THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Oct. 29               Alaska Fairbanks at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Oct. 31                Alaska Anchorage at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – Their most recent victory came on their home court. The Seattle Pacific Falcons are hoping their next one does, too.
 
The Falcons will have multiple chances to add to their volleyball 'W' column in Brougham Pavilion when they begin a three-match stretch this week. It all starts on Thursday night against Alaska Fairbanks.
 
The Nanooks, who will be in town for a 7 p.m. match, will be followed by Alaska Anchorage on Saturday and Saint Martin's next Tuesday.
 
Of SPU's six wins this fall, four have come in Brougham Pavilion. That included a four-gamer against Montana State Billings on Oct. 10.
 
The Falcons are looking to turn things back in the right direction this week after coming up short in their last four matches.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Free Webcasts and free live stats will be available for all GNAC matches, home and away. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
               
TWO CENTURY MARKS IN THREE DAYS FOR LAUTENBACH
Hannah Lautenbach began last week's road trip to Oregon just three kills away from the 300th of her career, and 18 digs shy of her 300th.

 

The sophomore, who usually plays at opposite, but also can slide over to middle blocker, took care of the kills last Thursday, when she came up with nine at Western Oregon. That put her at 306 for career.
 
Lautenbach also got 13 digs that night, leaving her at 295. She pushed past 300 in that department on Saturday while playing in her hometown of Portland as the Falcons visited Concordia. Lautenbach had seven against the Cavaliers, leaving her at 302.

 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- Someone is going to stop a slide on Thursday night, as SPU has dropped four straight, and Fairbanks has gone down six matches in a row.
-- Seattle Pacific would like to even the score against Fairbanks and Anchorage, both of which prevailed earlier this month in Alaska – UAF in four games, and UAA in a three-game sweep.
-- The result for the Nanooks halted their 12-match losing streak against the Falcons.
-- Fairbanks already has spent some time in Brougham Pavilion this season. The Nanooks were in town for four matches during the GNAC-Pacific West Crossover Tournament. They lost in three games to Cal Baptist and Hawaii Pacific, and in four to Academy of Art and Azusa Pacific.
-- This is the last time the Falcons will have to face Nanooks senior outside hitter Sam Harthun – and they probably won't miss having to defend against her after this weekend. In seven matches against SPU, Harthun has never had less than double-digit kills. That includes 15 in the match at Fairbanks on Oct. 1, and a whopping 29 in a five-gamer at SPU last Oct. 18.
-- They won't miss having to defend against Anchorage's Katelyn Zanders or Julia Mackey, either, as those two Seawolves also are in their final seasons. Outside hitter Zanders has double-digit kills in five of her seven matches against SPU, with a high of 21 as a sophomore in 2013. She had 10 in the first meeting this season. Mackey, an opposite, likewise has five matches of double-digit kills vs. the Falcons. In three of those, she has finished with 13, most recently on Oct. 1 at Anchorage.
-- SPU is 4-5 in Brougham Pavilion this fall.
-- The match against Anchorage will the third of the year for the Falcons against a national top-25 team, The others were at then-No 16 Western Washington on Sept. 19, and at No. 8 UAA on Oct. 1.
-- Coach Chris Johnson is 18-3 against Alaska Fairbanks, and 9-12 against Alaska Anchorage.
 
SCOUTING THE ALASKA FAIRBANKS NANOOKS: 2-17, 2-10 GNAC (10^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 36-10. Current series streak: UAF won 1. Last time: UAF 3, SPU 1 (25-20, 25-22, 21-25, 25-16; Oct. 3 at Fairbanks). Nanooks on the Web.
Nanooks in a nutshell: Fairbanks won two straight matches at home to begin October, first against Saint Martin's, then against SPU, and was named the GNAC Team of the Week after doing so. But everything on either side of those two wins has gone the opposite direction. Last Saturday at Montana State Billings, the Nanooks fought off three match points in Game 5 to pull even at 14-14 before the Yellowjackets got the next two. As she has been during each of her four seasons, Sam Harthun is a bright spot for Fairbanks. The 6-foot-1 senior ranks second in the GNAC at 3.73 kills per game (246 total). Sophomore middle blocker Riley Podowicz is the conference's top server with plenty of room to spare. Podowicz has 38 aces, 10 more than the next closest player. She had two against SPU in the first meeting. Harthun has delivered 24 aces. Kensey Mix, a 5-11 junior middle, leads UAF in blocks with 49, including five solos.
 
SCOUTING ALASKA ANCHORAGE SEAWOLVES: 18-2, 10-2 GNAC (tie 1^st)
All-time series: SPU leads, 28-20. Current series streak: UAA won 5. Last time: UAA 3, SPU 0 (25-13, 25-21, 26-24; Oct. 1 at Anchorage). Seawolves on the Web.
Seawolves in a nutshell: Anchorage was rolling along with a school-record14 straight wins to open the season, four of those against nationally ranked teams. Then, the Seawolves landed on the court of defending GNAC champion Northwest Nazarene on Oct. 8, and went down in four. A week later, they were at home against then-No. 16 Western Washington, dropped the first two, came back to force a Game 5, and finally fell two points short, 16-14. But UAA has won its last three. Even with the setbacks, Anchorage is the conference's top hitting team (.263) and the toughest team to hit against (.121). Senior opposite Julia Mackey hits at a .318 clip, and junior middle blocker Erin Braun, who has been above .300 for parts of the season, is still close to it at .296. Senior outside hitter Katelyn Zanders is the GNAC leader in kills at 3.81 per game (274 total), and Mackey is No. 8 at 3.03 (218 total). The Seawolves also are tough on the serve, as Zanders has 28 aces, and Leah Swiss has 27. Swiss served two last time against SPU. Braun has 86 total blocks with nine solos, her 1.19 per-game average tied for No. 6 in the GNAC.
                                                                                     
