THE SCHEDULE
Tuesday, Sept. 26               Saint Martin's at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Thursday, Sept. 28              Seattle Pacific at Montana State Billings, 6:00 p.m. PDT
                                                Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
         Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – Normally, it's one way or the other for the Seattle Pacific Falcons: either home in Brougham Pavilion, or somewhere out on the volleyball road.
 
This week, they get a little bit of both.
 
Fresh off a 1-1 split on the always-tough Alaska trip last week, SPU is back on its home court Tuesday night when Saint Martin's comes to Brougham for a 7:00 p.m. Great Northwest Athletic Conference match.
 
Then, as they balance volleyball with the first week of the academic quarter, the Falcons will fly off for their Thursday contest at Montana State Billings. The first serve of that one is set for 6:00 p.m. Pacific time.
 
The Tuesday-Thursday combo means the Falcons will have Saturday off, the only time during the 12-week regular season when they won't have a weekend match. The unusual Tuesday-Thursday schedule is the result of the GNAC having 11 teams. Travel-partner matches are typically scheduled for Tuesdays, with the second match that particular week on either Thursday or Saturday against Billings.
 
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.
 
22-22 VISION
Most nights, it's exciting to have one player go for 20 kills in a match.
 
It's also very rare.

 

But a pair of Falcons made that happen last Thursday night in a five-game victory at Alaska Fairbanks. Sophomore outside hitter Gabby Oddo (Alta Loma, Calif.) and freshman outside Olivia Turner (Phoenix, Ariz.) each put 22 kills onto the Patty Center floor.
 
The totals were career highs for both players. Oddo's previous best was 20; Turner's old PR was 18.
 
That was just shy of 10 years from the last time two Falcons went for 20 or more in the same match. On Sept. 29, 2007, Alyssa Given had 24 and Angie Wodrich had 20. That also came in a five-game win against Fairbanks, although that one was in Brougham Pavilion.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The Falcons have won five of their last seven.
-- They will reach the midpoint of their 28-match schedule when they play at Montana State Billings on Thursday.
-- SPU continues to stay ahead of last year's pace. Through 12 matches in 2016, its record was 5-7 overall, and just 1-3 in the GNAC.
-- Saint Martin's and Montana State Billings are part of a six-way for sixth place in the conference at 1-3. SPU is alone in fifth at 2-2.
-- The 30-match winning streak against Saint Martin's began on Sept. 21, 2002, in Lacey.
-- SPU is 25-2 against the Saints in Brougham Pavilion.
-- The last win in the series for Saint Martin's was Oct. 20, 2001, a five-gamer in Lacey.
-- Seattle Pacific is playing just its third match of the season at home, and is 1-1 in Brougham Pavilion.
-- The record away from home is 6-4, with two true road victories (at Hawaii Pacific and at Fairbanks).
-- Two games down? No sweat. The Falcons now have three comeback wins this season after dropping the first two games. The latest was last Thursday at Alaska Fairbanks.
-- SPU and Billings split last year's two matches, The Falcons won in four at home, then the Yellowjackets swept in Montana.
-- MSUB also scored a home sweep of the Falcons in 2015. The last Seattle Pacific victory in Billings was a five-gamer on Oct. 4, 2014.
-- Sophomore outside Gabby Oddo had 16 kills against the Yellowjackets in Seattle last season, but will be playing in MSUB's Alterowitz Gymnasium for the first time. Last year's match in Billings came after she had been sidelined for the season with an injury.
 




