THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Oct. 24                Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Oct. 26                 Central Washington at Seattle Pacific, 2:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)

SEATTLE – After four straight volleyball road matches, the Seattle Pacific Falcons are back home – with a winning streak to show for it.
 
With two straight tally marks in the 'W' column, SPU returns to Brougham Pavilion this week to play host to Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington. The Nighthawks come in on Thursday at 7:00 p.m., and the Wildcats are here on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
 
The Falcons (7-11, 4-6 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) started the second half of their road trip last Tuesday with a three-game sweep at Saint Martin's. Then it was off to Montana State Billings, and despite dropping the first game, SPU got into a groove after that and went on to a four-game victory.
 
These two home matches begin the second half of GNAC play. There are 10 matches left on the 2019 schedule, and six of those will be at home.
 
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 home contests can be found at the top of this story.
 
GNAC HONOR GOES TO BATISTE
Maddie Batiste, who helped Seattle Pacific snare a pair of road victories, has been named the GNAC Offensive Player of the Week for Oct. 15-19.
 
 

The junior, an opposite / outside hitter, totaled 32 kills, 24 digs, and hit at a .253 clip as the Falcons swept Saint Martin's last Tuesday, then bounced back from a first-game loss to win in four at Montana State Billings on Saturday.
 
In Lacey, Batiste had 13 kills and seven digs, hitting .286. She also dropped in two of SPU's dozen service aces. She combined with freshman teammate Delaney Dunham on a block to help the Falcons convert on match point.
 
Batiste's performance at Billings was 19 kills and 17 digs. That went into the book as her team-leading 11^th double-double of the season and the 12^th of her career. She hit .233 in that match.
 
For the week, Batiste averaged 4.57 kills and 5.14 points per game. Her 32 total kills pushed her past 300 for her career. She now has 321.
 
In addition to this being the first such award of Batiste's career, it is SPU's first award of the season.
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The Falcons are tied for eighth place with Montana State Billings heading into the week.
-- At 4-6, they are just one match behind Northwest Nazarene and Concordia-Portland in the win column. Both of them are 5-5.
-- SPU split against this week's opponents on the road to finish off September, getting swept at Central Washington, but winning in four at NNU.
-- The middle two games in Nampa went a little longer than usual. SPU won the second, 26-24; Northwest Nazarene took the third, 31-29.
-- Gabby Oddo finished with 20 kills and hit .293. That tied for Seattle Pacific's season high in kills, as Maddie Batiste had 20 against Chaminade.
-- Batiste had 16 kills and Gabi Stegemoller 13 in the NNU match. Along with Oddo's 20, that marked one of five matches this fall in which the Falcons have had three players reach double-digit kills.
-- In contrast, no one reach double-digits in the match at Central Washington. Batiste led the way in that one with nine, and SPU had just 28 kills altogether.
-- The Falcons hit better than .200 in each of last week's two wins, logging .208 at Saint Martin's and .287 at Montana State Billings. That's the first time this season they've topped .200 two times in a row, and makes seven times this season they've been north of .200.
-- One of those seven times was a .222 mark at Northwest Nazarene. In fact, the Falcons were above .200 in all four games that day.
-- The victory against the Nighthawks was a long time coming. Seattle Pacific had lost 13 in a row to NNU, dating back to 2012 – a five-gamer in Seattle.
-- Saturday's victory at Billings marked the first time this season Seattle Pacific has pulled out the 'W' after dropping the first game. The first nine times that happened, the result went the other way.
-- The last of freshman setter Lindsey Lambert's career-high 47 assists in Billings put her at exactly 500 for her career.
-- Coming off a season-high 66 kills at Billings, the Falcons pushed their per-game average back above 12. They come into the week at 12.15.
-- Now that she has her first win against NNU, coach Abbie Wright is seeking her first one against Central. She is 1-4 vs. the Nighthawks, 0-5 vs. the Wildcats.
 
