SEATTLE PACIFIC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE SCHEDULE
All matches in Royal Brougham Pavilion
               
Thursday, Sept. 4      Cal State Los Angeles vs. Western Oregon, 4:30 p.m.
                                    Seattle Pacific vs. Chico State, 7:00 p.m.
 
Friday, Sept. 5           Cal State Los Angeles vs. Dixie State, 9:30 a.m.
                                    Seattle Pacific vs. Cal Poly Pomona, 12 noon
                                    Chico State vs. Dixie State, 3:00 p.m.
                                    Cal Poly Pomona vs. Western Oregon, 5:30 p.m.
                                    Seattle Pacific vs Cal State Los Angeles, 8:00 p.m.
 
Saturday, Sept. 6       Cal Poly Pomona vs. Dixie State, 11:00 a.m.
                                    Chico State vs. Western Oregon, 1:30 p.m.
                                    Seattle Pacific vs. Dixie State, 7:00 p.m.
 
LIVE STATS (all matches)
LIVE WEBCAST (all matches)
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
               
        Weekly release (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – Most years, the Seattle Pacific Falcons have to wait until almost the end of September to play a volleyball match at home.
 
But this isn't most years.
 
For the first time since their inaugural season of 1986, SPU gets to open in Brougham Pavilion, playing host to five other schools in the Seattle Pacific Tournament.
 
The three-day, 10-match tourney begins with two contests on Thursday. Western Oregon, a Great Northwest Athletic Conference stablemate of the Falcons, serves it up against Cal State Los Angeles at 4:30 p.m. Then SPU takes the court at 7 against Chico State. CSULA and Chico are both members of the California Collegiate Athletic Association, as is Cal Poly Pomona, which doesn't debut until Friday.
 
Also playing their first match on Friday is the Dixie State Red Storm from the Pacific West Conference. That will be the busy day, with five matches scheduled, starting at 9:30 a.m. The tournament concludes with three matches on Saturday, the last of which is the Falcons against Dixie at 7:00 p.m.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live stats and a free live Webcast will be available for all 10 matches, with links on the Tournament Central page. The Webcasts will be through Stretch Internet, the official Internet provider for the GNAC.
 
TICKET TALK
Tickets for the tournament can be purchased at the door on match days. Prices are $6 for adults and $3 for youths, students, and seniors (65 and older). Each day of the tournament is a separate ticket, but that ticket is then good for all matches on that particular day.
 




FALCONS PICKED 5^TH IN GNAC
Seattle Pacific was voted for a fifth-place finish in the standings by the GNAC coaches in their preseason poll. The Falcons, coming off a 15-11 season (11-7 in the conference, tying for fourth place) received 52 points in the voting, one point behind fourth-place Central Washington.
               
Defending champion Western Washington was picked as the favorite to win it again. The Vikings received eight of the 10 first-place votes and 80 points. Alaska Anchorage was tabbed for second with one first-place vote and 70 points, while Northwest Nazarene was right behind in third with the other first-place vote and 69 points.
               
Western (ranked No. 12 in the preseason national coaches poll), Anchorage, and Central all advanced to the NCAA regionals last fall.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The Falcons went 4-4 in tournament play last season, splitting four matches at the Coyote Classic in San Bernardino, Calif., and four at the Route 92 Showdown in Belmont and Hayward, Calif.
-- SPU played Cal State Los Angeles in both tournaments, dropping a four-gamer in San Bernardino, then pulling out a five-gamer in Belmont.
-- Cal Poly Pomona also was on last year's tournament docket in San Bernardino, The Falcons, on the heels of the loss to Cal State L.A., dropped Game 1, then took the next three for their first match victory of the season.
-- Seattle Pacific's most recent match against Chico State was at the Seawolf Spike in Sonoma, Calif., in 2012. The Falcons won the first and third games, but the Wildcats then built big leads in Games 4 and 5 to take the win.
-- The only time SPU and Dixie State have met was in 2006 when games were still played to 30 points instead of the current 25. The Falcons won a four-gamer at the Hampton Inn Classic in Durango, Colo.
-- SPU and Western Oregon will not face each other this week, nor will any of the three CCAA teams (Chico, L.A., and Pomona) square off. They'll play home-and-home matches in their respective conferences as the season progresses.
-- The Falcons went 5-4 at home last season.
-- In addition to their four tournament matches, Seattle Pacific plays four of its nine GNAC home matches in September, beginning on Tuesday the 16^th against Saint Martin's at 7:00 p.m.

