THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Oct. 11                Seattle Pacific at Concordia-Portland, 6:00 p.m.
                                                LCEF Court / Portland, Ore.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Oct. 13                 Seattle Pacific at Western Oregon, 4:00 p.m.
                                                New P.E. Building / Monmouth, Ore.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 

        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – Well, hello again.
 
That's what it will be like for the Seattle Pacific Falcons this week as they begin their second go-round against Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball opponents.
 
That second half of the schedule begins on the road, as SPU visits Concordia-Portland on Thursday and Western Oregon on Saturday. Both matches will have different-than-normal starting times. The Falcons and Cavaliers serve it up at 6:00 p.m. on LCEF Court, while the match against the Wolves in Monmouth will get going at 4:00 p.m.
 
These will be the first two matches of a four-match road trip.
 
Seattle Pacific (7-10, 5-5 GNAC) will be looking to snap a four-match losing streak. Of those, three have gone to the five-game maximum, including last week's home contests against Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska Anchorage.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
All GNAC matches, home and away, will feature free live Webcasts and free live stats. The appropriate links for this week's home matches can be found at the top of this page.
 
IT'S A MUDDLED MIDDLE MIDWAY THROUGH CONFERENCE
When the Falcons walk into Concordia's gymnasium on Thursday, they'll do so as part of a four-way tie for fourth place in the GNAC standings.

SPU, Concordia, Simon Fraser, and Alaska Fairbanks came through the first half of conference play with 5-5 records. In matches among themselves, Seattle Pacific and Fairbanks both went 2-1; Simon and Concordia were 1-2.
 
In the GNAC preseason coaches poll, SPU, UAF, and Concordia were picked 6-7-8; Simon was picked for a third-place finish.
 
The one thing the coaches definitely nailed spot-on was tabbing Western Washington as the unanimous favorite. The Vikings have lived up to that billing, going 10-0 through the first half.
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- SPU will have a chance to lock up season sweeps of both opponents this week. The Falcons took both matches in three games when the Oregon schools came through Seattle last month, part of a five-match winning streak.
-- This is Concordia's fourth year in the conference, and the Falcons have never swept a season series from the Cavaliers. The two teams split in 2015 and 2017; Concordia won both in 2016.
-- Last year marked the first time that the Falcons won a GNAC match at Concordia, although they had won some previous exhibition matches there.
-- SPU did take both matches from Western Oregon in 2017. However, it took five games to get the job done in Monmouth, as the Falcons were up 1-0 and 2-1, only to see the Wolves come back both times and take the next game.
-- That match in Monmouth was a big one for Gabby Oddo and Symone Tran. Oddo set the school record for most kills by a sophomore when she put her 387^th of the season onto the floor. (She later had the match-clinching kill, giving her a career high-tying 23 for the night). Tran logged her 3,000^th career assist – and has added another 721 since that night.
-- This is the second year on a row Seattle Pacific has been 5-5 halfway through the GNAC schedule.
-- The Falcons hit above their season average in both matches last week, but still couldn't get the result to swing their way. That included a .241 mark against Anchorage on Saturday, which was 104 points higher than the Seawolves' first 17 opponents averaged.
-- That percentage against the Seawolves included a .417 match by senior middle blocker Shaun Crespi – the fourth time this fall she has been in the .400s.
-- SPU yielded 25 service aces last week – 13 to Fairbanks, 12 to Anchorage – and will be facing two of the top-serving individuals in the conference this week. Concordia's Callie Wilkins has 21; Western Oregon's Leila Holt has 26.
-- Seattle Pacific has been trying to get off to a faster start in matches – and they certainly did last week. In the first two games against Fairbanks, SPU hit .389 (15 kills and just one error) and .281. The first two games against Anchorage were even better -- .472 (a whopping 19 kills and two errors) and .294.
-- Hailey Gaines' 19 kills on Saturday against Alaska Anchorage was a career high. But the 20^th kill continues to prove elusive so far in 2018. Junior outside hitter Gabby Oddo has three matches with 19 this season..
-- Seattle Pacific has scored double-digit points on blocks in five of the past six matches. Its streak of five such matches in a row ended Saturday against Alaska Anchorage when the team recorded eight points on blocks.
-- After enjoying some success in five-game matches last season – winning 6 of 11 that went the distance – those longer matches haven't been so kind this year. Seattle Pacific has played five of them, with only one – at home against Montana State Billings on Sept. 20 – going into the win column.
-- Coach Abbie Wright is 2-1 all-time vs. Concordia-Portland and coach Melanie Hambelton. She is 3-0 against Western Oregon and coach Tommy Gott.
 