SCOUTING REPORT
NORTHWEST NAZARENE NIGHTHAWKS: 9-8, 5-5 GNAC (tie 6^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 21-18. Current series streak: SPU won 1. Last time: SPU 3, NNU 1 (25-22, 26-24, 29-31, 25-11; Sept. 28, 2019 at Nampa, Idaho.). Nighthawks on the Web.
Nighthawks in a nutshell: Northwest Nazarene comes in on a two-match winning streak, having taken down the Oregon schools in Nampa last week. They have won three of their last four, including a five-gamer at Central Washington. Brooke Foster, a redshirt sophomore 6-foot-1 outside hitter who had 14 kills last month at home against SPU, continues to lead Northwest Nazarene in that department, having found the floor 237 times for a 3.43 per-game average that ranks No. 3 in the GNAC. But that's not all. She also has a team-high 30 service aces, tied for the fourth-highest total in the conference. Approaching the 200-kill mark is junior 6-foot outside Abbey Blum, with 193 (2.80 per game). Tayler Markland, a 6-1 sophomore middle blocker, hits at a .259 pace and has gotten her hands onto 44 total blocks. Lexi Ward, a 5-11 redshirt junior middle, is NNU's top blocker with 53.
 
CENTRAL WASHINGTON WILDCATS: 11-7, 6-4 GNAC (tie 4^th)
All-time series: CWU leads, 42-35. Current series streak: CWU won 5. Last time: CWU 3, SPU 0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-12; Sept. 26, 2019 at Ellensburg, Wash). Wildcats on the Web.
Wildcats in a nutshell: Central Washington, the preseason co-favorite in the GNAC, won three of its first four conference matches and was 8-4 overall when it hit a three-match skid on the road at the Alaskas and at home against Northwest Nazarene. But the Wildcats have bounced back to win their last three – all in three-game sweeps at home – against Montana State Billings, Western Oregon and Concordia-Portland – to stay in the hunt for a West Regional tournament berth. Central's last 14 matches have either ended in sweeps (a 7-2 record, including the last three wins) or have gone the five-game limit (a 2-3 record). Of the top four Wildcats in kills, three are also hitting better than .200: 6-foot-1 junior outside hitter Makala Swart (178 kills, .207 hitting), 5-11 redshirt junior outside Diana Fa'amausili (160 kills, .255 hitting), and 6-2 redshirt senior outside Bridgette Webb (151 kills and a team-high .263 hitting). Swart and Fa'amausili each had 11 kills last time against the Falcons.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
The Falcons had just one double-double last week, but it was a big one. Maddie Batiste put 19 kills onto the other side of the court and dug up 17 balls on her side in last Saturday's win at Montana State Billings..
 
SPU is up to 23 double-double for the season.
 
Taylor Alicuben (1 season / 1 career)
32 AST-10D vs. Hawaii Hilo, Sept. 13
 
Maddie Batiste (11 season / 12 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
19K-17D at Montana State Billings, Oct. 19
 
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 one of the keys to Saturday's win at Billings)
"The team really went out and made plays happen. They didn't just sit back and hope for something good to happen. We executed well, and that was good for our confidence that we're totally capable of making plays and forcing (other) teams to make plays."
 
(On preparing for NNU and Central)
"Can we roll with the confidence that we had this (past) weekend going into this week's match, and can we play our pace? What we did Saturday was we played our pace of the game rather than falling on what the others were forcing us to do."

NO. 2 IN SIGHT FOR ODDO
With her 29 kills last week, including 17 at Montana State Billings on Saturday, Gabby Oddo is closing in on the No. 2 spot on Seattle Pacific's all-time career kills list.
 
 

The senior outside hitter has 223 this season and 1,223 for her career. That's the third-highest all-time total, and is just 26 away from the 1,249 that Leilani Kamahoahoa had from 1998-2001. It is possible that Oddo could take over that second spot this week.
 
On the career points list (kills-service aces-blocks), Oddo has 1,383.5, currently No. 5 all-time. She is just two points away from No. 4 Nikki Lowell (1,385.5 from 2010-13). Kamahoahoa is No. 3 with 1,461.5. Only Tosca Lindberg with 1,773,0 from 1989-92, and Alyssa Given with 1,718.0 from 2004-07, are likely out of reach.
 
