THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Oct. 15                Seattle Pacific at Saint Martin's, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Marcus Pavilion / Lacey, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Oct. 19                 Seattle Pacific at Montana State Billings, 1:00 p.m. PDT
                                                Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
  
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)

SEATTLE – The volleyball road was not kind to Seattle Pacific last week.
 
But the Falcons get two more cracks at it this week.
 
Looking to bounce back from defeats at Simon Fraser and Western Washington, SPU plays the second-half of a four-game away stretch, beginning Tuesday night with visit to Saint Martin's. The first serve of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference match in Lacey is at 7:00 p.m.
 
The team will get some practice time in its own gym for a couple days after that before heading east for Saturday's match at Montana State Billings. It begins at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time in Alterowitz Gymnasium.
 
Seattle Pacific (5-11, 2-4 GNAC) had a shot at Simon Fraser last Thursday, but came up short in the deciding fifth game, 15-13. On Saturday, national No. 2-ranked Western Washington posted a three-game sweep.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Free live Webcasts and live stats will be available for all GNAC matches, home and away. The appropriate links for this week's contests can be found at the top of this story.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The matches at Saint Martin's and Montana State Billings will wind up the first half of GNAC play.
-- The Falcons have won 34 straight against Saint Martin's. The last Saints win in the series was a five-gamer on Oct. 20, 2001 in Lacey.
-- SPU has swept the last three Saint Martin's matches.
-- The most recent one that didn't end in a sweep was a five-gamer in Seattle on Sept. 26, 2017. In that one, the Falcons were down two game to one.
-- Gabby Oddo and Jaeden Hooker had impressive two-match stats against Saint Martins in 2018. Oddo hit a combined .389 with 22 kills and just one error on 54 attacks. Hooker hit .250 with 18 kills and eight errors on 40 attacks.
-- Seattle Pacific hit a season-high .320 in last year's match at Lacey. That had been the team's last .300 match until it recorded a .351 performance at home against Western Oregon on Oct. 5.
-- The Falcons and Saints both struggled on the road last week. SPU had single-digit scoring games at Western Washington (25-8 and 25-7). Saint Martin's had one at WWU (25-8) and one at Simon Fraser (25-3).
-- The Falcons and Montana State Billings split a pair of five-gamers in 2018, each team winning at home.
-- SPU came from behind twice on the Yellowjackets' court to tie the match before Billings went on to take Game 5 by a 15-6 score.
-- The past two matches in Billings have gone all the way to a fifth game. While MSUB won last year, Seattle Pacific was the victor in 2017.
-- Oddo had 38 kills and Hooker 21 in last season's two matches combined. Oddo got 23 of hers (on 63 attacks) in Montana.
-- Skylar Reed, a sophomore who now is one of MSUB's top attackers, was in double-digit kills both times, with 13 in Seattle and 15 in Billings.
-- Oddo comes into the week at No. 3 on the SPU career kills list with 1,194. The next spot up is 1,249 by Leilani Kamahoahoa from 1998-2001.
-- On the career points list, Oddo is No. 5 with 1,350. She is within reach of moving up two more places on that one. Nikki Lowell is No. 4 with 1,385.5 from 2010-13, and Kamahoahoa is No. 3 with 1461.5.
-- The top two spots are both in the 1,700 range: Tosca Lindberg with 1,773,0 from 1989-92, and Alyssa Given with 1,718.0 from 2004-07.
-- Coach Abbie Wright is 4-0 all-time against Saint Martin's and 3-1 against Montana State Billings.
 




SCOUTING REPORT
SAINT MARTIN'S SAINTS: 0-17, 0-8 GNAC (11^th)
All-time series: SPU leads,56-5. Current series streak: SPU won 34. Last time: SPU 3, StM 0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-21; Oct. 26, 2018 at Lacey, Wash.). Saints on the Web.
Saints in a nutshell: Leading the way on offense is junior 5-foot-8 outside hitter Mackenzie Carter with 120 kills, an average of 3.16 game. That ranks No. 8 in the GNAC. Just five kills behind her with 115 is 5-8 freshman outside Kylie Coon. She also is the team's second-leading hitter at .153.Settng the pace in that department is 6-1 sophomore middle blocker Bridgett Bourgouin at .155. Bourgouin also has come up big on the block, with a team-high 35, including three solos. Alyssa Bartlett, a 5-7 sophomore setter, has sent 19 service aces across the net. Her 0.34 per-game average puts her at No. 10 in the GNAC.
 
