SPU-CWU INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE
All matches in Brougham Pavilion
 
Thursday, Sept. 9                                Seattle Pacific vs. Biola, 7:00p.m.
 
Friday, Sept. 10                                    Simon Fraser vs. Biola, 1:00 p.m.
 
Saturday, Sept. 11                                 Seattle Pacific vs. Hawaii Pacific, 11:00 a.m.
                                                          Simon Fraser vs. St. Cloud State, 1:00 p.m.
                                                          Seattle Pacific vs. St. Cloud State, 6:00 p.m.
                                                          Hawaii Pacific vs. St. Cloud State, 8:00 p.m.
                                                          LIVE WEBCAST (all matches)        LIVE STATS (all matches)
 
 
SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific Falcons are home – and they're inviting volleyball teams from near and far to drop in and join them.
 
After spending the first weekend of the 2021 season in Colorado, the Falcons are teaming with Great Northwest Athletic Conference counterpart Central Washington to host the SPU-CWU Invitational.
 
Both schools will host six matches, with SPU's in Brougham Pavilion and Central's in Nicholson Pavilion, both starting on Thursday and concluding on Saturday.
 
The Falcons will welcome GNAC stablemate and current No. 24-ranked Simon Fraser, along with Biola and Hawaii Pacific of the Pacific West Conference, and No. 13-ranked St. Cloud State of Minnesota, hailing from the powerful Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
 
Seattle Pacific comes into the tournament having gone 1-3 at the Oredigger Classic at Colorado School of Mines in Golden last Friday and Saturday.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
All six matches in Brougham will have live Webcasts and live stats. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
 
LET'S TALK TOURNAMENT
This is SPU's first preseason tournament at home since 2018, when they again teamed up with Central Washington for the Falcon-Wildcat Invite.
 
Throughout the week, the Falcons and Simon Fraser will play all three of their matches in Brougham. Likewise, Central will play all three of its matches in Nicholson. Western Oregon is the other GNAC team in the tournament and will spend the weekend in Ellensburg.
 
Biola will start in Seattle on Thursday against SPU and Friday against Simon Fraser, then head east. Hawaii Pacific and St. Cloud State spend the first two days at Central, they come to Seattle for Saturday's matches.
 
All of the entered schools will be playing in their final preseason tourney before the start of their respective conference schedules.
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
 

-- When the Falcons face Biola on Thursday, head coach Abbie Wright will going against her alma mater for the first time. She was an assistant coach on Aaron Seitzer's staff for five years before being named SPU's head coach in February 2017.
-- During last spring's pandemic-related schedule, SPU went  7-3 in its 10 home matches..
-- The team's overall mark at home since the program started in 1986 is 229-121.
-- Last week in Colorado, SPU topped the .200 hitting mark in two of its four matches, finishing at .239 in a five-set loss to Colorado Christian and at .221 in the four-set victory against Midwestern State.
-- Hawaii Pacific and Biola are members of the Pacific West Conference. The Falcons are 40-41 all-time against Pac West schools.
-- Seattle Pacific is 2-1 all-time against Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference teams.
-- Speaking of the Northern Sun, that conference had four of the eight teams in the 2019 NCAA Central Region tournament.
-- Sophomore middle blocker Erin Smith ranks No. 2 in GNAC hitting after the first weekend. She is at .378, with 18 kills and just four errors on 37 attacks. The only one ahead of her is Central Washington's Leanna Shymanski at .388 (22-3-49).
-- In fact, the Falcons have three players among the GNAC's top 20 hitters. Sophomore outside hitter Lindsay Rosenthal and sophomore middle blocker Hannah Hair are part of a three-way tie for 16^th at .238.
-- SPU is the conference's No. 2 blocking team at 2.53 per set. Western Washington leads at 3.27.
--Of the 19 aces the Falcons served up in Colorado, their two setters accounted for 11 of them: eight for junior Lindsey Lambert and three for freshman Emily Tulino. Lambert racked up a career-high seven in the five-setter against Colorado Christian on Friday. Her previous high was four against Western Oregon on Oct. 5, 2019.
 
SCOUTING THE BIOLA EAGLES: 2-2, 0-0 Pac West
All-time series: First meeting. Eagles on the Web.
Eagles in a nutshell: Biola opened its season at the UAA Invitational in Anchorage, splitting four matches. It opened against the Seawolves, winning the first two sets, then having a 23-20 lead and match points at 24-23, 25-24, and 26-25 in the third set before Anchorage came back to win it, 28-26, then took the next two, 25-21 and 15-8. Biola bounced back to beat Alaska Fairbanks and Texas A&M International, both in four, then dropped its finale to Indianapolis in four. Sophomore 5-foot-11 middle blocker Madison Beebe slammed 70 kills, nearly one-third of Biola's 214 total. She also hit a team-leading .267 with just 24 errors on 172 attacks. A pair of sophomore middle blockers, 6-3 Raegan Tiepkema and 6-2 Abigail Copeland were busy, with 15 and 12 blocks, respectively.
 
