THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Sept. 30                              Saint Martin's at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                    Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
                                                    Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Oct. 2                                   Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific, 2:00 p.m.
                                                     Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
                                                     Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
SEATTLE – After a couple of high-flying weeks, the Seattle Pacific Falcons had some of the wind sapped from beneath their volleyball wings on a road trip Alaska.
 
Now that they're back home, they're looking to get airborne again.
 
SPU will aim to return to the win column with they host Great Northwest Athletic Conference contests against Saint Martin's and Western Oregon in Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Saints will be in town on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. The Wolves are here on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
 
Road trips to Alaska are always challenging, as the Falcons (6-5, 2-2 GNAC) found out first-hand. After winning the opening set at Fairbanks last Thursday, the saw the Nanooks came back for a four-set victory. On Saturday in Anchorage, the Seawolves pulled off a three-set sweep.
 
Seattle Pacific is still in the middle of the GNAC standings through two weeks, sitting in fifth place.
 




FOLLOW IT LIVE
Both matches will have live Webcasts and live stats. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story. Greg Sexton will call the action on Thursday, and Mike Lefko will be behind the mic on Saturday.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- This will mark the midpoint of the overall 25-match season schedule, as these will be the 12^th and 13^th matches of the year.
--The Falcons are undefeated at home this season with a 5-0 record. That includes GNAC victories against Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington.
-- In last spring's doubleheader at Saint Martin's, the Saints came from two sets down in the opener to pull out a five-set victory, 17-25, 19-25, 25-18, 25-22, 15-12. That ended a 36-match winning streak the Falcons had against Saint Martin's, which began in 2002.
-- The second half of that twin bill also went the distance. But this time, Seattle Pacific prevailed, coming from behind twice to win, 19-25, 25-18, 19-25, 25-18, 15-9.
-- SPU took both ends of its spring doubleheader against Western Oregon in three-set sweeps.
--After a rough night in Fairbanks when she had just five kills and hit minus-.037, senior outside hitter Erin Gould bounced back nicely on Saturday at Anchorage with team-leading marks of 14 kills and .257 hitting.
-- In both Alaska matches, SPU had more kills and more digs than its opponent. For kills, it was 52-45 at Fairbanks and 38-34 at Anchorage. For digs, it was 70-65 at Fairbanks and 37-34 at Anchorage.
-- Freshman setter Emily Tulino picked up her second career double-double in Thursday's match at Fairbanks, this one with 35 assists and 12 digs.
-- Even though they had just one block on Saturday at Anchorage (a solo by Erin Smith), Seattle Pacific still leads the GNAC in blocking, averaging 2.61 per set. Right behind is Fairbanks at 2.60.
-- Sophomore middle blocker Hannah Hair continues to lead the conference in blocking at 1.45 per set (55.0 total). Her blocks average ranks No. 5 in NCAA D2.
-- SPU and Saint Martin's are both solid serving teams, ranking 3-4 in the GNAC for aces per set: 1.80 for the Falcons (71 total) and 1.66 for the Saints (78 total).
-- The Falcons have two among the top 10 GNAC hitters and one just outside it. Hannah Hair is No. 3, at .327, and sophomore middle blocker Allison Wilks is No. 7 at .275. Sophomore middle Erin Smith is No. 11 at .262, just three percentage points Anchorage's Eve Stephens at .265.
-- Coach Abbie Wright's teams are 7-1 against Saint Martin's and 8-0 against Western Oregon.
 
SCOUTING THE SAINT MARTIN'S SAINTS: 7-5, 1-2 GNAC (tie 6^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 59-6. Current series streak: SPU won 1. Last time: SPU 3, STM 2 (19-25, 25-18, 19-25, 25-18, 15-9; March 2, 2021 at Lacey. Wash.). Last STM series win: STM 3, SPU 2 (17-25, 19-25, 25-18, 25-22, 15-12; March 2, 2021 at Lacey). Saints on the Web.
Saints in a nutshell: The season has been a streaky one for Saint Martin's. It opened with five straight wins, then lost five in a row, including a five-setter at home against Alaska Anchorage, and now has won its last two, the most recent of which was a come-from-behind five-setter at Western Oregon last Saturday. The Saints are one of the toughest teams in the conference to hit against, as their opponents are at just .142. Part of the reason for that is they come up with an average of 18.64 digs per set, tied for the 13th-highest total in NCAA Division II. Sophomore libero Giselle Binetti averages 4.63 per set to rank No. 3 in the GNAC, and junior libero Kylie Alos is No. 6 at 4.15. On the attack, 5-11 freshman outside hitter Tia Allen and 5-11 senior opposite Emily Gooding are the big threats. Allen averages 3.30 kills and Gooding is at 2.36. Not to be overlooked is 5-8 sophomore outside Kylie Coon, who had 13 kills in each of the two matches against SPU last spring.
 