SCOUTING REPORT
SAINT MARTIN'S SAINTS: 6-6, 1-3 GNAC (tie 6th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 53-5. Current series streak: SPU won 30. Last time: SPU 3, Saint Martin's 0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-19; Nov. 1, 2016 at Lacey). Saints on the Web.
Saints in a nutshell: Saint Martin's was fast out of the blocks, winning four in a row after a season-opening loss to St. Cloud State. After splitting four matches in the D2 West Region Showcase, the lone conference win so far for the Saints was a four-game against Concordia-Portland, that coming before last week's road losses to the Alaska schools. SPU will have to contend with 5-foot-9 senior outside hitter Rebecca Mitchell. She has 166 kills through the first 12 matches, an average of 3.86 per game that ranks No. 4 in the GNAC. Rachel Gondrezick, a 5-10 junior outside, also knows how to find the floor, with 119 kills (2.77 per game). Getting the ball to them is senior setter Nicolette Nesbitt, with an average of 9.79 assists per game, fourth-best in the conference.
 
MONTANA STATE BILLINGS YELLOWJACKETS: 5-8, 1-3 GNAC (tie 6th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 27-11. Current series streak: MSUB won 1. Last time: MSUB 3, SPU 0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-23; Nov. 5, 2016 at Billings). Yellowjackets on the Web.
Yellowjackets in a nutshell: Billings won its conference opener in five games against Fairbanks, capping a stretch of five victories in seven matches. But it comes into the week having dropped four in a row (one of which was a non-conference contest against city rival Rocky Mountain College). This is a very young team. Of the 16 players on the roster, nine are freshman. But several of them are already making an impact. Maddie Vigil, a 5-foot-9 outside hitter, leads the team in kills with 144, a 3.27 per-game average this is tied for No. 7 in the GNAC. Close behind is 5-10 freshman opposite Bayli Monck with 133, averaging 2.96 per game that is tied for No. 12. Yet another freshman, Kylee Clarke, is the one responsible for getting the ball to them, with an assist average of 9.62 per game that ranks her at No. 5 in the conference. Izela Alvarez – yup, another freshman – leads the GNAC in digs, both in total (257) and per-game average (5.71). She also has a team-high 15 service aces.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Junior setter Symone Tran (Portland, Ore.) is on another double-double roll. She added two more last week, giving her four in a row and six for the season. Tran has had such streaks previously: four in a row as a freshman (on the way to 13 for the year) and seven straight last fall, finishing her sophomore season with 16.
 
Senior middle blocker / opposite Hannah Lautenbach (Portland, Ore.) double-doubled in both matches last week, and sophomore Gabby Oddo logged one.
 
Colleen Hannigan
(0 season / 2 career)
 
Hannah Lautenbach
(6 season / 17 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
 
Gabby Oddo
(2 season / 15 career)
10K-10D vs. Western Oregon, Sept. 16
18K-10D at Alaska Anchorage, Sept. 23
 
Symone Tran
(6 season / 32 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
 
ADD ANOTHER ONE FOR TURNER
Freshman outside hitter Olivia Turner (Phoenix, Ariz.) initially was credited with a career-high 21 kills in last Thursday's five-game win at Alaska Fairbanks.
 
She still wound up with a career high – but with 22 kills, instead.
 
The original box score from Fairbanks was one kill short for Turner – who wears No. 1 -- that was erroneously credited to setter Molly Langdon – who wears No. 11. Langdon did not play in the match, and once that error in the stats was discovered and checked out, the kill was properly credited to Turner.
 
LOOK WHO'S BACK – IT'S CRESPI
Junior middle blocker Shaun Crespi has been working her way back from an injury that kept her out of action for the first 10 matches.
 

Last Thursday at Fairbanks, Crespi got onto the court for three of the five games. Late in Game 2, Crespi (Camarillo, Calif.) did what she does best: She got a block, this one a solo, to tie it up at 22-22.
 
Crespi got into one of the four games at Alaska Anchorage on Saturday, coming up with one dig.
 
For the past two seasons, Crespi has been SPU's leading blocker. That included 151 last year (17 solo) to help her earn All-GNAC honorable mention status.
 
THAT'S A FIRST ON HOOKER'S STAT SHEET
Redshirt freshman outside hitter Jaeden Hooker gradually has been working her way into more playing time. She's also starting to work her way into the stats.
 
