THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Oct. 1              Seattle Pacific at Alaska Anchorage, 8:00 p.m. PDT
                                             Alaska Airlines Center / Anchorage, Alaska
                                             Live Webcast        Live stats                 
 
Saturday, Oct. 3              Seattle Pacific at Alaska Fairbanks, 8:00 p.m. PDT
                                             The Patty Center / Fairbanks, Alaska
                                             Live Webcast        Live stats        
 

        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
  
SEATTLE – For the first time in 2015, the Seattle Pacific Falcons are riding a volleyball win streak.
 
Some of the confidence that comes along with that couldn't be more timely.
 
The Falcons take off for The Last Frontier this week, visiting undefeated and No. 8-ranked Alaska Anchorage on Thursday, and Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday for Great Northwest Athletic Conference matches.
 
The first serve for both matches is at 8:00 p.m. Pacific time.
 
After dropping conference contests at Simon Fraser and Western Washington, SPU returned to Brougham Pavilion and scored sweeps against Concordia and Western Oregon, spurred by back-to-back double-digit kill performances from Lexi Biondi and Hannah Lautenbach, and consecutive assist-dig double-doubles from freshman setter Symone Tran.
 
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.
 
HERE'S TO THE NEXT 30
At last Saturday's match against Western Oregon, more than a dozen Seattle Pacific volleyball alums were in the house to help celebrate the program's 30th season.
 
Among those in attendance were four of the nine members from the original 1986 team. That group included Nancy Best, Heather Bolles, Lori Johnson, and Deri Paulson. Best still owns the team record for most sets played in a career (496).
 
Other attendees included Gaylene Macdonald (1987-88), whose career hitting percentage of .349 remains as the team's best ever. Nikki Lowell (2010-13) was there as one of SPU's five All-Americans and the program's only ironwoman, having played all 405 possible sets of her career.
 
And of course, JoAnn Atwell-Scrivner, who coached the team for its first 14 seasons (1986-99) was in the gym, along with husband Rich, who was her assistant coach during her entire tenure.


 


SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The Falcons reach the midpoint of their season this week. The 14^th match of the 28-match schedule is Saturday at Alaska Fairbanks.
-- The match against Anchorage will be SPU's second this year against a nationally ranked opponent. Western Washington was No. 16 when it beat the Falcons in Bellingham on Sept. 19.
-- Seattle Pacific's last win against a top-25 team was Oct. 24, 2013, a 3-1 decision at then-No. 8 WWU. That also happened to be the 500th victory in program history.
-- SPU's two-match winning streak is its first of the year. It's also the first such streak since winning three in a row last Sept. 16-20 at the start of the GNAC schedule.
-- Last year's match was the first for the Falcons in the new Alaska Airlines Center. The Seawolves took that one in three games, but Seattle Pacific is 12-11 all-time on UAA's home courts.
-- Senior libero Breanne Wiekamp (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) ranks in Division II's top 50 for digs per game at 5.23.
-- Senior outside hitter Ellie Britt reached a statistical milestone in the final moments of last Saturday's match against Western Oregon. In the third game, she hammered her 500th career kill to make it 23-17. Then, with the Falcons sitting on match point at 24-17, Britt collected No. 501 to clinch the win.
-- Seattle Pacific has won 12 in a row against Fairbanks, dating back to 2009. The last win for the Nanooks in the series was 3-0 in Seattle on Oct. 25, 2008.
-- The Falcons and Nanooks both had plenty of opportunities to scout each other during the GNAC-Pacific West Cross over Tournament two weeks ago in Brougham Pavilion, as each team played four matches.
-- Coach Chris Johnson is 9-11 all-time against Alaska Anchorage. He has an 18-2 record against Fairbanks.
 
SCOUTING THE ALASKA ANCHORAGE SEAWOLVES: 12-0, 4-0 GNAC (1^st)
All-time series: SPU leads, 28-19. Current series streak: UAA won 4. Last time: UAA 3, SPU 1 (25-21, 20-25, 25-16, 25-20; Oct. 16, 2015 at Seattle). Seawolves on the Web.Seawolves in a nutshell: Of Anchorage's 12 straight victories to start the season, half of those have been three-game sweeps. In fact, the Seawolves lost their very first set of the year – 25-22 to Azusa Pacific – but have lost just six since then, four of those to nationally ranked teams. They come into the week one shy of tying the school's all-time winning streak of 13, and are one of the last five remaining unbeaten among the 274 teams in NCAA Division II. UAA ranks No. 8 nationally in blocks at 2.65 per game. Senior opposite Julie Mackey leads the GNAC and ranks 33rd nationally in hitting at .366. The Seawolves have two others hitting better than .300: junior middle blocker Erin Braun (.309) and freshman outside Leah Swiss (.302). Senior Katelyn Zanders, a 5-foot-9 outside hitter, tops the conference in kills per game at 4.07. Mackey averages 3.14. Setting them up is junior Megan Hooe at a conference-leading 10.84 assists per game.
 
