THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Oct. 19                Alaska Anchorage at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Oct. 21                Alaska Fairbanks 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 – The Seattle Pacific Falcons are ready for the second time around.
 
Having completed the first half of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule all even at 5-5, SPU will get another look at all 10 teams as the volleyball season heads into the homestretch.
 
That stretch begins at home for the Falcons, as they welcome Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Fairbanks to Brougham Pavilion on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. The first serve for both matches is at 7:00 p.m.
 
Seattle Pacific is coming off a split of last week's road trip, winning in four games at Simon Fraser before falling in three at Western Washington.
 
The Falcons have a mostly friendly schedule during the next two weeks, with three of their four matches at home. The only road trip is a quick jaunt to Saint Martin's next Tuesday.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live stats and free live Webcasts will be available from all GNAC matches, home and away. Appropriate links are available at the top of this story.
 
TICKET TALK
Tickets for home matches are available at the Brougham Pavilion windows beginning 60 minutes prior to start time. Prices are $7 for adults, and $4 for students, youths, and senior citizens. Seattle Pacific students, faculty, and staff are free with proper school ID. All seating is general admission.
 
REACHING FOR 1K: ONE DOWN AND ONE TO GO
Amanda Ganete collected her 1,000th career dig in last Thursday's four-game victory at Simon Fraser.

The junior libero from Hillsboro, Oregon, came into that match needing just 13 digs to get to a grand. She wound up with 18, putting her at 1,005. Then, she had 10 more in last Saturday's three-gamer at Western Washington.


The next Falcon within reach of 1,000 – albeit in a different stat category – is Hannah Lautenbach. The senior middle blocker / opposite from Portland is currently at 997.5 points, a combination of 805 kills, 50 service aces, 9 solo blocks, and 267 block assists (those are worth half a point each, totaling 133.5 points).
 
That leave Lautenbach just 2½ points away to start this week.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- SPU is 2-3 in Brougham Pavilion this season.
-- At 5-5, the Falcons have their best GNAC record since 2013, when they were 5-4 midway through what then was an 18-match conference schedule.
-- The team's current 10-8 overall record is the exact opposite of last year's 8-10 mark through 18 matches.
-- SPU will be seeking its first win against Alaska Anchorage since a four-game triumph on Nov 10, 2012 in Alaska.
-- That gives the Seawolves a tie (with Northwest Nazarene) for the longest current winning streak – nine – of any GNAC team against the Falcons.
-- Anchorage was ranked No. 20 when it hosted the Falcons last month. The Seawolves are no longer in the top 25, but are still receiving votes in the national coaches poll.
-- In addition to winning Game 3 at Anchorage (25-22), SPU had late leads in Game 2 (23-22) and Game 4 (20-19) before UAA came back to take both.
-- A win against Fairbanks would give Seattle Pacific a sweep of the Nanooks for the first time since 2014. UAF swept in 2015, and the teams split last year, each winning at home.
-- When the teams met on Sept. 21 in Fairbanks, SPU lost the first two games, 25-22 and 28-26, then pulled out the match by winning the next three, 26-24, 25-13, 15-13.
-- That was the third match this season the Falcons have come back to win after dropping the first two games.
-- In that contest, sophomore outside hitter Gabby Oddo and freshman outside Olivia Turner each had 22 kills. That marked the first time in almost 10 years – Sept. 29, 2007, to be precise – that the Falcons had two players with 20-plus kills in the same match.
-- SPU's .275 hitting at Fairbanks (75 kills-25 errors-182 attacks) is still its best mark of the season, 33 points better than the .242 vs. Western Oregon. The 75-kill total vs. UAF also remains a season-high, eight more than against Saint Martin's.
 




