THE SCHEDULE
Saturday, April 10                                       Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific
                                                                Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
                                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 

SEATTLE – The volleyball competition certainly isn't getting any easier for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
Just one week after playing two tough, back-and-forth matches against Central Washington, SPU will be home against another of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's top programs when Northwest Nazarene comes to Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Falcons and Nighthawks will serve it up in a single match on Saturday beginning at 1:00 p.m.
 
Seattle Pacific (6-3) pulled out a pair of victories against Central last weekend, winning the first one in four games, that after dropping Game 1,  and the second one in five as the Wildcats twice came back from a game down to force a deciding fifth.
 
While the Falcons haven't yet reached the midpoint of their 22-match spring schedule, the Saturday will be the final match for the Nighthawks, who opened their season on Jan. 27. SPU didn't play its first match until Feb. 27.
 
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. Saturday's match against Northwest Nazarene will feature Mark Aucutt on the play-by-play.
 
STAREDOWN IN THE MIDDLE
A pair of the best middle blockers in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference will be focused on helping their own teams on Saturday. But Hannah Hair of Seattle Pacific and Tayler Markland of Northwest Nazarene probably will get a good look at each other, too.
 
 

Hair, a 6-foot-1 freshman from Walla Walla in the far southeast corner of Washington, has made an immediate impact with the Falcons. She has 52 total blocks with two solos, and her 1.53 per-set average ranks No.1 in the GNAC and No. 3 in NCAA Division II. In last Saturday's first match against Central Washington, she had 10 block assists – the first Falcon in double digits since October 2017.
 
She also is hitting .328, ranking No. 2 in the GNAC. She has 83 kills and 25 errors on 177 total attacks.
 
 

The only one hitting better? That would be Markland, who also stands 6-1 – and her numbers are almost identical: 89 kills, 27 errors on 181 total attacks. Her percentage is .343.
 
And, while Hair is No. 1 in blocking, Markland is No. 3 at 1.12 per set. She has 64 total blocks, including eight solos. She had 12 blocks with one solo on March 30 at Colorado Christian.

Both have won a GNAC Defensive Player of the Week award: Hair on March 1, Markland this past week on April 5.
 
Markland and SPU freshman Sydney Perry both played their high school volleyball at Cactus Shadows in Arizona. Markland graduated in in 2018; Perry in 2020.
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The Falcons swept Northwest Nazarene during the 2019 season, winning in four at Nampa and in three at home in Seattle.
-- That first victory ended a string of 13 straight losses to NNU, a seven-year stretch dating back to 2012. It had been eight years since the Falcons won in Idaho.
 

-- Outside hitter Maddie Batiste and setter Lindsey Lambert came up with big double-doubles in both of those matches: 16 kills-12 digs, then 10 kills-19 digs for Batiste, and 39 assists-10 digs, then 36 assists-10 digs for Lambert.
-- While Hannah Hair is No. 2 in GNAC hitting, redshirt freshman opposite Maddie Pruden is also among the conference's best hitters with her .296 percentage.
-- Of the nine matches SPU has played this season, four have gone to a deciding fifth set. The record in those contests is 2-2.
-- The Falcons have kept their opponent below .200 hitting in eight of nine matches – and kept Central Washington below .100 twice last week (.072 in the first, .084 in the second). Conversely, SPU has hit below .200 just three times.
-- It was just a little more than a month ago, on March 2 at Saint Martin's, when Maddie Batiste picked up her 500^th career kill. This week, she has a very real chance at collecting her 500^th career dig. Batiste will come into Saturday's match with 491. And for the record, her kill total is now up to 568.
-- Among the players on the Nighthawks roster is redshirt junior setter Casey Kispert. She was with the Falcons as a freshman in 2017, then transferred to NNU. After sitting out 2018, she saw limited action in 2019, but has played in all 14 matches this spring, racking up 267 assists. She is the younger sister of Gonzaga basketball star Corey Kispert.
 
SCOUTING THE NORTHWEST NAZARENE NIGHTHAWKS: 6-8
All-time series: SPU leads, 22-18. Current series streak: SPU won 2. Last time: SPU 3, NNU 0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-22; Oct. 24, 2019 at Seattle). Last NNU series win: NNU 3, SPU 0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-20; Oct. 27, 2018 at Seattle). Nighthawks on the Web. Nighthawks in a nutshell: Northwest Nazarene lost its first five matches, three of which were against NCAA Division I opponents (one at Eastern Washington, two at Idaho State, but taking the Bengals to a fifth game in the second of their two contests). Since then, the Nighthawks have won six of their last nine. They have three potent weapons on offense. Brooke Foster, a 6-foot-1 redshirt junior outside hitter, has a team-high 149 kills, an average of 2.61 per game that ranks No. 8 in the GNAC. Right behind her are junior 6-foot outside Natalie Sullivan with 138 (2.42) and senior 6-foot outside Abbey Blum with 134 (2.39). Foster also has delivered a team-high 21 service aces, and her 166 digs is the second-highest total on the team, trailing only the 267 of sophomore libero Caroline McMahon. Leading the conference in hitting with a .343 percentage is junior 6-1 middle blocker Tayler Markland. She's also No. 3 in blocks at 1.12 per game.
 
COACH ABBIE WRIGHT SAYS …

(On the strong finishes against Central Washington)
"As we settled in, our serving and defense got better. We were able to see just how aggressive we could be. At the beginning of each match, we started a little bit uptight. It's just seeing how you have to play loose and just settle in and find your style. It's not like there's an exact equation for that, but as the match goes on, it's kind of feeling it out, and we were able to settle in and do some really good things."
 
(On getting contributions from everyone up and down the lineup)
"We have a lot of people who can go into a lot of places and fill in a lot of spots. The ability to give teams different looks will play to our strengths. We have a really deep team. I'm proud of our girls who have stepped into certain roles and who are flexible."
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Ashley Antoniak (1 season / 1 career)
10K-17D at Saint Martin's 2, March 2
 
Maddie Batiste (3 season / 19 career)
13K-12D vs. Alaska Anchorage 2, March 20
16K-14D vs. Central Washington 1, April 3
15K-15D vs. Central Washington 2, April 3
 
Lindsey Lambert (5 season / 10 career)
33 AST-15D at Saint Martin's 1, March 2
31 AST-11D at Saint Martin's 2, March 2
25 AST-11D vs. Alaska Anchorage 2, March 20
34 AST-12D vs. Central Washington 1, April 3
37 AST-14D vs. Central Washington 2, April 3
 
MARCH TO A MILESTONE
In the making
100^th dig                Lindsay Rosenthal (has 79)
200^th block            Gabi Stegemoller (has 193.0)
200^th kill               Erin Gould (has 174)
300^th dig               Lindsey Lambert (has 270)
500^th dig               Maddie Batiste (has 491)
600^th kill               Maddie Batiste (has 568)
 
Made last week
100^th dig                Paige Dawson (has 122)
 
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for news and notes from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.k

UP NEXT
The Falcons and Central Washington will go at it twice more, this time in Ellensburg. The two teams will play a doubleheader next Saturday inside Nicholson Pavilion, with the first match at 3:00 p.m., and the second at 6:30 p.m.