Last Thursday at Alaska Fairbanks, Hooker put her first collegiate kill onto the court – and followed it with four more.
 
The first one came midway through Game 3, and gave Seattle Pacific an 18-14 lead. That point was a big one, as SPU needed to win the game to extend the match, and did, 26-24.
 
She had three more kills in Game 4 as the Falcons ran away with that one, 25-13, to force a deciding Game 5. Hooker's final came with the Falcons down, 12-11. That started a three-point surge, and the Falcons went on to win the game, 15-13.
 
Hooker hit .200 in that match (5 kills-2 errors-15 attacks), her first one in positive territory.
 
HITTING IS STILL ON THE UPSWING
Seattle Pacific's hitting percentage continued to climb last week. When both matches were completed, the Falcons had lifted their season mark to .187.
 
That was a jump of five points from the previous week's .182. It included a season-high mark of .275 (75 kills-25 errors-182 total attacks) in Thursday's win at Alaska Fairbanks.
 
The Falcons now have five matches of better than .200 hitting this season. That's just one away from the six that they had for all of 2016.
 
TRIPLE DIGITS HERE, QUADRUPLES THERE
Junior libero Amanda Ganete and sophomore middle blocker Nicole Tchabanov both hit 100 in different career statistical categories last week.
 
 

Ganete (Hillsboro,Ore.) earned her 100th assist on Thursday night at Fairbanks, and comes into this week with 108. Tchabanov (San Ramon, Calif.) slammed her 100th kill, also at Fairbanks. She heads into the week with 102.
 
Next up for Ganete is 1,000 career digs. She starts the week with 907, coming off a career-high 31 at Alaska Anchorage last Saturday.
 
Senior middle blocker / opposite Hannah Lautenbach is now well within reach of 1,000 career points. She had 30 last week (27 kills, 2 service aces, 2 block assists), giving her 919.
 
The most recent Falcon to top 1,000 points was Madi Cavell, who had 1,135 from 2011-14.
 
AROUND THE WEST
Northwest Nazarene keeps racking up the wins, although the Crusaders needed five games to prevail at Western Oregon last Thursday. They are now 4-0 in GNAC play, 12-0 overall, one of just two unbeaten teams in the West Region. Alaska Anchorage stretched its winning streak to five, and also is 4-0 in conference, with a 9-4 overall mark.
 
Cal Baptist is one of three Pacific West Conference teams with 4-0 records, but it the only one with a perfect overall record, climbing to 11-0. Azusa Pacific (11-1 overall) and Chaminade (9-3 overall)  kept pace on the conference side of the ledger. One of those will fall this week, as Azusa plays at Chaminade on Saturday.
 
Sonoma State in the North Division and UC San Diego in the South are atop the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Sonoma is 10-3 overall, 4-0 in conference action. UCSD is 9-2, with a 3-0 conference mark. Cal State Los Angeles matches San Diego with a 3-0 CCAA record, and is 7-4 overall. Cal State East Bay stumbled last week, losing twice and dipping to 8-4, 2-2 conference. Cal State Monterey Bay has the same overall and CCAA records as East Bay.
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific settles back into a Thursday-Saturday routine next week, and gets to do so at home. Northwest Nazarene comes to Brougham Pavilion on Oct 5, followed by Central Washington on Oct. 7. Both matches begins at 7:00 p.m.
 
  
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                Conference             Overall
Northwest Nazarene       4-0          12-0
Alaska Anchorage         4-0           9-4
Western Washington       3-1           9-3
Central Washington       3-1           8-4
Seattle Pacific          2-2           7-5
Alaska Fairbanks         1-3           8-5
Concordia-Portland       1-3           6-5
Saint Martin's           1-3           6-6
Western Oregon           1-3           5-6
Montana State Billings   1-3           5-8
Simon Fraser             1-3           4-8