THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Oct. 5                  No. 12 Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Oct. 7                   Central Washington 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 have reached the midpoint of their volleyball schedule, and have a winning record to show for it.
 
As they head into the second half, they are facing what is looming as the toughest week on their calendar … so far.
 
Following a pair of come-from-behind five-game victories last week, SPU awaits the arrival of two national-caliber programs to Brougham Pavilion for Great Northwest Athletic Conference contests. On Thursday, undefeated Northwest Nazarene is in town, with its 14-0 overall record and No. 12 national ranking.
 
Some 48 hours later, Central Washington comes calling. The Wildcats already have reached double-digits in the win column, the latest of which was last Saturday's homecourt sweep of then-No. 21 Alaska Anchorage. Though not yet in the top 25, CWU is receiving numerous votes in the national poll.
 
The first serve for both matches is at 7:00 p.m.
 
Seattle Pacific (9-5, 4-2 GNAC) continued its penchant for five-game victories last week, The Falcons were down 2 games to 1 at home against Saint Martin's, and on the road at Montana State Billings, but bounced back to bag both.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live stats and free live Webcasts will be available from all GNAC matches, home and away. The Webcasts are through Stretch Internet, the GNAC's online provider. 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.
 
ODDO AND OFFENSE GO TOGETHER FOR GNAC AWARD
Sophomore outside hitter Gabby Oddo, who put a combined 43 kills onto the floor in the Saint Martin's and Montana State Billings matches, was named the GNAC's Offensive Player of the Week on Monday.
 
Oddo (Alta Loma, Calif.) had 20 kills against the Saints, and a career-high 23 at Billings. In Montana, Nos. 22 and 23 came on the first two points of Game 5. That set the tone, as SPU never trailed and was never tied in that deciding game.
 
In the Saint Martin's match, Oddo made it a double-double by adding 10 digs. She hit .267 in that one, followed by an even-better .293 at Billings.
 
Oddo moved past 400 career kills, and comes into this week needing 63 to reach No. 500. She also is getting close to her 500th career point (a combination of kills, service aces, and blocks), now at 484.5.
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- Thursday's match against Northwest Nazarene begins the second half of the 28-match schedule.
-- At 9-5, the Falcons are above .500 at the midpoint for the first time since 2014, when they were 9-4 halfway through at 26-match calendar.
-- Seattle Pacific is 2-1 at home.
-- The Falcons will face the GNAC's toughest two teams to hit against. Northwest Nazarene opponents hit just .146; Central Washington's hit .149.
-- The NNU contest will be Seattle Pacific's third against a nationally ranked team this season. The first two were against then-No. 3 Nebraska Kearney on Sept. 2 in the Hawaii Challenge (the Lopers won in three) and at then-No. 20 Alaska Anchorage on Sept. 23 (the Seawolves prevailed in four).
-- The last time the Falcons beat a top-25 school was Oct. 24, 2013, a four-game win at Western Washington, which was No. 8 at the time.
-- Seattle Pacific's last win against NNU was a five-gamer, that one in Brougham in 2012.
-- Of the 34 Falcon-Crusader matches, 11 have gone the full distance, with SPU owning a 6-5 advantage.
-- Although the Crusaders are unbeaten, then had to fight off five match points at Western Oregon on Sept. 21 to stay that way.
-- The series against Central Washington remains the closest of any Seattle Pacific opponent. The Wildcats own a 37-35 advantage.
-- Central had won seven in a row, including a five-gamer in Ellensburg last Oct. 1, before SPU prevailed in five games last Oct. 27 in Brougham Pavilion.
-- Of the 72 SPU-CWU matches, 18 have reached Game 5. The Wildcats have a 10-8 edge.
-- While Central has won two more matches in the series, the total number of games won by each team is dead even: 133 to 133.
 
SCOUTING THE NORTHWEST NAZARENE CRUSADERS: 14-0, 6-0 GNAC (1st)
All-time series: SPU leads, 20-14. Current series streak: NNU won 8. Last time: NNU 3, SPU 1 (17-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-18; Oct. 29, 2016 at Seattle). Crusaders on the Web.
Crusaders in a nutshell: NNU comes into the week as one of just six teams still unbeaten in NCAA Division II. The Crusaders have the conference's highest hitting percentage (.260), lowest opponents' hitting percentage (.146) and highest number of assists per game (13.42). Senior 6-foot-2 middle blocker Madi Farrell is not only the best hitter in the conference with her phenomenal .452 percentage, she ranks No. 3 in Division II with 204 kills and just 33 errors on 378 attacks. Fellow senior Kendra Bodine, a 5-10 outside hitter, top the GNAC in total kills (207) and kills per game (4.14). Farrell also is tough on the block with 69 total and a 1.38 average that is the GNAC's second best and the nation's fifth-best for D2.
 