 

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COACH CHRIS JOHNSON SAYS …
(On some of his team's strong suits)
"I think our chemistry is better than ever. That group of five seniors is so close, and it just helps everything. Our hitters on the pins are fantastic right now. We're having fun playing volleyball. We may have a struggle here and there, but everyone is so supportive of each other. It just comes back to that."
 
(On the GNAC)
"It's a toss-up. We have five or six teams where there's so much parity between us. We're right in the mix. I absolutely like our chances. I believe we can win the conference again, but we have to go out and prove it on the court."
 
(On the tournament)
"Looking forward to it. It's going to be great to be playing in our own gym and just have that comfort level. Wherever you play, you gotta play the team across from you. It doesn't matter a whole lot in terms of whether we're in our gym or their gym, we've still got to beat that team. We need to have that mentality and still need to beat each one of them."

Click on this link or the video above for the complete interview.
 
SCOUTING THE 2014 FALCONS
A conference all-star, and eight letterwinners altogether who factored into 15 victories last fall – including the 500th in program history – are back on the court to lead Seattle Pacific in 2014.
 
Factor in six newcomers, three of whom already have played at the collegiate level, and it's no surprise that head coach Chris Johnson sees some big opportunities for his team in the 26 matches on the schedule.

 

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Leading the way is senior Madi Cavell – and in fact, she can lead the Falcons from any position across the net, whether it's middle blocker, outside hitter, or opposite. She racked up 348 kills last season, an average of 3.45 per game that ranked No. 8 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and helped her earn a spot on the all-conference first team. Cavell also had 67 blocks, the fourth-highest total on the team.

 

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Also back up front for SPU is outside hitter Ellie Britt and opposite Jessica Miller. Britt, a junior, hammered 191 kills, came up with 146 digs and had 44 total blocks last fall, all of which were single-season career bests by more than double what she did as a freshman.  Miller, a senior, missed several matches with finger injury in 2013. But she is back and ready to go, hoping for season more like her 2012 sophomore year when she had 239 kills and 38 blocks.

 

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Senior Brianna Leenders returns at libero and is one of Seattle Pacific's steadiest players. She had 441 digs last year, and at 1,124 for her career, is on the brink of joining the school's all-time top five in that category. The Falcons also return both talented senior setters. Kendall Carver (formerly Langdon) had 539 assists in playing 96 of the 101 games. Sara Biondi played 92 games, delivering 457 assists, 48 kills and 69 blocks.
 
Junior libero / defensive specialist Breanne Wiekamp, who has seen action in every game of her first two seasons, also returns, as does sophomore outside hitter Lexi Biondi.
 
Among the newbies are junior transfers Luisa McInnis and Jessica Boyle. McInnis, a middle blocker, starred at Santa Rosa (Calif.) Junior College, leading the Bear Cubs in total blocks both seasons (48 as a freshman, 57 as a sophomore),and also was a solid hitter (.310 with 99 kills as a freshman, .283 with 205 kills as a sophomore).
 
Boyle likewise was a strong middle blocker the past two years at Edmonds Community College just north of Seattle. She topped the Tritons with 48 as a freshman and 45 as a sophomore, and also slammed more than 100 kills each season (106 and 107, respectively).
 
SCOUTING THE CHICO STATE WILDCATS: 16-13, 13-9 CCAA (4th)
All-time series: Chico leads, 10-6. Current series streak: Chico won 1. Last time: Chico 3, SPU 2 (23-25, 33-31, 23-25, 25-19, 15-8; Sept. 7, 2012 at Rohnert Park, Calif.). Wildcats on the Web.
Wildcats in a nutshell: A pair of seniors and honorable mention All-American sophomore setter Torey Thompson lead Chico's list of five returning starters and 10 letterwinners. Thompson racked up 1,192 assists in 2013 (11.46 per game) and made the All-CCAA first team, the All-Region second team, and AVCA All-American. The 5-foot-8 Thompson can sky, recording 28 solo blocks to tie for the team lead. Senior 5-10 outside hitter Ellie Larronde set Chico's offensive pace with 369 kills (3.41 per game). She also had 28 solo blocks. Senior middle hitter Lindsay Quigley, at 5-10, slammed 340 kills and ranked 11^th in all of D2 with her .366 hitting percentage. She had 79 total blocks, 28 service aces, and was All-CCAA first team.
 