LET'S DO DINNER
If you could have dinner with just one person – anyone at all, present or past, with whom would you dine?
 
The Falcons were asked that question, and came up with some interesting responses. Here are a few of those:
 
Gabby Oddo: Singer Whitney Houston.
Maddie Batiste: Golden State star Steph Curry.
Jaeden Hooker, Gabi Stegemoller and Lindsey Lambert: Singer Beyonce'
Erin Gould: Women's rights activist Malala Yousafzai.
Mallie Donohoe: Comedian Steve Carrell.
Katie Mansfield: Her dog Lucy.
Austin Ibale: Walt Disney.
Maya Holmen: Baseball great Jackie Robinson.
Lindsay Rosenthal: U.S. volleyball star Karch Kirlay.
Maddie Pruden: Basketball star Zion Williamson.
Delaney Dunham: Singers Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez.
 
STACKING UP IN THE GNAC
With the GNAC schedule now it its midpoint, the Falcons have a handful of players among the conference leaders.
 

 

-- Maddie Batiste and Gabby Oddo are Nos. 4 and 6 in kills per game at 3.37 and 3.33, respectively.
-- Those two also are among the top 10 for points, with Oddo in No. 4 at 3.91 and Batiste in No. 7 at 3.70.
-- Oddo is No. 6 in service aces with 29 total / 0.43 per game.
-- Mallie Donohoe is tied for No. 10 in digs at 3.71 per game.
-- Gabi Stegemoller ranks No. 10 in hitting at .268.
 
SPU's highest position in team statistics No. 5 in kills (12.15) and assists (11.34) per game.

Click on this link for a complete look at GNAC stats.
 
AROUND THE WEST
For the first time since 2017, Western Washington came up short in a GNAC match. It happened last Saturday at Alaska Anchorage as the Seawolves prevailed in four games, 25-19, 19-25, 25-20, 26-24. Western had won 47 straight conference matches, a streak that strted after a four-game defeat at Northwest Nazarene on Sept. 16, 2017. Even so, the Vikings (17-1, 9-1 GNAC) remain alone atop the standings, one match ahead of Anchorage (13-5, 8-2).
 
Cal State San Bernardino is now the last remaining unbeaten team in the West Region. The Coyotes are 17-0 overall, 10-0 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play and leading the South Division ahead of Cal State Los Angeles (12-5, 8-1 CCAA). Bernardino's two-match road trip this week includes at match at North Division leader San Francisco State (13-5, 6-3 CCAA) on Saturday.
 
Chaminade, riding a 13-match winning streak, has emerged as the last unbeaten team in the Pacific West Conference. The Silverswords (18-2, 12-0 Pac West) have a two-match lead on Hawaii Hilo (15-5, 10-2) and Hawaii Pacific (14-6, 10-2). Also in the mix is Azusa Pacific (14-3, 8-1 Pac West), and heads to the islands this week to face all three of those schools – at Chaminade on Friday, at HPU on Saturday, and at Hilo next Monday.
 
UP NEXT
SPU is back on the road next week visiting the Oregon schools. The first stop is Monmouth next Thursday on Halloween night to take on Western Oregon, with the first serve at 7:00 p.m. Then it's off to Concordia-Portland on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 2:00 p.m. The Falcons split with those teams in Seattle earlier this month, falling to Concordia in four, then sweeping WOU.
 
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                     Conference      Overall
Western Washington         9-1       17-1
Alaska Anchorage           8-2       13-5
Simon Fraser               7-3       11-7
Central Washington         6-4       11-7
Alaska Fairbanks           6-4        9-9
Northwest Nazarene         5-5        9-8
Concordia-Portland         5-5        7-10
Seattle Pacific            4-6        7-11
Montana State Billings     4-6        6-13
Western Oregon             1-9        3-14
Saint Martin's             0-10       0-19