SCOUTING THE CENTRAL WASHINGTON WILDCATS:
All-time series: CWU leads, 37-35. Current series streak: SPU won 1. Last time: SPU 3, CWU 2 (25-19, 23-25, 25-21, 18-25, 15-7; Oct. 27, 2016 at Seattle). Wildcats on the Web.
Wildcats in a nutshell: Central enters the week as the top blocking team in Division II, both in terms of total blocks (167; eight more than No. 2 Oklahoma Baptist) and average blocks per game (3.09; Northern Michigan is second at 2.95). Sabrina Wheelhouse, a 6-foot-3 middle, is responsible for a good chunk of that at 1.72 per game, which also happens to be No. 1 in D2. She has 93 total blocks. Sarah Joffs, a senior 6-foot middle, is No. 12 nationally at 1.29 per game. Wheelhouse also is the second-best hitter in the GNAC at .339, with 111 kills. Junior 5-10 outside hitter Shelby Mauritson has 186 kills for a 3.44 per-game average that is No. 6 on the conference list. Another instrumental last year against SPU is 6-foot junior outside Madison Weg. She went for five kills and six blocks in the first match, then 10 kills and seven blocks in the second.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Junior setter Symone Tran (Portland, Ore.) extended her double-double streak to six straight matches, pushing her total to eight for the year. Senior middle blocker Hannah Lautenbach (Portland, Ore.) also had two more last week, giving her four in a row. And of course, junior middle blocker Shaun Crespi logged her first (see more in the next item below this one).
 
Shaun Crespi
(1 season / 1 career)
11K-12B vs. Saint Martin's, Sept. 26
 
Colleen Hannigan
(0 season / 4 career)
 
Hannah Lautenbach
(8 season / 19 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
 
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
(8 season / 37 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
 
DON'T SEE THAT VERY OFTEN – CHAPTER 2
Statistical rarities are becoming … well, not quite so rare for the Falcons of late.

 

Last Tuesday at home in a five-game comeback win against Saint Martin's, junior middle blocker Shaun Crespi (Camarillo, Calif.) had 11 kills and a career-high 12 total blocks. That became SPU's first kill-block double-double since Robin DeJong had 11 kills and 10 total blocks on Oct. 25, 2008 in Brougham Pavilion against Alaska Fairbanks.
 
It was just five days before that – Sept. 21 in Fairbanks – when sophomore Gabby Oddo and freshman Olivia Turner each had 22 kills. That marked the first time since Sept. 29, 2007, when two Falcons went for 20 or more in the same match. (Alyssa Given had 24 and Angie Wodrich 20 against UAF in Seattle).
 
COUNTING UP TO 1,000
 

It might not happen this week, but senior Hannah Lautenbach and junior Amanda Ganete are on the brink of a statistical millennium.
 
Lautenbach comes in with 953 total points, accumulated through 773 kills, 45 service aces, 9 solo blocks, and 252 block assists (those are half a point each). She would be the 10th Falcon all-time to reach the 1,000 mark. The most recent was Madi Cavell, who had 1,135 from 2011-14.
 
Ganete (Hillsboro, Ore.) starts the week with 948 digs. The most recent SPU player to top a grand was Breanne Wiekamp, with 1,232 from 2012-15.
 
HALFTIME REPORT
The Falcons already have put 14 of their 28 matches into the book for 2017. Click on this link to see how the team's stats compare to the 2016 season midpoint.

 AROUND THE WEST
Northwest Nazarene's four-game victory against Alaska Anchorage last week left the Crusaders as the last unbeaten team in GNAC play (6-0) and one of just six in Division II still with a perfect record. Western Washington and Central Washington remain just one match behind at 5-1 (although Western's lone conference loss was to NNU).
 
Cal Baptist remains undefeated with a 13-0 overall record, including 5-0 in the Pacific West Conference. Azusa Pacific has moved into sole possession of first with its 6-0 record, and is 13-1 overall after sweeping Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade in Honolulu last week. If both continue to win, the first of their two showdowns is set for Oct. 14 at Cal Baptist.
 
Sonoma State continues to maintain the best record in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, both overall (12-3) and as leaders of the North Division (6-0). Cal State Los Angeles tops the South at 4-0, and is 8-4 overall. UC San Diego has moved into double-digit overall win territory at 10-3, and is 4-1 in the CCAA.
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific concludes its first run through the GNAC schedule next week on the road at Simon Fraser and Western Washington. Both matches are set for 7:00 p.m. The WWU contest in Bellingham will be in the newly renovated Carver Gymnasium. The Vikings have played their last two seasons at Whatcom Community College.

 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                              Conference            Overall
Northwest Nazarene     6-0           14-0
Western Washington     5-1           11-3
Central Washington     5-1           10-4
Seattle Pacific        4-2            9-5
Alaska Anchorage       4-2            9-6
Simon Fraser           3-3            6-8
Montana State Billings 2-4            6-9
Alaska Fairbanks       1-5            8-7
Concordia-Portland     1-5            6-7
Saint Martin's         1-5            6-8
Western Oregon         1-5            5-8