SCOUTING THE ALASKA FAIRBANKS NANOOKS: 0-11, 0-4 GNAC (11^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 36-9. Current series streak: SPU won 12. Last time: SPU 3, UAF 2 (25-22, 25-20, 16-25, 22-25, 15-13; Oct. 18, 2014 at Seattle). Nanooks on the Web.
Nanooks in a nutshell: Alaska Fairbanks is getting games off of opponents – including the first one against Anchorage last week – but is still seeking its first match victory of the season. As she has been almost from the very start of her college career, senior outside hitter Sam Harthun is a leading threat on offense for the Nanooks. Her 142 kills is 49 more than her nearest teammate, and her average of 3.38 per game is the third-highest total in the GNAC. Freshman outside hitter Amberly Jeane has 93 kills (2.21 per game). This is the top serving team in the conference with 77 aces. Sophomore middle blocker Riley Podowicz has delivered a GNAC-leading 23 of those with freshman teammate Miranda Grieser having sent in 17. Kensey Mix, a 5-11 junior middle, sets UAF's pace on the block with 25, four of those solo.
 
FALCONS REPLAY
-- Hannah Lautenbach had 13 kills, and Lexi Biondi put down 10 last Thursday night as the Falcons dealt GNAC and Division II newcomer Concordia of Oregon just its second loss in 11 matches, 25-21, 26-24, 25-19. It was the 900th match in the 30-year history of the SPU program, and was the 200th victory at home.
-- Lautenbach, Biondi, and Ellie Britt all recorded double-digit kills, Breanne Wiekamp came up with 31 digs, and Symone Tran posted her second straight double-double  to help SPU polish off Western Oregon on Saturday, 25-20, 25-23, 25-17.
 
COACH CHRIS JOHNSON SAYS …
On the team's progress:
"I'm feeling a lot better about things right now. We still have a lot of stuff we need to work on. But it's starting to come together a lot better, and we're seeing better chemistry on the floor."

 

On the defense, especially against Western Oregon:
"I'm really proud of the way our defense played. We had a lot of good touches that turned into easy digs. We held them to .078 hitting and just .026 in that last set and only six kills in the last set. If you can hold a team to six kills, it's going to be tough for them to win."
 
On facing No. 8 Anchorage
"Anchorage is big and powerful. We're going to have to play our best volleyball in order to beat them. It will be a good match, and it's always a fun trip."
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
It's becoming quite a nice habit for Symone Tran. The SPU freshman setter from Portland, Ore., racked up two more double-doubles last week. She now has four in her last five matches and five for the season. Tran was the only Falcon to get into double-double territory last week.
 
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 (5 season / 5 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; 37 AST-13D vs. Western Oregon.
 
ONE TO REMEMBER FOR LAUTENBACH
Sophomore opposite Hannah Lautenbach didn't have a double-double this week. But of the three she has recorded during her college career, her first one probably still stands out – and not just because it was her first.
 

It happened last Oct. 18 against none other Alaska Fairbanks. This one was in Brougham Pavilion, and the Nanooks had fought back from a two-game deficit to force a Game 5. Lautenbach's ninth kill of the night (she already was in double-digit digs) gave SPU triple-match point at 14-11. Fairbanks fought off two of those to get within 14-13. Lautenbach swung again on the next rally and the ball went off the fingertips of a Fairbanks player for her 10th kill and the clinching point.
                                 
Along with her 10 kills, Lautenbach had 12 digs.
 
WELCOME BACK TO ACTION
No question that Seattle Pacific felt the absence of starting freshman middle blocker Shaun Crespi when she missed matches at Simon Fraser and Western Washington during the first week of GNAC play because of an injury.
 
Last week, the Falcons – not to mention Concordia and Western Oregon – definitely felt Crespi's presence as she got back onto the court. Crespi (Camarillo, Calif.) hammered seven kills, hit .312, had two solo blocks and three block assists in a three-game sweep of the Cavaliers in Brougham on Thursday. Two days later, it was nine kills, .240 hitting, and two more block assists to help sweep WOU.
 