MONTANA STATE BILLINGS YELLOWJACKETS: 5-12, 3-5 GNAC (tie 7^th).
All-time series: SPU leads, 30-12. Current series streak: MSUB won 1. Last time: MSUB 3, SPU 2 (26-24, 22-25, 25-20, 18-25, 15-6; Oct. 20, 2018 at Billings). Yellowjackets on the Web.
Yellowjackets in a nutshell: Billings heads into the week off a come-from-behind five-game victory at Northwest Nazarene, halting a five-match losing streak. The Yellowjackets have two attackers with almost identical numbers in the kills category. Bayli Monck, a junior 5-foot-10 opposite, has 173 for a 2.66 per-game average. Junior 5-9 outside hitter Maddi Vigil, has 172 for 2.65 per game. But they're not MSUBs only threats. Skylar Reed, a 5-11 sophomore outside / opposite, has hammered 154, and junior 6-1 middle blocker Joelle Mahowald has 120. Mahowald hits at a .269 clip, tops on the team. Monck and Vigil also get the job done defensively, with 197 and 176 digs, respectively, and Monck has 42 blocks. Maholwald, in addition to her team-high hitting percentage, also is the biggest factor on the block with 57. That includes 11 solos, tied for the second-highest total in the GNAC..
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Senior outside hitter Gabby Oddo and junior opposite / outside Maddie Batiste each had one double-double last week. Both of those came in Thursday's match at Simon Fraser.
 
SPU is up to 22 double-double for the season.
 
Taylor Alicuben (1 season / 1 career)
32 AST-10D vs. Hawaii Hilo, Sept. 13
 
Maddie Batiste (10 season / 11 career)
14K-10D vs. Cal State East Bay, Sept. 7
11K-14D vs. Concordia Irvine, Sept. 7
12K-10D vs. Point Loma Nazarene, Sept. 8
13K-13D vs. Cal Poly Pomona, Sept. 12
14K-11D vs. Cal St. Monterey Bay, Sept. 12
20K-15D vs. Hawaii Hilo, Sept. 13
20K-11D vs. Chaminade, Sept. 14
11K-10D vs. Alaska Fairbanks, Sept. 21
16K-12D at Northwest Nazarene, Sept. 28
14K-16D at Simon Fraser, Oct. 10
 
Lindsey Lambert (1 season / 1 career)
39 AST-10D at Northwest Nazarene, Sept. 28
 
Gabby Oddo (10 season / 46 career)
17K-11D vs. Concordia Irvine, Sept. 7
14K-14D vs. Point Loma Nazarene, Sept. 8
15K-11D vs. Cal Poly Pomona, Sept. 12
14K-16D vs. Hawaii Hilo, Sept. 13
12K-18D  vs. Chaminade, Sept. 14
12K-13D vs. Alaska Fairbanks, Sept. 21
20K-14D at Northwest Nazarene, Sept. 28
12K-15D vs. Concordia-Portland, Oct. 3
14K-15D vs. Western Oregon, Oct. 5
16K-13D at Simon Fraser, Oct. 10

 

COACH ABBIE WRIGHT SAYS …
(On bouncing back from Saturday's loss at Western Washington)
"They're a good team, so it's just taking what you can and picking what you can out of the match to learn from and just respond really well. This will be a good test to how you respond."
 
(On one of the keys going forward)
"I think when we play our system we're really good. When we kind of lose sight of what's happening on the other side, just play a little bit individually, we have a hard time. When we play as a group and as a team, that's an art everyone is learning."

(On this week's two matches)
"Those are winnable, but still tough. It's just looking ahead and trying to take good opportunities and really home in on how we can get better with the next-play mentality."
 
A VOLLEYBALL CLEAN SHEET
Soccer goalkeepers – and their defenders – are always happy to point out when they record a "clean sheet" – that is to say, a shutout.
 
Though not officially part of the lingo, volleyball has a clean sheet of sorts, as well – that is to say, an error-free match on the attack.
 
The latest one came last Thursday at Simon Fraser when freshman middle blocker Delaney Dunham logged seven kills with no errors on 13 attacks – a .538 hitting percentage.
 
Including that one, there have been eight instances this season when an SPU player had two or more kills, and no errors.
 
