THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Sept. 29      Seattle Pacific at Northwest Nazarene, 6:00 p.m. PDT
                                         Johnson Sports Center / Nampa, Idaho
                                         Live Webcast       Live stats
 
Saturday, Oct. 1           Seattle Pacific at Central Washington, 7:00 p.m.
                                         Nicholson Pavilion / Ellensburg, Wash.
                                         Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – It was a short home respite, but a welcome one for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
This week, it's back onto the volleyball road.
 
Coming off a split of their first two matches of the season in Brougham Pavilion, SPU gets some early-week practice on its home court, then flies off to Idaho for Thursday's Great Northwest Athletic Conference match at Northwest Nazarene. First serve is at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time.
 
The team flies back home on Friday for classes and practice, then drives across the Cascades to Ellensburg and a match at Central Washington on Saturday night at 7:00. It will mark the halfway point of the season: the 14th contest of the 28 on the schedule.
 
That will make 12 road matches out of the first 14. However, the schedule turns friendlier in October, as the Falcons will be home for three out of the four weeks, with six out of eight contests on their court.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Fans can keep up with this week's matches and with every match throughout the GNAC season with live stats and free live Webcasts. The Webcasts are through Stretch Internet, the conference's official internet provider. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
 
DOESN'T GET MUCH CLOSER THAN THAT
The series between Seattle Pacific and Central Washington is by far the tightest against any Falcon GNAC opponent. The teams have been playing ever since the Falcons started their program in 1986. Matter of fact, the sixth and seventh matches in school history were against the Wildcats.
 
It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that they split: Central took the first one; SPU won the second.
 
Things have been back and forth ever since. At one juncture, the Wildcats had five more wins in the series; at another, the Falcons had six more. Central Washington regained the all-time lead last year, now up 36 wins to 34. Over the years, the series has been tied 11 times, and the lead has changed hands four times.
 
Of the 70 matches, 16 have gone to a fifth game, in which the Wildcats have a 9-7 edge. And as for all-time sets between the teams? It's dead even. Each has won 128.
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- SPU is 4-6 outside of Brougham Pavilion this season.
-- Of those 10 matches, four were true road contests: a win at Cal State Dominguez Hills, and losses at Concordia-Irvine, Alaska Fairbanks, and Alaska Anchorage.
-- The Falcons will be trying to regain the upper hand against both teams. Their last victory against either the Crusaders or Wildcats came in 2012. Both of those were five-gamers – at home against NNU, and on the road against Central.
-- Seattle Pacific's .327 hitting mark in last Thursday's sweep of Western Oregon was its first in the .300s since a .366 percentage at Alaska Fairbanks on Sept. 19, 2014. The team did have a higher mark of .410 against Molloy in the 2015 season opener.
-- SPU and Northwest Nazarene have played 32 times over the years. Nearly a third of those (10) have gone to the five-game limit, with the Falcons owning a 6-4 advantage in those matches.
-- Saturday's match against Central Washington will feature two of the top five blocking teams in NCAA Division II. The Wildcats lead the GNAC and are No. 2 nationally at 2.72 blocks per game; SPU is No. 3 in the conference and No. 5 in the country at 2.59 blocks per game.
-- They also have the top two individual blockers, based on average per game: Sabrina Wheelhouse of Central (1.50) and Shaun Crespi of SPU (1.46).
-- Falcons coach Chris Johnson is 12-10 all-time against NNU and 10-12 against Central.
 
SCOUTING THE NW NAZARENE CRUSADERS: 9-2, 2-2 GNAC (tie 5^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 20-12. Current series streak: NNU won 6. Last time: NNU 3, SPU 1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-13; Nov. 12, 2015 at Nampa, Idaho). Crusaders on the Web.
Crusaders in a nutshell: Northwest Nazarene went undefeated in preseason play, including three sweeps, a pair of five-gamers, and a four-game victory against UC San Diego. But the Crusaders lost two of their first three in the GNAC before sweeping Montana State Billings last Saturday. NNU has three big offensive threats in junior outside hitter Kendra Bodine, junior outside Mari Thomas, and junior middle blocker Madi Farrell. The 5-foot-10 Bodine leads the GNAC in kills per game at 4.22, a mark that ranks 19th nationally. She also has the conference's highest points-per-game average of 4.45. Thomas, also at 5-10, averages 3.02 kills. Farrell, who stands 6-2, is a solid hitter at .314, averaging 2.98 kills, along with 1.12 blocks per game. Putting down kills against the Crusaders isn't easy. They average 18.39 digs per game – tops in the GNAC, and 19th in the country.
 
