THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Sept. 16                              Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                        Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
                                                        Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Sept. 18                               Central Washington at Seattle Pacific, 2:00 p.m.
                                                        Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
                                                        Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
SEATTLE – Always nice to have some winning momentum heading into the start of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball schedule.
 
And the Seattle Pacific Falcons definitely have some.
 
Coming off three straight victories in the SPU-CWU Invitational last weekend in Brougham Pavilion, the Falcon get to stay home this week for their first two conference contest.
 
Up first is Northwest Nazarene on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. Then on Saturday afternoon, Central Washington visits, with the first serve set for 2:00 p.m.
 
Seattle Pacific (4-3) comes into its GNAC openers riding a four-match winning streak. The first of those came against Midwestern State at the Oredigger Classic in Colorado on Sept. 4. Then came last week's three triumphs in Brougham: a five-setter against Biola, then three-set sweeps of Hawaii Pacific and national No. 13-ranked St. Cloud State of Minnesota. Saturday's 25-13, 25-22, 26-24 victory against the Huskies was the Falcons' first against a top-25 opponent since 2013.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Both of this week's matches will have live Webcasts and live stats. Greg Sexton will call the action on Thursday, then Mike Lefko will be at the mic on Saturday. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
 
IT'S AN ALL-TOURNEY TRIO
Senior outside hitter Erin Gould, sophomore middle blocker Hannah Hair, and freshman setter Emily Tulino of the Falcons were named to the SPU-CWU All-Tournament team.
 
 

Gould played in all 11 sets, hammering 15 kills (10 against St. Cloud State) and hitting .314. She also had seven service aces, one of them on match point in the five-set victory against Biola. In addition, she came up with 27 digs, with 12 against Biola and nine against St. Cloud State.
 
 

Hair played in just two of the three matches, totaling eight sets, but was her usual solid self on the block, getting her hands on 14. She had eight against Biola (with one solo) and six against St. Cloud (two solos). Hair also was a big factor offensively in the St. Cloud match with 14 kills and a .632 hitting percentage.
 
 

Tulino helped keep the offense flowing, racking up 63 assists in the three matches combined. She also delivered eight service aces, with six of those in the sweep of Hawaii Pacific. Of those half-dozen aces, three came during a match-ending 10-point scoring run in the third set to help bring SPU from 19-15 down to a 25-19 victory.
 


SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The Falcons are 8-11 all-time in GNAC openers. That includes a 3-3 record on their home court.
-- In 2019, SPU opened conference play at home against the Alaska schools, falling 3-0 to both Anchorage and Fairbanks.
-- During last spring's abbreviated schedule that took the place of the pandemic-canceled 2020 season, the Falcons hosted both Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene. They beat the Wildcats twice, 3-1 in the opener, and 3-2 in the nightcap. They played one match against NNU, bouncing back from losing the first two sets to prevail, 3-2.
-- Seattle Pacific and Central played and defeated the same three opponents in last week's SPU-CWU Invitational. Both schools swept Hawaii Pacific and No. 13 St. Cloud State. The Wildcats also swept Biola; the Falcons needed all five sets to beat the Eagles.
-- Fifth-year SPU head coach Abbie Wright now has an even coaching record of 54-54. She is 29-31 in GNAC play.
-- Wright's teams are 2-5 against Northwest Nazarene and 4-4 against Central Washington, including the 2021 spring matches.
-- Although NNU had a long stretch of dominating the series against Seattle Pacific (13 straight wins from 2012-18), the Falcons still have the all-time lead, 23-18.
-- The series against Central has been close ever since SPU started its volleyball program in 1986. The schools played six times that year, with the Wildcats winning four of them. Now, 35 years later, CWU has a 42-38 lead.
-- The third set of Saturday's match will be the 300^th all-time between them between SPU and Central Washington. The Wildcats have a slight advantage, 153-144.
-- With seven matches now complete, SPU has seven players from its roster of 18 who have played all 26 sets.
 



SCOUTING THE NORTHWEST NAZARENE NIGHTHAWKS: 1-5, 0-0 GNAC
All-time series: SPU leads, 23-18. Current series streak: SPU won 3. Last time: SPU 3, NNU 2 (22-25, 17-25, 25-21, 25-22, 16-14; April 10, 2021 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: NNU broke into the win column last Saturday, sweeping past Fresno State in the final match of the SoCal Freeway Challenge in Azusa. Setting the pace on offense for the Nighthawks are redshirt junior 6-foot-1 outside hitter Natalie Sullivan and redshirt senior 6-foot outside hitter Brooke Foster. Sullivan had 55 kills in four matches at Azusa, including 17 on .231 hitting in the victory against Fresno Pacific. Foster, a Preseason All-GNAC selection for the second time, has 66 kills and has been in double figures in four of the six matches, topped by her 17 in the season opener against San Francisco State. Anna Gable, a redshirt junior 6-foot middle, and Mckenzie Lee, a redshirt junior 6-1 setter, come up big on the block, with 18 and 16, respectively, for the season.
 