CONCORDIA-PORTLAND CAVALIERS: 8-9, 5-5 GNAC (tie 4^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 10-4. Current series streak: SPU won 2. Last time: SPU 3, CU 0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-23; Sept. 15 at Seattle). Cavaliers on the Web.
Cavaliers in a nutshell: Concordia snapped a four-match losing streak, during which it did not win a single game, in an impressive way by scoring a four-game homecourt victory against Simon Fraser last Saturday. Junior 5-foot-10 outside hitter Jessica Wheeler is the leader on offense with 113 kills – the only Cavalier in triple digits. She's also a weapon on the serve, with 18 aces, second-most on the team behind the 21 of freshman Callie Wilkins. Senior 5-10 outside Tori Johnson and 6-1 sophomore middle blocker Elyssa Rose are both on the brink of their 100^th kills of the season. Johnson has 96, and Rose has slammed 91 while hitting a team-high .298, which ranks No. 7 in the GNAC. Rose is also solid on the block with 48, including six solos. Even more solid is 6-foot freshman middle Katelyn Brandenburg with 53. Her total includes 10 solos. Wilkins has a team-leading 281 digs, a 5.73 per-game average that ranks No. 2 in the conference.
 
WESTERN OREGON WOLVES: 5-12, 2-8 GNAC (10^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 30-18. Current series streak: SPU won 3. Last time: SPU 3, WOU 0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-20; Sept. 13 at Seattle). Wolves on the Web.
Wolves in a nutshell: After splitting its first four GNAC matches, Western Oregon has dropped six in a row. Senior 6-foot opposite Mariella Vandenkooy leads the way with 163 kills, an average of 2.72 per game. She has been tough on the Falcons over the years, although they limited her to just three kills last month in Seattle. Sianan Di Carli (106 kills), a 5-11 sophomore outside hitter, and 6-0 redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sophie Hall (101) also know how to get it done at the net. WOU had just 24 kills in the match at SPU, and DiCarli was tops with six. Morgan Haskett, a 6-footer, is one of the tougher middle blockers in the GNAC. She has 59 total, an 0.97 average that is No. 13 in the conference. Haskett also hits for a .257 percentage (tied for 12^th), and has 70 kills. Senior setter Leila Holt's 26 service aces are tied Anchorage's Ellen Floyd for the most in the conference, and her 0.43 per-game average is tied for No. 1 with Concordia's Callie Wilkins.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
It's up to six double-doubles in a row for junior outside hitter Gabby Oddo after tacking on two more last week. Symone Tran had two of her own. Both players are now up to 10 for the season, and Seattle Pacific has 21 as a team.
 
Maddie Batiste (1 season / 1 career)
13K-13D vs. Metro State, Aug. 25
 
Shaun Crespi (0 season / 1 career)
 
Gabby Oddo (10 season / 10 career)
19K-12D vs. Fresno Pacific, Aug. 24
13K-17D vs. Metro State, Aug. 25
11K-16D vs. UC San Diego, Sept. 1
15K-11D at Simon Fraser, Sept. 8
12K-11D vs. Saint Martin's, Sept. 18
15K-16D vs. Montana State Billings, Sept. 20
11K-30D at Northwest Nazarene, Sept. 27
19K-10D at Central Washington, Sept. 29
19K-10D vs. Alaska Fairbanks, Oct. 4
14K-12D vs. Alaska Anchorage, Oct. 6
 
Symone Tran (10 season / 55 career)
38 AST-19D vs. Fresno State, Aug. 24
39 AST-20D vs. Metro State, Aug. 25
27 AST-10D vs. UC San Diego, Sept.1
43 AST-21D at Western Washington, Sept. 6
45 AST-10D at Simon Fraser, Sept. 8
34 AST-13D vs. Concordia-Portland, Sept. 15
54 AST-17D vs. Montana State Billings, Sept. 20
42 AST-10D at Central Washington, Sept. 29
43 AST-10D vs. Alaska Fairbanks, Oct. 4
45 AST-14D vs. Alaska Anchorage, Oct. 6
 
TWO RUNGS IN ONE WEEK FOR TRAN? MAYBE
Another couple of long matches meant another couple of big assist totals for senior setter Symone Tran.
 
Tran had 88 for the week – 43 against Alaska Fairbanks, 45 against Anchorage, as both contests went to five games.
 
 

That gives Tran 628 assists for the season and 3,721 for her career. She already had moved up into the No. 4 spot on SPU's career assists list.
 