SCOUTING THE CENTRAL WASHINGTON WILDCATS: 7-5, 3-1 GNAC (tie 2^nd)
All-time series: CWU leads, 36-34. Current series streak: CWU won 6. Last time: CWU 3, SPU 0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-15; Nov. 14, 2015 at Ellensburg, Wash.). Wildcats on the Web.
Wildcats in a nutshell: Things did not start off well for Central, as it lost all four matches at the season-opening Flyer Festival in Illinois. But the Wildcats have been rolling along since then, winning seven of their last eight – and the only one that got away was a back-and-forth five-gamer at Western Oregon on Sept. 17. The Wildcats have a tough 1-2-3 combination at outside hitter. There's 5-foot-10 sophomore Shelby Mauritson, who has 128 kills, an average of 2.84 per game. There's 6-foot sophomore Madison Weg, with 123 (2.67 per game). Then, there's 5-10 senior Kiah Jones, with 122 (2.65). Mauritson also is tied for the team lead in service aces with 15, and has the second-highest dig total on the team with 121. Weg hits a team-high .282. Central is a solid blocking team, with 5-11 senior middle Erin Little (55 total, 11 solos), and 6-3 junior Sabrina Wheelhouse (48 total, 6 solos) two of the big reasons why it is ranked No. 2 nationally for blocks per game (2.72).
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
The Falcons haven't even reached the halfway point of their season, but they already have equaled last year's total for double-doubles. SPU recorded four last week, pushing the 2016 total to 17. Included in those four were two in a row from junior opposite / outside hitter Hannah Lautenbach.
 
It took just 12 matches to accumulate those 17 double-doubles. Last year, it took all 28 matches to reach 17.
 
Colleen Hannigan (1 season / 1 career)
16K-15D vs. Hawaii Hilo, Sept. 9.
 
Hannah Lautenbach (3 season / 7 career)
14K-19D vs. Hawaii Hilo, Sept. 9;
10K-10D vs. Western Oregon, Sept. 22;
13K-14D vs. Concordia-Oregon, Sept. 24.
 
Gabby Oddo (8 season / 8 career)
14K-11D at Concordia Irvine, Sept. 2;
10K-10D vs. Colo. Christian, Sept. 3;
16K-21D vs. UC San Diego, Sept. 3;
14K-13D vs. Humboldt State, Sept. 8;
19K-13D vs. Azusa Pacific, Sept. 10;
19K-10D at Alaska Fairbanks, Sept. 15;
10K-12D at Alaska Anchorage, Sept. 17;
12K-18D vs. Concordia-Oregon, Sept. 24.
 
Symone Tran (5 season / 18 career)
32 AST-21D at Concordia Irvine, Sept. 2;
43 AST-13D vs. UC San Diego, Sept. 3;
48 AST-16D vs. Hawaii Hilo, Sept. 9.
36 AST-24D vs. Azusa Pacific, Sept. 10;
42 AST-13D vs. Concordia-Oregon, Sept. 24.
 
COACH CHRIS JOHNSON SAYS ...
 

(On the team's defense last week)
"We really liked the way we turned around our defense in just a week. We got better at some things this week. … We had a really great defensive performance tonight (against Concordia). We had five players in double-digit digs, 13 blocks, and we held them 100 points below their season (hitting) average."
 
(On this week's contests at NNU and Central)
"You just feel like match-ups are going to be the key. If we execute the way we know we can, we'll give ourselves a chance to be successful."
 
SERVICE WITH A SMILE – AND SOME ZING – FROM CRESPI
If you're playing for the team on the other side, Shaun Crespi can be a nuisance at the net. She can kill it. She can block it.

 

But as she proved last week, Crespi (Camarillo, Calif.) can do some damage from behind the service line, too. She delivered five aces in the two matches: one against Western Oregon, and a career-high four against Concordia.
 
Her hard-hitting delivery is tough to play, and sometimes, even tough to read: Just when it appears that it might be flying long, it drops in and kisses the baseline.
 
