THE SCHEDULE
Saturday, Oct. 10          Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                          Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                          Live Webcast        Live stats              
 
 
        Updated weekly release, with complete stats (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – After playing on the road for most of the past two weeks, the Seattle Pacific Falcons get to spend some time on their own volleyball court.
 
The Falcons return to Brougham Pavilion on Saturday, taking on Montana State Billings in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match. The first serve is set for 7:00 p.m.
 
This will be the first of three straight matches Seattle.
 
Not only does SPU get to play at home, it gets to do so coming off its first road victory of the season. On Tuesday night in Lacey, the Falcons put together a three-game sweep of Saint Martin's. Their other win outside of Brougham was on a neutral court as they beat Molloy College of New York on Sept. 4 at Cal State Los Angeles.
 
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.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY ON SATURDAY?
-- SPU is 3-3 at home this fall. In addition to GNAC victories against Concordia and Western Oregon, the Falcons beat Academy of Art on Sept. 10 in the GNAC-Pacific West Crossover Tournament.
-- Montana State Billings was part of that tournament, as well, but went 0-4. The Yellowjackets are 2-8 away from Billings.
-- A Seattle Pacific win would level its conference record for the second time this season. The Falcons were 2-2 on Sept. 26 after beating Western Oregon.
-- SPU and Billings split their two matches last season, each winning on the other's court – the Falcons in five games, the Yellowjackets in three.
-- For the first time since the season-opening match, SPU's opponents cumulatively are hitting below .200, now at .199.
-- The first game often sets the tone. SPU is 4-1 when winning it, 1-9 when losing it. The come-from-behind was against Academy of Art on Sept. 11.
-- The Falcons have out-aced their opponents in five matches – and have won all five.
-- Coach Chris Johnson, now in his 11th season, has been at the helm for exactly half (17) of Seattle Pacific's 34 all-time matches against Montana State Billings. He has a 10-7 record vs. the Yellowjackets, including 4-2 against fourth-year MSUB coach Lisa Axel.
 
SCOUTING THE MSU BILLINGS YELLOWJACKETS: 3-12, 2-5 GNAC (tie 7th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 25-9. Current series streak: MSUB won 1. Last time: MSUB 3, SPU 0 (25-23, 25-13, 25-19, Nov. 1, 2014 at Seattle). Yellowjackets on the Web.
Yellowjackets in a nutshell: Billings went through a rough stretch in September when it came out on the short end of six consecutive 3-0 results. The Jackets bounced of that convincingly on Sept. 26 when they hit .231 – their second-highest mark of the season – in a four-game victory at Alaska Fairbanks. Last week, MSUB give Western Washington two close games, and took the first game from Simon Fraser. Junior outside hitter Ashlynn Ward is the primary go-to on offense, as she has hammered 178 kills for an average of 3.42 per game that ranks No. 4 in the GNAC. Ward's .261 hitting percentage is the conference's 12th-best mark. Also wielding big arms for Billings are freshman middle blocker Taylor Albertson (95 kills) and senior middle blocker / opposite Audri Marrs (91). Setting up those kills is senior Kyndal Williams, who passed 500 assists for the season in Thursday night's match at Saint Martin's. Ward, Albertson, and Marrs, along with freshman middle Miranda McConnell are nearly equal on the block, with totals ranging from 30 (McConnell) to 26 (Albertson).
 
FALCONS REPLAY
-- Hannah Lautenbach put down 12 kills and hit a solid .290, and Lexi Biondi added 10 kills with .240 hitting as SPU swept Saint Martin's on Tuesday night in Lacey, 25-23, 25-21, 25-16.
 
THE FALCONS SAY …
 

(Coach Chris Johnson on Tuesday's match)
"Our second set was not pretty, especially from an offensive standpoint, but we managed to win that one. We had some aces that helped a lot, and Bre (Wiekamp) had 11 digs in the second set, which was a big reason we won. The third set is really what we're looking for. When you out-hit your opponent by 320 points, you're in good shape."
 
(Johnson on SPU's defense at Saint Martin's)
"Our defense was great tonight. We weren't letting a whole lot of balls hit the floor. We got some good touches and some good deflections."

 

(Luisa McInnis on communication)
"I feel like our communication on the court, not only is there more, it's more effective communication. So the things that we're saying on the court are making a difference instead of everyone just talking to talk."
 