Also getting some playing time was senior middle blocker Luisa McInnis, who missed the first 11 matches with an injury. McInnis (Santa Rosa, Calif.) entered during the third game against Western Oregon, got up for five swings at the ball, and put one of those down for her first kill of the fall.
 
WHERE THERE'S A WILL, THERE'S A 'WIE'
Can't score if you can't find the floor – and Breanne Wiekamp is doing everything she can to make sure the opposition finds it as infrequently as possible.

 

Take last Saturday against Western Oregon, for example. The match went just the minimum of three games, The Wolves attacked 129 times, and SPU's senior libero from Laguna Niguel, Calif., dug up 31 of those – an average of 10-plus digs per game, nearly twice her full-season average of 5.22 digs per game.
 
Looked at another way: Wiekamp's career high, set just nine days earlier on Sept. 17 at Simon Fraser, is 35 – and that match went the full five games.
 
Wiekamp started the season with 699 digs. She has added 209 to that, giving her 908. The 1,000th isn't likely to happen this week, but it's very possible she could hit that milestone sometime during SPU's next homestand, which begins Oct. 10 against Montana State Billings.
 
IRONWOMEN ALL
Through the first 12 matches of the season, four of SPU's 13 active players have played in all 40 sets. Included in that group are Breanne Wiekamp, Hannah Lautenbach, and freshmen Amanda Ganete (Hillsboro, Ore.) and Symone Tran.
 
A pair of Falcons – senior Ellie Britt (Orange, Calif.) and sophomore Sophie Kuehl (Vancouver, Wash.) – have played in 39 of the 40.
 
Last year, three SPU players – Wiekamp, along with now-graduated Madi Cavell and Brianna Leenders – played in all 99 sets.
 
PUSHING INTO LOFTIER TERRITORY
Collectively and individually, the Falcons have stepped up their game throughout the month of September.
 
SPU comes into this week averaging season-highs for kills per game (11.25, up from 10.23 going into the first two conference matches), assists (10.18, first time this season in double-digits), digs (15.27, continuing a steady rise from 10.4 after Week 1, then 12.92 after Week 2 and 14.24 after Week 3), and blocks (1.80, on an upward trend from 1.31 to 1.62 to 1.74).
 
Defensively, Falcon opponents were hitting .284 after the first week, but that has dropped to .240, then .234, and now .207.

 

Sophomore opposite / middle blocker Hannah Lautenbach is averaging more than three kills per game (3.05) after being in the mid to upper 2's through the first three weeks. Sophomore outside hitter Lexi Biondi was at 2.06 kills after Week 1, but has increased her production to 2.81. And freshman setter Symone Tran has bumped her assist average from 7.8 to 8.0 to 8.5 to her current mark of 8.95.
 
AROUND THE WEST
Through the first month of the season, Alaska Anchorage (12-0, 4-0 GNAC) remains the only undefeated team in the West Region. Everyone else has at least two losses on their overall records, including Western Washington (10-2), California Collegiate Athletic Association leader Cal State San Bernardino (11-2), and Pacific West contenders Cal Baptist (10-2) and Chaminade (10-2).
 
San Bernardino, Cal Poly Pomona, and UC San Diego are currently tied atop the CCAA at 4-1. Hawaii Pacific, Azusa Pacific, and Brigham Young-Hawaii are all 3-0 in the Pac West, with Cal Baptist and Chaminade at 3-1.
 
Anchorage (No. 8), Western (No. 15) and San Bernardino (No. 20) are all in this week's national rankings. A total of seven other West schools received votes.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons have an unusual schedule next week. They will visit Saint Martin's in Lacey on Tuesday, Oct. 6, for a 7:00 p.m. match. After a bye on Thursday, SPU will return to action on Saturday the 10th in Brougham Pavilion against Montana State Billings, also at 7.
                                                               
With the GNAC expanding to 11 teams this year by adding Concordia of Oregon, the schedule has taken on a new look to accommodate the odd number. The Falcons will have another Tuesday match in a few weeks when Saint Martin's visits Brougham Pavilion on Nov. 3.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                    GNAC        Overall
Alaska Anchorage         4-0      12-0
Western Washington       4-0      10-2
Central Washington       3-1       7-4
Concordia                2-2      10-2
Simon Fraser             2-2       6-6
Northwest Nazarene       2-2       5-7
Seattle Pacific          2-2       4-8
Western Oregon           1-3       4-9
Saint Martin's           1-3       2-8
Montana State Billings   1-3       2-10
Alaska Fairbanks         0-4       0-11