SCOUTING THE CENTRAL WASHINGTON WILDCATS: 4-2, 0-0 GNAC
All-time series: CWU leads, 42-38. Current series streak: SPU won 3. Last time: SPU 3, CWU 2 (25-23, 21-25, 25-21, 25-27, 15-6; April 3, 2021 at Seattle. Last CWU series win: CWU 3, SPU 0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-12; Sept. 26, 2019 at Ellensburg). Wildcats on the Web.
Wildcats in a nutshell: After dropping two out of three at the Western Washington Invitational to start the season, Central won all three of its matches in last week's SPU-CWU Invitational – and all in sweeps, including a 25-21, 25-23, 25-14 decision against No. 13-ranked St. Cloud State. Mariana Payne and Ashley Kaufman are two of the biggest weapons on the attack for the Wildcats. Payne, a freshman 6-foot outside hitter, leads the team with 81 kills (3.52 per set) and is hitting a solid .327. Kaufman, a sophomore 5-8 outside, has 65 kills (2.83 per set) and hits .202. Another one to watch is sophomore Tia Andaya, a setter / outside combination. When she's not lofting the ball for her teammates (a team-high 124 assists), she's finding the floor herself with 46 kills. CWU has three players who already have broken into the 20s or blocking: fifth-year 6-foot middle Leanna Shymanski (28), redshirt junior 6-1 middle Kylee Yamashita (25) and Payne (20).
 
TOP-25 OPPONENTS? GET USED TO IT
Just two weekends into the season, Seattle Pacific already has come up against three opponents ranked in the national top 25 by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
 
At the Oredigger Classic on Sept. 3-4 in Golden, Colorado, the Falcons tangled with No. 12 Colorado School of Mines and No. 10 Colorado Mesa, falling in three sets to both. Then came last Saturday's three-set sweep of No. 13 St. Cloud State.
 
All three schools are still among the top 25, with Mines at No. 11, St. Cloud at No. 23, and Mesa at No. 24.
 
A pair of GNAC opponents are in this week's top 25, with Western Washington at No. 17 and Simon Fraser at No. 20. Another two – Alaska Anchorage and Central Washington – are receiving votes.
 
'A' IS FOR ACES
Although they've played fewer sets (26) than most of their GNAC stablemates, the Falcons have the fourth-highest total for service aces with 47 and the second-highest per-set average of 1.81. Alaska Anchorages leads in both categories, with 99 (in 43 sets) and 2.30 average.
 
SPU has three players in double digits: 11 each for Erin Gould and Emily Tulino, and 10 for Lindsey Lambert. Tulino has more than twice as many aces as she has service errors (5), and Lambert also has more aces than errors (9).
 
As a team, the Falcons are nearly even between aces (47) and errors (51). They were above water in all three SPU-CWU Invitational matches last week: 12 aces / 8 errors vs. Biola, 9 / 6 vs. Hawaii Pacific, and 7 / 6 vs. St. Cloud State.
 
AROUND THE WEST
Just two weeks into the season, and only two West Region programs have undefeated records.
 
That would be Cal Poly Pomona and San Francisco State from the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Both are 7-0 as they head into the start of conference play this week. Cal State San Bernardino, the defending NCAA Division II champion and the near-unanimous choice to win the CCAA title, and Cal State Los Angeles, the second pick behind San Bernardino, are both 5-3.
 
In the GNAC, Simon Fraser has the best preseason record at 6-1, its only loss coming to Biola in last week's SPU-CWU Invitational. Saint Martin's won its first five non-conference matches, but is now 5-3. So too is preseason pick Western Washington after playing in last weekend's top-caliber Colorado Premier Challenge in Denver.
 
Chaminade already has double-digit wins, sporting as 10-2 record heading into its Pacific West Conference schedule. Hawaii Hilo is 3-1 after opening its season last weekend. The Vulcans split a pair with Saint Martin's and swept Montana State Billings. Preseason favorite Azusa Pacific is 5-3.
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific opens its GNAC road schedule next week with the annual trip to Alaska. The Falcons visit Fairbanks on Thursday, Sept. 23, at 8:00 p.m. Pacific time, then play at Anchorage on Saturday the 25th at 3:00 p.m. Pacific.
 

GNAC STANDINGS
                                              Conference         Overall
Simon Fraser             0-0         6-1
Central Washington       0-0         4-2
Saint Martin's           0-0         5-3
Alaska Fairbanks         0-0         7-5
Alaska Anchorage         0-0         7-5
Seattle Pacific          0-0         4-3
Western Washington       0-0         4-3
Montana State Billings   0-0         3-5
Western Oregon           0-0         2-5
Northwest Nazarene       0-0         1-5