SCOUTING THE ALASKA ANCHORAGE SEAWOLVES: 12-7, 7-3 GNAC (4th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 28-26. Current series streak: UAA won 9. Last time: UAA 3, SPU 1 (25-21, 25-22, 22-25, 25-22; Sept. 23 at Anchorage). Seawolves on the Web.
Seawolves in a nutshell: Anchorage has won three of its last four, including victories at Concordia and at Western Oregon last week. Junior 6-foot outside hitter Leah Swiss, voted the GNAC's Preseason Player of the Year, leads the team with 232 kills, an average of 2.97 per game that ranks No. 12 in the conference. Swiss also is highly effective on the serve, delivering a GNAC-leading 44 aces, with four of those coming against SPU last month, a night when she had a double-double of 12 kills and 14 digs. In fact, Anchorage is double-tough in the serving department, as senior libero Keala Kaio-Perez is right behind with 40 aces. (She did not have one vs. the Falcons last time.) Sophomore 5-11 middle blocker Vanessa Hayes is one of the best hitters in the conference, ranking No. 9 at .263.
 
SCOUTING THE ALASKA FAIRBANKS NANOOKS: 2-8, 9-10 GNAC (tie 8th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 38-12. Current series streak: SPU won 2. Last time: SPU 3, UAF 2 (22-25, 26-28, 26-24, 25-13, 15-13; Sept. 21 at Fairbanks). Nanooks on the Web.
Nanooks in a nutshell: The Nanooks halted a four-match losing streak with last Thursday's four-game victory at Western Oregon, then fell in four on Saturday at Concordia-Portland. They remain in the GNAC's upper echelon on offense, at No. 3 in hitting percentage (.217), No. 4 in kills per game (13.03), and No. 2 in service aces per game (1.63). One of the team's biggest threats is 6-foot redshirt freshman outside hitter Markie Miller with 163 kills, an average of 2.59 kills per game. She let it rip for 21 against the Falcons last month, hitting .462 that night. Miller is No. 14 in GNAC hitting at .248. Sophomore 5-8 outside Gabby Lerma has even more kills (170) and hits .201. Always on the opponents' radar is 6-foot senior middle blocker Riley Podowicz. Although she managed just one kill against SPU in September, she has 111 for the season, along with a team-high 36 blocks, and hits .243.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
The Falcons did not have any double-doubles last week, the first time that has happened this season. Junior setter Symone Tran (Portland, Ore.) remains the team's leader with 10, and is just one way from her 40th. Hannah Lautenbach is right behind with nine, and recently recorded her 20th.
 
Colleen Hannigan
(0 season / 4 career)
 
Hannah Lautenbach
(9 season / 20 career)
15K-14D vs. UC Colo. Springs, Aug. 31
12K-11D at Hawaii Pacific, Sept. 1
11K-10D at Chaminade, Sept. 2
11K-15D vs. Cal State East Bay, Sept. 8
17K-12D at Alaska Fairbanks, Sept. 21
10K-14D at Alaska Anchorage, Sept. 23
14K-11D vs. Saint Martin's, Sept. 26
12K-17D at Montana State Billings, Sept. 28
12K-23D vs. Northwest Nazarene, Oct. 5
 
Gabby Oddo
(3 season / 16 career)
10K-10D vs. Western Oregon, Sept. 16
18K-10D at Alaska Anchorage, Sept. 23
20K-10D vs. Saint Martin's, Sept. 26
 
Symone Tran
(10 season / 39 career)
47 AST-16D vs. UC Colo. Springs, Aug. 31
48 AST-14D vs. Cal State East Bay, Sept. 8
43 AST-12D vs. Concordia-Portland, Sept. 14
31 AST-14D vs. Western Oregon, Sept. 16
58 AST-10D at Alaska Fairbanks, Sept. 21
34 AST-17D at Alaska Anchorage, Sept. 23
54 AST-14D vs. Saint Martin's, Sept. 26
55 AST-16D at Montana State Billings, Sept. 28
36AST-22D vs. Northwest Nazarene, Oct. 5
45 AST-17D vs. Central Washington, Oct. 7
 
SPEAKING OF 2ND HALF OF GNAC …

Coach Abbie Wright
"It's good to finally see everybody and see how we need to be competitive. A couple games swing a different way, and we're not 5-5. I'm proud of our girls. They've grown a bunch through our first 10 matches. I'm excited for the second half."
 