Heading into Thursday's match at Concordia, Tran is just 29 assists away from passing Shelby Swanson (3,749 from 2009-12) for No. 3 on the list. She's also just 63 away from moving into No. 2, a spot currently occupied by Deri Paulson, a member of Seattle Pacific's inaugural 1986 team who wound up with 3,793 for her four-year career (1986-89). It is conceivable Tran catch both of them this week.
 
That would leave just Jenna Von Moos' school record of 4,009. Tran is 289 away from beating that total, meaning she would need to average 29 assists per match for the final 10 matches to get there.
 
For the record, Tran has topped 29 assists in 13 of this season's 17 matches.
 
AMONG D2'S BEST ON THE BLOCK
The Falcons rank No. 22 among all 290 NCAA Division II programs this week for average blocks per game at 2.27.
 
They are one of four GNAC teams in the top 25 for blocks. Western Washington is No. 3 at 2.92, Central Washington is No. 8 at 2.55, and Alaska Anchorage is No. 10 at 2.49.
 
 

Individually, Shaun Crespi is 22^nd nationally at 1.20 blocks per game, and is 37^th in total blocks with 78.0. Gabby Oddo is 62^nd with an average of 10.54 attacks per game.

Dixie State leads D2 with 3.08 blocks per game, one of two school averaging in the 3's. The other is Tarleton State (Texas) at 3.01.
 
The next highest ranking for SPU is 55^th for total blocks, totaling 147.5.
  
ONE FOR THEIR PERSONAL BOOKS
Normally, Gabby Oddo is the one benefitting from the assist, as evidenced by her team-high 209 kills this fall.
 
 

But during the course of any match, she might pick up an assist or two. Last Saturday against Anchorage, she did better than that, earning a career-high four assists. That beat her previous best of three, which she had reached three times, most recently on Sept. 20 against Montana State Billings.
 
And, with her 45 attacks against Alaska Anchorage last Saturday, redshirt senior opposite Hailey Gaines now has rewritten all but one of the personal bests she set prior to coming to SPU. Her previous best had been 41 in a match against Biola last September while Gaines was at Concordia Irvine.
 
The only PR from her Concordia days that Gaines has not yet topped is the .438 hitting percentage she had on Sept. 2, 2017 in a match against McKendree. Her Falcon best is .387 against Central Washington on Sept. 29.
 
AROUND THE WEST
The second half of the GNAC schedule begins with a major clash in Bellingham on Thursday, as first-place Western Washington (15-3, 10-0), riding a 15-match winning streak, plays host to Central Washington. The Wildcats (14-3, 8-2 GNAC) are currently tied for second with Alaska Anchorage (15-3, 8-2). When the two teams met in Ellensburg on Sept. 15, the Vikings swept it, 25-20, 25-23, 25-20.
 
Cal State San Bernardino, now ranked No. 1 in the country, pushed its winning streak to 14 last week and has a 2 ½-game lead in the South Division of the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The Coyotes (18-1, 11-0 CCAA) get a rematch with Cal Poly Pomona (16-3, 9-2) on Friday, this time in Pomona. San Bernardino swept the Broncos last time. Those two teams, along with Cal State Los Angeles (16-1, 8-1) are very close to securing places in the NCAA West Regionals.
 
Azusa Pacific's nine-match Pacific West Conference win streak ended last Wednesday when second-place Biola came from two games down to pull out a five-game victory. APU still sits atop the standings at 10-1 (14-5 overall); Biola is a game back at 9-2 (13-5). Biola is not yet eligible for the NCAA Tournament, but Azusa, Hawaii Hilo (12-4 overall) and Chaminade (13-3) are very much in the picture.
 
UP NEXT
SPU's stretch of four straight away matches concludes next week. The Falcons visit Saint Martin's on Tuesday, Oct. 16, at 7:00 p.m. in Lacey. They then head to Montana State Billings, squaring off against the Yellowjackets on Saturday, Oct. 20, at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time. Seattle Pacific has a shot of a season series sweep in both matches.
 
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                     GNAC              Overall
Western Washington       10-0        15-3
Alaska Anchorage          8-2        15-3
Central Washington        8-2        14-3
Simon Fraser              5-5         8-8
Concordia-Portland        5-5         8-9
Alaska Fairbanks          5-5         7-10
Seattle Pacific           5-5         7-10
Northwest Nazarene        4-6         4-13
Montana State Billings    3-7         9-10
Western Oregon            2-8         5-12
Saint Martin's            0-10        2-14