 

Freshman setter Lindsey Lambert has four. Her most recent was three kills on four swings for a .750 percentage in a five-game victory against Cal Poly Pomona on Sept. 12. Senior setter Taylor Alicuben, senior outside hitter Jaeden Hooker, and sophomore middle Erin Gould have one apiece.
 
Hooker had the highest percentage performance with six kills on seven attacks (.857 hitting) against San Francisco State on Sept. 7.
 

AS CLOSE AS IT GETS
Last week, Gabby Oddo and Maddie Batiste were exactly even in digs for the season, with 159 apiece.
 
They're still even – but in a different stat category.
 
Oddo and Batiste come into this week with 194 kills each for the season. That's an average of 3.23 per game, and is tied for No.5 on the conference list.
 
As for digs, they're now separated by just one. Batiste has 184 for a 3.07-per-game average. Oddo has 183 for a 3.05 average. They are Nos. 17 and 18 in the GNAC. In addition, both are in the top 10 for points: Oddo is No. 6 at 3.81 (228.5 total), and Batiste is No. 9 at 3.53 (212.0 total).
 
Elsewhere in the GNAC top 10, Oddo is tied for No. 6 in service aces with 26 (0.43 per game), Lindsey Lambert is No. 8 in assists at 7.56 per game, and junior middle blocker Gabi Stegemoller is No. 10 in blocks at 0.90. Senior libero Mallie Donohoe is just barely outside the top 10 in digs. She averages 3.64 per game; Northwest Nazarene's Kayla Sale is at 3.67.
 
HOT WHEELS
Just about everyone has a dream car in mind – if not in the driveway. It might be something sporty (a red convertible, perhaps?), or some kind of SUV, or maybe even a classic out of the 1960s or 70s that one actually can work on under the hood without being a trained computer technician.
 
With that in mind, here are some of the "dream drives" mentioned by SPU players:
 
Taylor Alicuben: A white BMW 5 series with white rims.
Ashley Antoniak: A Jeep.
Maddie Batiste and Gabi Stegemoller: Range Rover.
Paige Dawson: A 1960 Chevrolet Corvette convertible with red interior (something sporty and a classic, all rolled into one).
Delaney Dunham, Erin Gould, and Lindsay Rosenthal: Mercedes G Wagon.
Maya Holmen: Ford F-150 truck.
Austin Ibale and Maddie Pruden:: Jeep Wrangler.
Lindsey Lambert: A Tesla.
 
AROUND THE WEST
With the first half of conference play winding up this week, Western Washington has a chance to open some more distance between itself and the rest of the GNAC. The Vikings (16-0, 8-0) head to Alaska, taking on third-place Fairbanks (9-7, 6-2 GNAC) on Thursday, and second-place Anchorage (12-4, 7-1 GNAC) on Saturday.
 
Cal State San Bernardino is keeping past with WWU in terms of overall record. The Coyotes are 16-0 overall, 9-0 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association and atop the South Division, well ahead of second-place Cal State Los Angeles (10-5, 6-1 CCAA). Chico State (10-6, 6-2) leads the North, although Sonoma State (12-5, 4-3) and San Francisco State (11-5, 4-3) have better overall records.
 
Chaminade and Azusa Pacific remain undefeated in Pacific West Conference play. The Silverswords are 15-2, 9-0; the Cougars are 13-2, 7-0. Hawaii Hilo and Hawaii Pacific are both still in contention not only in the conference but potentially for an NCAA regional berth. They have identical 7-2 Pac West records; Hilo is 12-5 overall, HPU is 11-6.
 
UP NEXT
The second half of the GNAC schedule begins next week, and the Falcons will be home for it. Northwest Nazarene is in Brougham Pavilion on Thursday, Oct. 24, at 7:00 p.m. Central Washington visits on Saturday the 26^th at 2:00 p.m. Seattle Pacific won a four-gamer at NNU and lost a three-gamer at Central Washington in the first half of the schedule.
 
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GNAC STANDINGS
                                                 Conference      Overall
Western Washington        8-0      16-0
Alaska Anchorage          7-1      12-4
Alaska Fairbanks          6-2       9-7
Simon Fraser              5-3       9-7
Concordia-Portland        5-3       7-8
Central Washington        4-4       9-7
Northwest Nazarene        3-5       7-8
Montana State Billings    3-5       5-12
Seattle Pacific           2-6       5-11
Western Oregon            1-7       3-12
Saint Martin's            0-8       0-17