Senior Sophie Kuehl
"I think it makes us even more excited. The losses we got, like tonight (at Western Washington), we're motivated to see Western again and to see Anchorage. … We're learning, and we're still young, but we're excited.".
 
Senior Colleen Hannigan
"I know we can compete with a team like (Western) – we definitely can. Hopefully, we can show that in the second half of the (GNAC) season."


 
PREDICTING A 'W'
Matches don't always go the way the statistics say they should go. However, through the first seven weeks of the season, the Falcons have been able to put a tally mark into the win column when certain things happen:
 
Winning Game 1:                      5-0
Leading 2 games to 0:           3-0
Hitting .200 or better:           6-0
Out-hitting the opponent:      7-0
More kills than opponent:     9-0
 
IF NOT FOR VOLLEYBALL …
While some Falcons say they would be playing other popular team sports had they not chosen volleyball, others would gravitate toward athletic pursuits that aren't high on most people's lists:
 
-- Mallie Donohoe would do swimming or water polo.
-- Amanda Ganete would be a gymnast.
-- Colleen Hannigan would play tennis or badminton.
-- Jaeden Hooker and Symone Tran would run track.
-- Molly Langdon would play tennis.
 
NOTEWORTHY NUMBERS
SPU players have a handful of places among the top 10 in the GNAC, and among the top 50 in NCAA Division II:
 
Symone Tran is No. 2 in total assists at 736.
Amanda Ganete is No. 3 in total digs with 321.
Gabby Oddo is No. 3 in total kills with 251.
Tran is No. 4 in assists per game at 9.81.
Nicole Tchabanov is No. 4 in total blocks with 80 (and No. 40 in D2).
Tchabanov is No. 5 in blocks per game at 1.21 (and No. 26 in D2).
Oddo is No. 9 in kills per game at 3.39.
Oddo is No. 9 in points per game at 3.74.
Amanda Ganete is No. 10 in digs per game at 4.28.
 
AROUND THE WEST
It's all even atop the standings heading into the second half of GNAC play. Northwest Nazarene, which had been the last unbeaten team in the conference (and one of the last five in D2) fell in five games last Tuesday at Central Washington. So the Crusaders and Western Washington are deadlocked on top at 9-1. They don't meet until the final week of the season, Nov. 16 in Bellingham. Central is just one match behind at 8-2.
 
The Pacific West Conference showdown between Cal Baptist and Azusa Pacific – both nationally ranked – wasn't quite the clash that many were expecting. The Lancers, playing on their home court, swept APU, 25-16, 25-17, 29-27 – and was up 19-9 in Game 3 before the Cougars stormed back. Cal Baptist is now 18-0 overall (10-0 Pac West); Azusa 15-3 (8-2 Pac West).
 
Sonoma State and UC San Diego continue to be the pacesetters in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Both are 14-4 overall, with Sonoma atop the North Division at 8-1, and San Diego leading the South at 8-2, although the Tritons did fall in four to Cal State San Bernardino last week. The Coyotes are 12-7, and 8-3 in the South.
 
UP NEXT
SPU plays once on the road and once at home next week. The Falcons visit Saint Martin's in Lacey on Tuesday, Oct. 24, looking for a season sweep of the Saints. They also will be out for a season sweep of Montana State Billings when the Yellowjackets visit Seattle on Saturday the 28^th. The first serve for both matches is at 7:00 p.m.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                  Conference          Overall
Northwest Nazarene        9-1         17-1
Western Washington        9-1         15-3
Central Washington        8-2         13-5
Alaska Anchorage          7-3         12-7
Seattle Pacific           5-5         10-8
Simon Fraser              5-5          8-10
Concordia-Portland        4-6          9-8
Alaska Fairbanks          2-8          9-10
Saint Martin's            2-8          7-11
Western Oregon            2-8          6-11
Montana State Billings    2-8          6-13