SCOUTING THE HAWAII PACIFIC SHARKS: 0-4, 0-0 Pac West
All-time series: HPU leads, 8-5. Current series streak: HPU won 3. Last time: HPU 3, SPU (30-28, 26-24, 25-20; Sept. 1, 2017 at Honolulu. Last SPU series win: SPU 3, HPU 1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-23, 26-24; Sept. 3, 2011 at Honolulu). Sharks on the Web.
Sharks in a nutshell: Hawaii Pacific opened at home on the weekend of Aug. 26-27, hosting the Hawaii-Alaska Challenge against Anchorage and Fairbanks, and lost both matches to both schools. Anchorage posted a pair of three-set sweeps (although the last two sets of the opener went 27-25 and 26-24), and Fairbanks swept the first one, then won a four-setter in the second. The Sharks averaged just 7.92 kills per set. They had four attackers get into double-digit kills, led by the 20 of 6-foot senior middle blocker Demi Winters, as she played all 13 sets. She also led the team in blocks with 10, including two solos. Karina Gatewood, a 5-8 freshman outside hitter / opposite, was close behind with 17 in just eight sets played.
 
SCOUTING THE ST. CLOUD STATE HUSKIES: 4-0, 0-0 Northern Sun
All-time series: First meeting. Huskies on the Web.
Huskies in a nutshell: The Huskies come into Seattle ranked No. 13in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association national poll, a climb of three spots from their preseason No. 16 ranking. They powered through four matches at last week's Keweenaw Classic at Michigan Tech, winning three in sweeps. Leading the attack for St. Cloud State, which played in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, are 6-foot-1 sophomore outside hitter Kenzie Foley and senior 5-8 outside Linsey Rachel – and not only can they hit, they hit for accuracy. Foley has 50 kills and hits .342 with just 12 errors on 111 swings. Rachel has 41 kills and a .303 hitting mark with 11 errors on 99 attacks. Also topping .300 hitting are 5-8 senior outside Bella Erne (30 kills / .361) and 6-2 middle blocker Phebie Rossi (31 kills / .310). No surprise that St. Cloud hits .311 as a team and averages 14.93 kills per set. Rossi is the team's leading blocker with 15, and Erne is close behind with 12.
 
HAIR STILL HAS IT ON THE BLOCK
 

 Sophomore middle blocker Hannah Hair had 21 total blocks in four matches at the Oredigger Classic last weekend. She got nine of those in Saturday's four-set victory against Midwestern State, including a string of three straight early in Set 2, teaming up with Sydney Perry on the first two and Lindsay Rosenthal on the last one.
 
Hair started off with four blocks against Colorado Mines, followed by six against Colorado Christian and two against Colorado Mesa. The last one against Mesa was the 100^th of her career.
 
During last spring's abbreviated 18-match schedule, Hair got her hands on 90 blocks, seven of which were solo. (She has two solos so far this season.)
 
Hair's current total of 21 through just four matches is nearly one-quarter of the way to her springtime number. Her average of 1.4 is tied for third in the GNAC, trailing Western Washington's pair of Olivia Fairchild (1.77 / 23 total) and Chloe Roetcisoender (1.46 / 19 total).
 
PRIME TIME FOR FRESHMAN PAIR
They have just one weekend of college action so far. But what a weekend it was for Abby Cunningham and Emily Tulino.
 
 

The two true freshmen saw action in all 15 sets in Colorado. Cunningham, a libero, came up with a team-leading 44 digs, an average of 2.93 per set. Cunningham was in double digits for three of the four matches, with a high of 15 against Colorado Christian. She also delivered two service aces.
 
Tulino started two of the four matches at setter and racked up a team-high 84 assists. She had 27 against Colorado Christian and matched that against Midwestern StateIn addition, she had three aces, 11 assists, and one block assist.
 
AROUND THE WEST
After not playing any matches last spring, Simon Fraser is back to action and made quite an impact at the Seaside Invitational in San Diego last weekend. It opened with a three-game sweep of Pacific West Conference favorite Azusa Pacific on Thursday. On Friday, it posted a stunning four-game victory against perennial power and defending NCAA Division II champion Cal State San Bernardino on Friday. Later that same day, Simon Fraser came back after dropping the first two sets to beat Cal State Los Angeles, which was picked second behind Bernardino in the California Collegiate Athletic Association preseason poll.
 
Also winning its first four matches was Saint Martin's at the Yellowjacket Invitational at Montana State Billings.
 
San Bernardino did win its other three matches at Seaside, including a three-set sweep of Azusa. Cal Poly Pomona (3-0) and San Francisco State (2-0) are the lone undefeated CCAA teams.
 
The Pacific West does not have any undefeated teams. Chaminade is 6-2, and Concordia Irvine is 3-1. Azusa Pacific finished the weekend with a 1-3 record.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons begin the Great Northwest Athletic Conference portion of their schedule next week at home when Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington visit Brougham Pavilion. The Nighthawks are here on Thursday, Sept. 16, at 7:00 p.m., and the Wildcats come in on Saturday the 18^th at 2:00 p.m.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                   Conference        Overall
Saint Martin's             0-0        4-0
Simon Fraser               0-0        4-0
Western Washington         0-0        3-0
Alaska Anchorage           0-0        6-2
Montana State Billings     0-0        3-1
Alaska Fairbanks           0-0        4-4
Western Oregon             0-0        2-2
Central Washington         0-0        1-2
Seattle Pacific            0-0        1-3
Northwest Nazarene         0-0        0-2