FALCONS REPLAY
– Western Oregon came from 18-15 down in Game 1, and 24-22 down in Game 2, winning both and going on to sweep the SPU last Thursday in Monmouth, 25-23, 27-25, 25-16.
– Concordia went on scoring runs in each of the three games last Saturday to beat the Falcons in Cavalier Gymnasium, 25-19, 25-18, 25-18.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS

Since missing the home match against Central Washington on Oct. 15 because of an illness, freshman Symone Tran has been setting 'em up and digging 'em up in bunches. Tran (Portland, Ore.) had double-doubles in last week's matches at Western Oregon and at Concordia, giving her three in a row and nine for the season.
 
Last year's double-double leader was now-graduated outside hitter Madi Cavell, who finished with 10.
 
2015 double-doubles:
Hannah Lautenbach (3 season / 4 career):
11K-15D vs. Academy of Art, Sept. 11;
19K-20D at Simon Fraser, Sept. 17;
17K-17D vs. Northwest Nazarene, Oct.17.
 
Symone Tran (9 season / 9 career):
20 AST-11D vs. Azusa Pacific, Sept. 10;
25 AST-11D vs. Hawaii Pacific, Sept. 12;
51 AST-15D at Simon Fraser, Sept. 17;
32 AST-10D vs. Concordia, Sept. 24;
37 AST-13D vs. Western Oregon, Sept. 26;
34 AST-10D at Alaska Fairbanks, Oct. 3;
51 AST-12D vs. Northwest Nazarene, Oct. 17;
39 AST-11D at Western Oregon, Oct. 22
28 AST-11D at Concordia, Oct. 24.
 
A CLEAN SHEET, VOLLEYBALL STYLE
Coach Chris Johnson says the Falcons are always looking for more solid matches from their middle blockers, and they certainly had a few of those last week – some of the error-free variety.

 

On Thursday at Western Oregon, senior Luisa McInnis (Santa Rosa, Calif.) had seven kills and no errors on 15 attacks for .467 hitting percentage. The seven kills were the most McInnis has had in an SPU uniform. Her previous best was six just a week earlier on Oct. 15 against Central Washington. She now has four error-free matches this year, recording another one on Saturday at Concordia (one kill on eight attacks).

 

Freshman Shaun Crespi also went without an error at Concordia. Crespi (Camarillo, Calif.) swung 16 times, with six of those finding the floor. That gave her a career-high .375 percentage for the night, 25 points better than her old best of .350 (set twice, most recently on Oct. 10 against Montana State Billings). It was the first no-errors outing for Crespi, who has double-digit attacks in all 18 matches she has played.


 
IT'S LEXI IN THE LEAD
 

Sophomore outside hitter Lexi Biondi is starting to rack up the kills, going for double figures in the last three matches and 10 of the last 12. That includes three matches of 20-plus; a then-career high 25 at Simon Fraser on Sept. 17, a new career high of 27 on Oct. 10 against Montana State Billings, and 23 against Northwest Nazarene on Oct. 17.
 
All of that has propelled Biondi (Albuquerque, N.M.) into the team lead. She starts this week with 192 kills for the year. That is one more than Hannah Lautenbach's 191.
 
AROUND THE WEST
A week ago as the GNAC was entering the second half of its 20-match schedule, Western Washington was undefeated in conference play, and had a two-match lead on Alaska Anchorage, Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene.
 
That lead is gone after Western lost at home to NNU in three and Central Washington in four. So now, the Vikings, Seawolves, Wildcats, and Crusaders are all 10-2 – and none of them bump into each other this week.
 
Sonoma State is clinging to the lead in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The Seawolves are 12-1 (16-3 overall), with Cal State San Bernardino right there at 12-2 (19-3). Barring the unexpected, both should be a lock for the NCAA Tournament.
 Cal Baptist is now alone atop the Pacific West standings – but not by much. The Lancers are 10-3 (17-4 overall), while Dixie State is half a match back at 9-3 (12-8). Brigham Young-Hawaii, which was tied with CBU last week, lost both of its matches, so now is tied for third with Azusa Pacific at 8-4.
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific has an unusual schedule next week. With the GNAC's new format that features Tuesday matches against travel partners, the Falcons will play host to Saint Martin's on Nov. 3 at 7:00 p.m. The next morning, they'll hop an eastbound flight for a match at Montana State Billings on Thursday the 5th, with the first serve at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time. SPU then will have a rare Saturday off on the 7th.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                         GNAC       Overall
Alaska Anchorage         10-2       18-2
Western Washington       10-2       16-4
Central Washington       10-2       14-5
Northwest Nazarene       10-2       13-7
Concordia                 7-5       15-5
Simon Fraser              5-7        7-9
Western Oregon            4-8        7-14
Seattle Pacific           4-8        6-14
Montana State Billings    3-9        4-17
Alaska Fairbanks          2-10       2-17
Saint Martin's            1-11       2-17