SCOUTING THE CAL POLY POMONA BRONCOS: 12-18, 10-12 CCAA (7^th)
All-time series: Pomona leads, 6-5. Current series streak: SPU won 2. b: SPU 3, Pomona 1 (17-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-18; Sept. 6, 2013 at San Bernardino, Calif.). Broncos on the Web.
Broncos in a nutshell: Alexa Hasen, a 6-foot junior middle blocker, gets the job done both offensively and defensively for the Broncos. She was No. 2 for Pomona last year with 261 kills (2.29 per game), and was the team's leading hitter at .272. Hasen also was by far and away Pomona's best blocker, totaling 122. (The next-closest teammate had 71.) Also delivering big-time numbers for the Broncos is 6-1 junior setter Nicoletta Stork. Not only did she help set up her teammates (561 assists), she contributed some of her own offense with a team-high 33 service aces. She also had 166 digs and 51 total blocks.
 
SCOUTING THE CAL ST. L.A. GOLDEN EAGLES: 16-14, 11-11 CCAA (6^th)
All-time series: CSULA leads, 7-4. Current series streak: SPU won 1. Last time: SPU 3, CSULA 2 (25-19, 26-24, 22-25, 22-25, 15-4; Sept. 13, 2013 at Belmont, Calif.). Golden Eagles on the Web.
Golden Eagles in a nutshell: Virtually all of the offensive firepower from last year's team is back on the court. That group includes five players who accounted for 1,536 of the Eagles' 1.641 kills in 2013, led by 5-foot-10 junior outside hitter Iona Lofrano, who slammed 513, an average of 4.10 per game. Not far behind her was 5-11 senior outside Kymberly Silveyra with 397 kills. Lofrano had 29 of hers in the two matches combined against SPU, and Silveyra totaled 22. Another tough customer for SPU in those two matches was 6-0 middle blocker JamieAnn Bero, who had 22 kills and seven blocks combined. Now a sophomore, Bero finished last season with a team-high 108 blocks, including nine solos. Also returning is 6-0 senior middle blocker Bethanee Boggs with 240 kills and her team-high .334 hitting percentage from last fall.
 
SCOUTING THE DIXIE STATE RED STORM: 17-10, 14-6 Pac West (tie 3^rd)
All-time series: SPU leads, 1-0. Current series streak: SPU won 1. Last time: SPU 3, Dixie 1 (30-26, 26-30, 30-15, 30-23; Sept. 2, 2006 at Durango, Colo.). Red Storm on the Web.
Red Storm in a nutshell: Maddie Rex, a 5-10 senior outside hitter, hammered 271 kills in 2013, second most on the team and just seven behind now-graduated teammate Shannon Young. Rex also sent 20 service aces over the net. Helping put Rex into position for those kills was junior setter Shelby Sorenson, who finished with 1,028 assists, an average of 9.98 per game. When Sorenson wasn't setting it up, she was serving it up, delivering a team-high 30 aces. Among the Red Storm's returning players, 6-0 senior opposite Nicole Koehler had the best 2013 hitting percentage (.253). She also is a force defensively with a team-high 84 blocks, 11 of those solo.
               
FALCONS 2013 REPLAY
Of SPU's 15 victories last fall, two of them rank among the biggest in the 28-year history of the program.
 
The first of those came on Sept. 7 in the season-opening Coyote Classic at Cal State San Bernardino. Playing the perennially powerful and nationally Coyotes on their home court, the Falcons dropped the first two games, 25-9, 25-21, then stormed back to win the next three games, 25-17, 25-23, 15-11, to take the match. That was the first time in eight tries that Seattle Pacific was able to beat San Bernardino.
 
Then on Oct. 24 in Bellingham, the Falcons logged win No. 500, beating No. 8-ranked Western Washington, 27-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-23. SPU came from 22-20 down in the fourth game to close out the match.
 
Senior middle blocker Nikki Lowell became just the sixth Falcon to finish her career with more than 1,000 points (1285.5) and 1,000 kills (1,037). She also wound up No. 4 on the school's all-time blocks list (419), and No. 2 on the GNAC list for career block assists (379) and became the first Seattle Pacific player to play every game of every match during her four-year career – 405 altogether.
 
