THE SCHEDULE
Friday, March 19                Seattle Pacific at Northwest University, 5:00 p.m.
                                            Kristi Brodin Pavilion / Kirkland, Wash.
                                            Live Webcast        Live stats

Saturday, March 20            Alaska Anchorage at Seattle Pacific, 1:00 p.m. / 4:00 p.m.
                                            Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
                                            Live Webcast        Live stats


SEATTLE – Playing two volleyball doubleheaders in a span of four days can offer a lot of opportunities to see what's working – and what still needs some work.
 
The Seattle Pacific Falcons got those opportunities a couple weeks ago when they went back-to-back against Northwest University on a Saturday and Saint Martin's on a Tuesday.
 
They've had time since then to focus on some certain things, and now will get to put some of that focus to the test with three more matches this week.
 
SPU (3-1) returns to nearby Kirkland on Friday for another match against Northwest. This one is just a single, and the first serve is at 5:00 p.m.
 
Then on Saturday, the Falcons play their home opener, welcoming Great Northwest Athletic Conference stablemate Alaska Anchorage to town for a doubleheader in Brougham Pavilion. The first match begins at 1:00 p.m., the second will follow 40 minutes after the first one concludes.
 
Seattle Pacific won three of those first four matches, taking both ends of the twin bill at Northwest, both in three-game sweeps, then splitting a pair of five-gamers at Saint Martin's.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, fans will not be allowed to attend any of this year's matches, home or away. However, they can keep up with all the action online with free live Webcasts and free live stats. That includes Friday's contest at Northwest and Saturday's two at SPU by clicking on the links at the top of this story
 
A GRAND MOMENT APPROACHING FOR LAMBERT
Lindsey Lambert is on the brink of a significant career milestone. The sophomore setter needs just 14 more assists to reach 1,000 for her career.
 
 

Lambert has 111 assists through her first four matches. That puts her at 987 for her career.
 
Those 987 assists have been earned in 31 matches, totaling 118 games. Assuming she records No. 1,000 on Friday, that would be her 32^nd match. She is averaging 8.36 assists per game through her career.
 
By comparison, Symone Tran, the "gold standard" among Falcon setters with a record-setting 4,149 through her four years, also reached 1,000 in her 32^nd match, totaling 110 games. Her average on the way to that milestone was 9.09.
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- Of the five GNAC teams that have played so far, Seattle Pacific has the best overall record at 3-1.
--The last time SPU was 3-1 was 2014. That team eventually pushed it out to a 9-2 start before finishing with a 12-14 record.
-- It's also the best start for head coach Abbie Wright, now in her fourth year at the helm. Her first three teams went 2-2, 1-3, and 1-3 through four matches.
-- Seattle Pacific and Northwest are playing for the fourth time in a month. They scrimmaged five games on Feb. 23 in Brougham, then played the doubleheader in Kristi Brodin Pavilion on Feb. 27.
-- Those two matches in Kirkland marked an impressive debut for a pair of Falcon newbies. Redshirt freshman opposite Maddie Pruden totaled 15 kills and nine blocks. True freshman middle blocker Hannah Hair had 18 total blocks (including one solo) and 16 kills in the two contests combined, and hit .281.
-- Hair subsequently was named the GNAC's Defensive Player of the Week.
-- Senior outside hitter Maddie Batiste logged her 500^th career kill in the second match at Saint Martin's on March 2. She came into that match with 499, having collected 18 of those in the opener that afternoon. Then, No. 500 came midway through Game 1 of the nightcap.
-- Pruden and Hair are both among the top five on the conference hitting list. Pruden ranks No. 2 at .364; Hair is No. 4 at .307. The leader is Tayler Markland of Northwest Nazarene at .381.
-- SPU is the only conference team hitting better than .200 at this point, coming into the week at .217.
-- The Falcons also are the top blocking team (2.66 per game) and the top serving team (2.0 aces per game).
-- No surprise that Hair is the top individual blocker at 1.75 per game (28 total). There are three others tied at 1.00. NNU's has one more total block (29), but has played 29 games. Hair has played 16.
 
