0 season / 5 career).
Lexi Biondi (0 season / 1 career).
 
SERVING UP SUCCESS
Coach Chris Johnson said the Falcons spent a lot of time during their spring camp working on their serves, and that certainly showed through last week's first four matches of the season.
 
The Falcon led the SPU Tournament with 23 aces, an average of 1.64 per game. The team had three players – Sara Biondi, Madi Cavell, and junior libero Breanne Wiekamp – deliver five aces apiece. The total of 23 is four more than last year through the same number of matches.
 
BRINGING THE HITTING HEAT
SPU players have found the floor more often and more accurately early in the season. The Falcon had three matches of better than .200 hitting last week, topped by a .274 performance in a three-game sweep against Cal State Los Angeles. They hit .260 in a three-game sweep of Chico State and .252 in a four-game win against Dixie State.
 
The season percentage of .216 is 54 points ahead of last year's final mark of .162 and is 75 points better than the .141 mark through four matches in 2013. Seattle Pacific's most recent NCAA Tournament team (2012) hit .218 for the season.
 
The Falcons have a goal of no more than 10 percent hitting errors based on total number of attacks in each match. In their three wins, they have come fairly close to meeting that goal: 10.4 percent against Chico State, 11.9 against Cal State L.A., and 12.2 against Dixie State. In the four-game loss to Cal Poly Pomona, the error percentage was 21.6.
 
PINE TIME TO PLAYING TIME

Sophomore middle blocker Maddi Hommes (Lynden, Wash. / Lynden HS) got into just two matches totaling two games all of last season. She went on to enjoy considerable success in track and field, making All-GNAC in the indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon, and even posting an NCAA provisional qualifying score in the hep.
 
Now, Hommes has played her way into the volleyball lineup, starting all four matches and being on the court for 13 of last week's 14 games. She is making the most of the opportunity. Hommes is tied for third on the team with nine total blocks, has 14 kills (1.08 per game) and is hitting .184.
 
FAST-STARTING FRESHMAN
Earning a spot in the lineup is tough for any first-year player. But freshman middle blocker Hannah Lautenbach has done it.
 

The 6-foot Lautenbach has started all four matches and played in all 14 games so far. She is leading the Falcons in total blocks with 15, is fourth in kills with 22 (1.57 per game) and is hitting a solid .273.
 
Lautenbach came up huge last Saturday in a four-game victory against Dixie State, posting career-bests in kills (8), hitting percentage (an error-free .615), and block assists / total blocks (7). She also had five kills with just one error against Chico State, and six kills with just one error against Cal State Los Angeles, helping Seattle Pacific win both of them.
 
NOTE TO CCAA: WATCH OUT FOR GNAC
Schools from the GNAC put together a winning record against their counterparts from the California Collegiate Athletic Association in last week's preseason tournaments, winning 10 of 18 matches in the tournaments at SPU and at Central Washington.
 
The Falcons contributed two of those 10 victories, sweeping Chico State and Cal State Los Angeles.
 
In Ellensburg, unranked Central Washington defeated No. 8 Cal State San Bernardino, No. 11 UC San Diego, and No. 16 Sonoma State. Western Washington, ranked No. 12 last week, beat Sonoma and San Diego, and took the first two games from San Bernardino before falling in five.

MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100^th block            Jessica Boyle (has 93)
300^th kill                 Ellie Britt (has 293)
300^th point             Jessica Boyle (has 298.0)
1,200^th dig             Brianna Leenders (has 1,176)
1,500^th assist        Sara Biondi (has 1,487)

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for news, notes, results, and stats from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
                               
UP NEXT
An unusual schedule awaits the Falcons next week as they begin GNAC play. Seattle Pacific will play six conference contests – four of them at home – in a span of 12 days. They start off in Brougham Pavilion on Tuesday, Sept. 16, against Saint Martin's, followed by Western Oregon on Thursday, Sept. 18, both at 7 p.m. The morning after the WOU match, they hop a plane for Alaska, visiting Fairbanks on Saturday the 20th, and Anchorage on Monday the 22nd, both at 8:00 p.m. Pacific time.
 
               
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                GNAC    Overall
Central Washington                  0-0           4-0
Montana State Billings              0-0           4-0
Simon Fraser                            0-0           4-0
Alaska Anchorage                    0-0           3-1
Northwest Nazarene                0-0           3-1
Seattle Pacific                          0-0           3-1
Western Washington               0-0           3-1
Saint Martin's                           0-0           1-3
Western Oregon                      0-0           0-3
Alaska Fairbanks                     0-0           0-4