SCOUTING THE WESTERN OREGON WOLVES: 2-8, 0-3 GNAC (9^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 35-18. Current series streak: SPU won 8. Last time: SPU 3, WOU 0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-17; May 8, 2021 at Seattle). Last WOU series win: WOU 3, SPU 1 (25-19, 25-18, 20-25, 25-22; Oct. 22, 2016 at Monmouth, Ore.). Wolves on the Web.
Wolves in a nutshell: Western Oregon split its first four matches of the season in the Broncos Fall Classic at Cal Poly Pomona, but has lost its last six. But the Wolves are giving teams a run for it: Half of their eight losses have gone the five-set maximum. Sophomore 5-11 outside hitter Isabel Hurliman has been the go-to player on offense with 121 kills, averaging 3.03 per set. She also tops the team on the serve with 12 aces. Freshman 5-9 outside Bailee Hartsock averages 3.08 kills (77 total). Sophomore 6-foot middle blocker / opposite Makenzie York has come up big defensively with a team-leading 40 blocks (1.00 per set), including six solos. Sophie Matlock, a freshman 5-5 defensive specialist, keeps the ball in play with 171 digs, a 4.28 per-set average that ranks No. 5 in the GNAC.
 
SERVING UP SOME STREAKS
Through their first 11 matches, the Falcons have had 39 serving streaks of three or more consecutive points.
 
 

Of those, freshman setter Emily Tulino has racked up the most with 11, including a pair of match-clinchers. She was on the serve for the final five points of a four-set victory against Midwestern State at the Oredigger Classic, delivering an ace on match point. The following weekend at home against Hawaii Pacific in the SPU-CWU Invitational, she served up the final nine points to polish off a three-set sweep.
 
 

Senior outside hitter Erin Gould also has a pair of match-clinchers among her eight serving streaks. The first one was a three-pointer in the fifth set against Biola, and the second was a four-pointer in the GNAC opener against Northwest Nazarene. In both instances, she had an ace on match point.
 
Other Falcons with three-points-or-more streaks are junior setter Lindsey Lambert with eight, freshman libero Abigail Cunningham with five, sophomore middle blocker Allison Wilks with four, and senior outside hitter Maddie Batiste, junior opposite Ashley Antoniak, and sophomore middle blocker Hannah Hair with one apiece. Wilks got three of hers – a five-pointer and a pair of three-pointers – in a sweep of No 13 St. Cloud State on Sept. 11.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
SPU is ...
-- No. 6 in blocks per set at 2.61 per game. Leading is Shepherd University of West Virginia at 2.96..
-- No. 23 in total blocks at 107.0. Conference stablemate Alaska Fairbanks is on top with 153.5.
-- Tied for No. 56 in assists per set at 12.00. Leading is Texas-Tyler at 14.89.
-- Hannah Hair is No. 5 in blocks per set at 1.45. On top is Sam Lanning from Embry-Riddle of Florida at 1.73.
-- Hair also is 20^th in total blocks with 55, trailing two players with 72.
-- Allison Wilks is No. 45 in blocks per set at 1.14.

Click on this link for a complete look at SPU's national statistical rankings.
 
AROUND THE WEST
With the GNAC now two weeks into its schedule, the last two undefeated teams in conference play are Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Fairbanks. Both are 4-0 and have 11-5 overall marks. Central Washington (7-3, 3-1 GNAC) knocked off Western Washington last Thursday in Ellensburg, 25-13, 19-25, 25-15, 25-13. The Wildcats had lost 10 straight to Western. In a pair of clashes this week that could have a lot to say about who's on top, WWU hosts Anchorage on Thursday and Fairbanks on Saturday, with Simon Fraser getting the opposite team on those same nights.
 
Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State San Bernardino are the lone undefeateds in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, both at 4-0. CPP is also perfect overall at 11-0; San Bernardino is 9-3. Both teams visit Cal State Los Angeles (7-4, 3-1 CCAA this week). San Francisco State remains among the top-tier teams at 3-1 in conference, 10-1 overall.
 
Azusa Pacific (9-3 overall), Point Loma Nazarene (8-4), and Biola (6-4) all remain unbeaten in Pacific West Conference play, with APU and Point Loma both 4-0 and Biola 2-0. Azusa has won eight straight and Point Loma seven. Chaminade has the best overall mark at 11-3 (1-1 Pac West). Biola visit Point Loma on Wednesday and hosts Azusa on Saturday.

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at news, notes, results, and stats from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific gets one of its two single-match weeks next week when it visits Montana State Billings on Saturday, Oct. 9. The first serve is at noon Pacific time. The Falcons and Yellowjackets are GNAC travel partners, so when they are scheduled to play each other, that is their only match of the week.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                Conference          Overall
Alaska Anchorage         4-0        11-5
Alaska Fairbanks         4-0        11-5
Central Washington       3-1         7-3
Western Washington       2-1         6-4
Seattle Pacific          2-2         6-5
Simon Fraser             1-2         7-3
Saint Martin's           1-2         7-5
Montana State Billings   1-3         4-2
Western Oregon           0-3         2-8
Northwest Nazarene       0-4         1-9