SCOUTING THE NORTHWEST U EAGLES: 0-2
All-time series: SPU leads, 2-0. Current series streak: SPU won 2. Last time: SPU 3, NU 0 (25-23, 29-27, 25-16; Feb. 27 at Kirkland). Eagles on the Web.
Eagles in a nutshell: Playing a very limited schedule, Northwest has not been in action since the season-opening doubleheader against Seattle Pacific on Feb. 27. The Eagles had some standout performances in that doubleheader. Junior 6-foot-1 middle blocker Abigail Broussard had 18 kills in the two matches combined, 11 in the opener, and hit .200 for the day. Just as impressive were her eight service aces – four in each match. She had a five-point serving run, with three aces, in Game 1 of the opener. Broussard also had five total blocks, with a pair of solos. Senior 6-foot outside hitter Hannah Lord slammed 13 kills combined, and senior 5-10 outside Tatiana Ensz came up with 12 kills.
 
SCOUTING THE ALASKA ANCHORAGE SEAWOLVES: 0-0 (23-7 in 2019)
All-time series: SPU leads, 29-28. Current series streak: UAA won 2. Last time: UAA 3, SPU 0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-14; Nov. 23, 2019 at Anchorage). Last SPU series win: SPU 3, UAA 2 (25-15, 15-25, 25-15, 18-25, 15-11; Nov. 1, 2018 at Anchorage). Seawolves on the Web.
Seawolves in a nutshell: This unusual season is going to be the equivalent of an extended road trip for Alaska Anchorage, as 14 of its 16 matches will be out of town. The Seawolves were supposed to open their season March 5-6 at Alaska Fairbanks, but those matches were postponed and rescheduled for mid-April. They are set to play a single match on Friday at Saint Martin's before heading to Seattle for Saturday's doubleheader. UAA is coming off a 2019 season that saw it reach the NCAA West Region semifinals against Cal State San Bernardino, dropping a four-gamer to the eventual national champions. Of Anchorage's three All-GNAC first-team selections from 2019, two are returning: junior 6-foot-1 opposite Eve Stephens and junior 5-10 setter Ellen Floyd. Stephens was the conference leader in kills at 3.90 per game (425 total; no one else came close), and Floyd ranked second in assists at 10.14 per game. Floyd also delivered 49 service aces. One of the GNAC's top blockers also returns in 6-2 Vera Pluharova. She averaged 1.25 blocks per game (143.0 total) and ranked sixth in conference hitting at .293 with 148 kills.
 
COACH ABBIE WRIGHT SAYS …
(On the team's focus during the past two weeks of practice)
"It's been just a lot of ball control and volleyball IQ – the kind of stuff we've been needing to get better at and things we need to be good at. … It has been nice to kind of fine-tune some things and continue to develop. Playing experience is always really good. But it's nice to have time to kind of sit back a little bit and not have the pressure of prepping for the next match right away."
 
 

(On Northwest)
"We're going to work with a lot of different combinations with our players, put people in a lot of different places and see how well can you function within change. I think whatever team adjusts faster and is flexible and is aggressive – all of those things have to click at the same time. It's just seeing how good we are with that."
 
(On Alaska Anchorage)
"They just run a system and they run it really well. They're fast and physical. It's kind of getting a jump early on them and understanding the speed which we have to play at."
 
FRESHMEN SEEING PRIME TIME, NOT PINE TIME
With 10 freshmen on the 17-player SPU roster (seven true freshmen, three redshirts), it was inevitable that some of them would be seeing considerable action on the court.
 
That definitely has been the case so far.
 
The Falcons started three freshmen in their opener against Northwest on Feb. 27 and four in the second match. Then on March 2 at Saint Martin's, four freshmen started the first match and five started the second.
 
Seattle Pacific has played 16 sets in its first four matches. True freshman Hannah Hair has played in all 16. Redshirts Maddie Pruden and Lindsay Rosenthal also have been in the court for all 16.
 
Also among the true freshmen, Zoe Shuckhart has played in 13 sets and Erin Smith has been in 12.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Ashley Antoniak (1 season / 1 career)
10K-17D at Saint Martin's 2, March 2
 
Lindsey Lambert (2 season,/ 7 career)
33 AST-15D at Saint Martin's 1, March 2
31 AST-11D at Saint Martin's 2, March 2
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons will have another two weeks to focus on practice before welcoming Central Washington to Brougham Pavilion for a doubleheader on Saturday, April 3. The first match is at noon; the second will follow approximately 40 minutes after the conclusion of the first.