(Hannah Lautenbach on sealing the deal in Game 3 on Tuesday night at Saint Martin's)
"It's really so nice when we have that energy and we just go out, especially in that third game when we're up two. It really just sets the pace of the game, we get the momentum, and it makes us all confident in each other that we can win."
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Freshman setter Symone Tran had assist-dig double-doubles in both of last week's matches in Alaska, giving her six for the season.
 
2015 double-doubles:
Hannah Lautenbach (2 season / 3 career):
11K-15D vs. Academy of Art, Sept. 11;
19K-20D at Simon Fraser, Sept. 17.

Symone Tran (6 season / 6 career):
20AST-11D vs. Azusa Pacific, Sept. 10;
25AST-11D vs. Hawaii Pacific, Sept. 12;
51AST-15D at Simon Fraser, Sept. 17;
32AST-10D vs. Concordia, Sept. 24;
37 AST-13D vs. Western Oregon, Sept. 26;
34 AST-10D at Alaska Fairbanks, Oct. 3.
 
WIEKAMP IS DIGGIN' ON UP
Senior libero Breanne Wiekamp continues to climb the Division II statistical ladder with the number of balls she is digging up on a nightly basis.

 

Wiekamp (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) started the week No. 46 in D2 at 5.23 digs per game. She came up with 21 in Tuesday's three-game sweep at Saint Martin's, raising her average to 5.34, which ranks No. 42 nationally.
 
If Wiekamp increases that average even a little through the final 13 matches, she will have a chance to finish with one of the top-5 single-season averages in SPU history. The No. 5 spot currently belongs to Torii Mount, who averaged 5.36 per game in 2007.
 
Heading into Saturday, Wiekamp is 34 digs away from the 1,000^th of her career.
 
AND BRITT'S SERVES ARE DROPPIN' ON IN
Think Ellie Britt has stepped up her serving this season? Good thought.

 

The senior outside hitter has delivered three service aces in each of the past two matches, tying her career high both times. For the year, Britt (Orange, Calif.) has 11 aces, which is just two short of her single-season best of 13, set as a sophomore in 2013.
 
But more significantly, even when the ball isn't dropping in for an ace, it's going into play. Britt has just nine service errors for the season, a huge drop from last year's 45. Through the first 15 matches, Britt has put 90.1 percent of her 91 serves into play.
 
Last year, she had just seven aces and 41 errors through 15 matches, with 73.0 percent going into play. She finished the season at .731 on 167 serves. So that .901 mark this fall is a 170-point improvement.
 
Her previous single-season best was 85.3 percent as a sophomore on 224 serves.
 
AROUND THE WEST
What had been looming as a battle of GNAC unbeatens next week won't happen, as Alaska Anchorage sustained its first loss of the season on Thursday, falling in four games at Northwest Nazarene. The Seawolves and Western Washington both started the week unbeaten in conference play, and Western still is after beating Concordia on Thursday. Anchorage's loss was its first of the year overall after a 14-0 start.
 
The California Collegiate Athletic Association is shaping up into a four-race, currently with Sonona State (7-1, 11-3 overall on top). Sonoma is a game ahead of Cal State San Bernardino (6-2, 13-3 overall) and Cal Poly Pomona (6-2, 10-6 overall), with Chico State (6-3, 14-5) lurking close behind them.
 
In the Pacific West, Hawaii Pacific has risen to the top at 6-1, its lone loss a three-game sweep at middle-of-the-pack Point Loma last week. The Sharks are 11-4 overall. Brigham Young-Hawaii is half a game back at 5-1 (7-7 overall), with Cal Baptist and Chaminade next, both at 4-2 and 11-3.

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at news, notes, results, and stats from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
UP NEXT              
The first half of the conference schedule concludes next week when Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene come to Brougham Pavilion. The Wildcats are here on Thursday, Oct. 15, at 7:00 p.m., and the defending GNAC champion Crusaders visit on Saturday the 17th at 1:00 p.m. Both were nationally ranked earlier in the season; Central is still receiving votes in this week's coaches poll.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                          GNAC          Overall
Western Washington        7-0       13-2
Alaska Anchorage          6-1       14-1
Central Washington        6-1       10-4
Northwest Nazarene        5-2        8-7
Simon Fraser              4-3        8-7
Seattle Pacific           3-4        5-10
Concordia                 2-5       10-5
Montana State Billings    2-5        3-12
Alaska Fairbanks          2-5        2-12
Western Oregon            1-6        4-12
Saint Martin's            1-7        2-13