Lowell and Madi Cavell were voted to the All-GNAC first team.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
The Falcons put 24 double-doubles into the book last season. Leading the way was middle blocker / outside hitter Madi Cavell with 11.
 
SPU had five players record at least one double-double in 2013, and all of them are back. Here are those five:
 
Sara Biondi (1 in 2013 / 1 career.
Lexi Biondi (1 in 2013 / 1 career).
Ellie Britt (5 in 2013 / 5 career).
Kendall Carver (6 in 2013 / 6 career).
Madi Cavell (11 in 2013 / 14 career).
 
LEENDERS DIGGING TOWARD TOP 5
Senior libero Brianna Leenders is in excellent position to join Seattle Pacific's all-time top five for digs this fall.
 
Leenders (Gresham, Ore.) starts her senior season with 1,124 digs, including 441 last season. The No. 5 spot currently belongs to Stephanie Huffman (1,339 from 1997 to 2000).
 
The all-time digs record is 2,316 set by Anna Herold from 2008-11. Leenders has a realistic chance of finishing as high as No. 2 all-time for the Falcons, needing 429 this fall to pass Torii Mount's total of 1,552.
 
NAME'S NOT THE SAME
Two Falcons – one player, one coach -- have taken a walk down the aisle since last season, so will be sporting different names this fall.
 
The player is senior setter Kendall Carver (formerly Langdon), who married now-graduated SPU men's soccer star Blaine Carver.
 
The coach is lead assistant Whitney Reehm (formerly Dibble), who married Jason Reehm.
 
OFF TO A WINNING START
It doesn't count in the standings, but Seattle Pacific did win its lone exhibition match, coming from behind to beat Concordia in Portland last Friday night, 3-2.
 
Game scores were 22-25, 27-25, 16-25, 25-21, 16-14.
 
Senior outside hitter Madi Cavell had a double-double of 21 kills and 17 digs, and senior opposite Jessica Miller slammed 15 kills, hit a team-leading .324, and had four block assists.
 
Freshman middle blocker Hannah Lautenbach had 10 block assists, more than any Falcon recorded in any 2013 match. Senior setter Sara Biondi racked up 31 assists.

 

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IRONWOMAN WATCH
Last season, now-graduated middle blocker Nikki Lowell became the first Falcon in the 28-year history of the SPU program to play every game of every match during her career – 405 altogether.
 
Junior libero Breanne Wiekamp (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) is halfway toward becoming the second. In her first two seasons as a Falcon, Wiekamp has played in all 204 games – 103 as a freshman, 101 last year. During that time, she has dug 503 balls and served 37 aces.
 
THEY THINK THEY'RE SO SMART – BECAUSE THEY ARE
SPU was named the winner of a Team Academic Award from the American Volleyball Coaches Association in August.
 
The Falcons had a cumulative 3.50 grade-point average for 2013-14. They were one of three GNAC teams and one of just six from the entire West Region (GNAC, CCAA and Pacific West Conference) to win the award. Teams must have a minimum 3.30 GPA through the end of the academic year to qualify.
 
Seattle Pacific had11 players on last year's roster with cumulative GPAs of 3.0 or better, with majors ranging from communications to fashion merchandising to nursing, among others. Of those 11 players, six earned GNAC All-Academic recognition for being above a 3.2.
 
NUMERICAL MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100^th block            Jessica Boyle (has 93)
100^th dig                Jessica Miller (has 97)
100^th kill                Lexi Biondi (has 84)
                              Sara Biondi (has 95)
200^th dig               Sara Biondi (has 199)
400^th point           Luisa McInnis (has 399.5)
                             Jessica Miller (has 385.0)
600^th kill               Madi Cavell (has 587)
 
UP NEXT
The second and final preseason tournament for SPU is the Pacific West-GNAC Crossover, set for next Thursday through Saturday, Sept. 11-13, at Dominican University in San Rafael, Calif. The Falcons will face Academy of Art on Thursday, Chaminade and Dominican on Friday, and Fresno Pacific on Saturday.
 
Conference play begins on Tuesday, Sept. 16, at home against Saint Martin's. First serve is at 7:00 p.m.