PORTLAND, Ore. – One who slams it down. One who sets it up. And one who blocks it back.
 
The Seattle Pacific Falcons are represented all over the court on the All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball team that was announced on Tuesday.
 
Sophomore middle blocker Hannah Hair was a unanimous selection to the first team, while fifth-year outside hitter Maddie Batiste and freshman setter Emily Tulino earned a place on the honorable mention list.
 
It is the first time since 2018 the Falcons have had that many players on the team. During that season, Gabby Oddo (first team), Symone Tran (honorable mention) and current assistant coach Hailey Gaines (honorable mention) made the list.
 
"I'm super excited for Hannah's breakout season, and I'm excited she's getting recognized this early in her career," SPU head coach Abbie Wright said. "The thing about Hannah is she's such a fantastic person, so it's easy to celebrate her. She's so humble and desires to be a team player, and I think those are the best kind of people to get these types of awards."
 
Hair picked up her second postseason award in the past week, adding this one to the CoSIDA Academic All-District honor. In helping the Falcons post an overall record  of 15-10 and an 11-7 record in GNAC play that gained a fourth-place tie in the standings, the 6-foot-1 Hair led the conference in hitting at .333 (217 kills-62 errors-466 attacks) and was No. 2 in blocking at 1.35 per set (13 solo – 102 block assists). That was the most blocks by a Falcon since Shaun Crespi's 123 in 2018.
 
Batiste closed out her career by becoming the 18th player in the 36-year history of the SPU program to push past 1,000 points. She finished with 1,025.0, with 877 kills, 80 service aces and eight solo blocks (all of those stats are one point apiece) and 120 block assists (half a point each). Batiste had four kill-dig double-doubles this fall, giving her 24 or her career. The All-GNAC award is her second; she also was honorable mention in 2019.

 

"In her five seasons here, the program has definitely moved forward," Wright said. "It definitely took her buy-in. She was there from the beginning. (Batiste was her first recruit signee after Wright was named head coach in February 2017.) Just celebrating the progress of the program is also celebrating Maddie's career. Those two are synonymous to me."
 
Tulino immediately made her mark at the setter position. She finished with 542 assists, an average of 6.53 per set to rank No. 8 in the GNAC. But that's not all. She delivered a team-leading 36 aces, an average of 0.43 per set that was No. 3 in the conference. In addition she came up with 133 digs, and wound up with two assist-dig double-doubles. The second of those was last Saturday in the season finale at Northwest Nazarene when Tulino had a career-high 19 digs and tied her career high with 38 assists.
 
"Any time people recognize you have a solid 6-2 offense (in which the same setter isn't on the floor all the time) and one of the setters gets recognized, it's really a big deal," Wright said. "People in the conference can see her leadership and her ability to find people with the ball. A lot of times, she was finding Hannah. So with Hannah getting recognized, Emily gets a lot of the credit, too."

 

2021 GNAC VOLLEYBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM Player of the Year: Gabby Gunterman, Western Washington Coach of the Year: Diane Flick-Williams, Western Washington Defensive Player of the Year: Hannah Stires, Central Washington Freshman of the Year: Brooke Dexter, Simon Fraser Newcomer of the Year: Tia Andaya, Central Washington
FIRST TEAM
Name	School	Pos.	Ht.	Yr.	Hometown (Previous School)
*+ Gabby Gunterman	Western Washington	OH	5-10	Jr.	Lake Stevens, Wash. (Lake Stevens)
*+# Eve Stephens	Alaska Anchorage	OPP	6-1	Jr.	Palmer, Alaska (Colony)
* Brooke Dexter	Simon Fraser	OPP	6-2	Fr.	Anchorage, Alaska (West Anchorage)
* Tia Andaya	Central Washington	S/OH	5-9	So.	Ellensburg, Wash. (Ellensburg)
+$ Julia Tays	Simon Fraser	S	5-10	Sr.	Winnipeg, Man. (St. Mary's Academy)
*+ Calley Heilborn	Western Washington	OH	6-1	So.	Auburn, Wash. (Auburn Riverside)
*+# Cate Whiting	Alaska	S	5-10	Sr.	Rapid City, S.D. (Rapid City Stevens)
* Hannah Hair	Seattle Pacific	MB	6-1	So.	Walla Walla, Wash. (Walla Walla)
+ Bayli Monck	Montana State Billings	OPP	5-10	Sr.	Colorado Springs, Colo. (Vista Ridge)
Ashley Kaufman	Central Washington	OH	5-8	So.	Hayden, Idaho (Lake City)
Natalie Sullivan	Northwest Nazarene	OH	6-0	Jr.	Boise, Idaho (Bishop Kelly)
+ Ellen Floyd	Alaska Anchorage	S	5-10	Jr.	Pensacola, Fla. (Pensacola Catholic)
Olivia Fairchild	Western Washington	MB	6-2	Jr.	Olympia, Wash. (North Thurston)
Hannah Stires	Central Washington	L	5-5	Fr.	Nine Mile Falls, Wash. (Lakeside)
HONORABLE MENTION
Name	School	Pos.	Ht.	Yr.	Hometown (Previous School)
Sophie Schilling	Alaska	MB	6-1	So.	Berlin, Germany (SG Rotation Prenziauer Berg)
Vera Pluharova	Alaska Anchorage	MB	6-2	Sr.	Nechanice, Czech Republic (Biskupské Gymnázium Bohuslava Balbína)
Marianna Payne	Central Washington	OH	6-0	Fr.	Camas, Wash. (Central Catholic)
Leanna Shymanski	Central Washington	MB	6-0	Sr.	Kennewick, Wash. (Kamiakin)
Joelle Mahowald	Montana State Billings	MB	6-1	Sr.	Nine Mile Falls, Wash. (Spokane Falls CC)
Kylie Alos	Saint Martin's	L	5-3	Jr.	Mililani, Hawaii (Mililani)
Emily Gooding	Saint Martin's	RS	5-11	Sr.	Renton, Wash. (Kentridge)
@ Maddie Batiste	Seattle Pacific	OH	6-0	Sr.	Portland, Ore. (Central Catholic)
Emily Tulino	Seattle Pacific	S	5-7	Fr.	Carlsbad, Calif. (La Costa Canyon)
Kalyn Hartmann	Simon Fraser	MB	6-2	So.	Langley, B.C. (Langley)
Bianca Te	Simon Fraser	L	5-7	Sr.	Burnaby, B.C. (St. Thomas More)
@ Malia Aleaga	Western Washington	S	5-7	So.	Burien, Wash. (Kennedy Catholic)
* - Unanimous Selection    + - First Team In 2019 @ - Honorable Mention In 2019 # - First Team In 2018 $ - Honorable Mention In 2018