Up until last week, Crespi had taken just six service attempts all season. She got nine attempts against Western Oregon, and doubled that to 18 against Concordia. Of those 18, the Falcons got the point on nine of them, including the four aces.
 
GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY, DONOHOE DELIVERS
 

Mallie Donohoe, one of six freshmen on this year's SPU squad, saw action in five of the eight preseason matches, getting onto the court for 12 of the 30 games. But the outside hitter had watched the first three conference contests from the sidelines until coach Chris Johnson brought her in midway through Game 2 last Saturday against Concordia of Oregon.

By the end of that game, Donohoe (Wildomar, Calif.) had four kills. She then started Game 3, and had kills on three of SPU's first five points. Donohoe also started Games 4 and 5, finishing the day with 11 kills – her first double-digit performance as a collegian.
 
She also contributed defensively, coming up with five digs and a block assist.
 
A WHOLE LOTTA LAUTENBACH
Versatility has always been a strong suit for Falcons junior Hannah Lautenbach, whether it's where she lines up (at different times of her career, she has played everywhere along the net) …
 
… or what her stat line looks like.

 

Last week, that stat line showed Lautenbach's versatility in almost every aspect of the game. She had back-to-back double-doubles for the first time in her college career: 10 kills and 10 digs in the three-game sweep of Western Oregon, then 13 kills and 14 digs in the five-game setback to Concordia.
 
But that wasn't all. She hit a season-high .308 against WOU, and then .209 against Concordia. She had five block assists in each match. And, she delivered two service aces on Saturday against the Cavaliers. All of that added up to 23 kills, 24 digs, .246 hitting, 10 blocks, and those two aces.
 
"Hannah is playing really well. She's getting more aggressive, and more comfortable at being aggressive," coach Chris Johnson said. That was just a complete match from her (vs. Concordia), which is what we want. That's just awesome. I'm very proud of her and the way she's playing."
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
Here are some of this week's NCAA Division II national rankings for the Falcons:
 
Team
Tie 5th block per game (2.50).
14th total blocks (115.0).
32nd attacks per game (38.07).
 
Individual
Shaun Crespi 5th total blocks (64.0).
Shaun Crespi 7th blocks per game (1.39).
Gabby Oddo 33rd total attacks (5.11).
Gabby Oddo 39th attacks per game (11.11).
 
Click on this link to see how Seattle Pacific stacks up nationally. Click on this link to see where GNAC teams and players rank in Division II.
 
AROUND THE WEST
Alaska Anchorage is the last unbeaten team in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. The Seawolves, 14-1 overall, saw to that by sweeping Simon Fraser last Saturday in Burnaby, B.C., 25-19, 25-19, 25-14. The Clan (10-2 overall) had been unbeaten in the GNAC until that loss, but now is part of  three-way for second at 3-1 with Central Washington and Concordia. Anchorage beat unanimous preseason favorite Western Washington in four games last Thursday night in Bellingham.
 
The only remaining unbeaten team in California Collegiate Athletic Association play is UC San Diego, which is 3-0 atop the South Division. But the Tritons are just 6-5 overall. Cal State San Bernardino owns the CCAA's best overall record at 8-4.
 
Cal Baptist (9-3 overall) and Dixie State (7-4) are perfect in Pacific West Conference play at 4-0. Concordia Irvine is 4-1 in the conference, 13-1 overall.
 


UP NEXT
The Falcons begin a stretch of four straight home matches next Tuesday, Oct. 4, when Saint Martin's comes to Brougham Pavilion at 7:00 p.m. That is the only Tuesday home match of the season. Then on Thursday the 6th, Montana State Billings visits at 7:00 p.m. Altogether, Seattle Pacific will be home six times during October.
 
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                          Conference          Overall
Alaska Anchorage               4-0                          14-1
Simon Fraser                        3-1                          10-2
Central Washington            3-1                            7-5
Concordia                             3-1                            7-5
Northwest Nazarene           2-2                            9-2
Western Washington           2-2                            7-5
Western Oregon                   2-2                            5-6
Saint Martin's                        1-3                            5-3
Seattle Pacific                       1-3                            5-7
Alaska Fairbanks                 1-3                            2-9
Montana State Billings        0-4                            1-12