THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Oct. 27                              Seattle Pacific at Saint Martin's, 7:00 p.m.
                                                            Marcus Pavilion / Lacey, Wash.
                                                            Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Oct. 29                               Seattle Pacific at Western Oregon,  7:00 p.m.
                                                            New P.E. Building / Monmouth, Ore.
                                                            Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
SEATTLE – It's back onto the volleyball road this week for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
But this time, instead of a long flight to their Great Northwest Athletic Conference matches, it's a couple of rides in the van.
 
SPU heads to Lacey on Thursday to take on Saint Martin's in Marcus Pavilion. The first serve is at 7:00 p.m.
 
On Saturday, the Falcons head to Monmouth to face Western Oregon in the New P.E. Building. That one also has a 7:00 p.m. starting time.
 
Seattle Pacific (9-12, 7-6 GNAC) is coming off a split of its two home matches last week. On Thursday, the Falcons came from way behind in the fifth set take a 3-2 decision from Central Washington. But Saturday's match against Northwest Nazarene went in favor of the Nighthawks, 3-1.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Both of this week's contests and all remaining GNAC matches will have free live Webcasts and live stats. The Webcasts are available through YouTube. The appropriate links for the Webcasts and live stats can be found at the top of this story.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The Falcons defeated Saint Martin's (3-0) and Western Oregon (3-1) earlier this season, so are aiming to sweep those two season series.
-- SPU has one sweep so far, that coming against Central Washington.
-- Seattle Pacific is 4-10 away from home this season, including 2-7 in true road matches.
-- The team's most recent road win was 3-2 at Central Washington on Sept. 24.
-- SPU has won 40 of the last 41 matches against Saint Martin's, dating to 2002. The Saints ended a 36-match losing streak to the Falcons on March 2, 2021 with a come-from-behind 3-2 victory in Lacey during the spring season that was brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
-- When the Falcons and Saint Martin's met on Oct. 1 in Brougham Pavilion, Hannah Hair had 11 kills, including the 500^th of her career. She also had an error-free day on offense (11-0-16), hitting a season-high .688. That was her second no-errors match of the season (she now has three) and the seventh of her career (she now has eight).
-- SPU also got an error-free performance from Maddie Pruden that day (6-0-14).
-- The team's .323 hitting mark (40-10-93) against Saint Martin's still stands as a season best – by a mere two percentage points ahead of the .321 the Falcons hit just one week later (Oct. 8) at home against Montana State Billings (44-10-106).
-- Ashley Antoniak came up big against Western Oregon with 15 kills. That was the fifth match in a string of five straight with double-digit kills for her.
-- Seattle Pacific limited Western Oregon to just .099 hitting, the second of two opponents this season to hit less than .100. (Winona State, at .083 in the season opener, was the other.)
-- The Falcons now have been in seven matches that have gone to the five-set limit, most recently last Thursday against Central Washington. They are 3-4 in those contests, and in all three, they came back after losing the first set.
-- Hair, Allison Wilks, Sarah Brachvogel, and Abigail Cunningham are all among the GNAC's top 10 in various statistical categories. Hair is No. 8 in hitting at .338 and No. 10 in blocks at 0.95 per set. Wilks is tied for No. 6 in blocks at 1.01. Brachvogel is tied for No. 8 in aces at 0.39 (25 total) Cunningham is No. 6 in digs at 3.73.
 
SCOUTING THE SAINT MARTIN'S SAINTS: 12-10, 2-10 GNAC (9th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 62-6.  Current series streak: SPU won 4.  Last time: SPU 3, STM 0 (25-23, 25-18,25-19; Oct. 1, 2022 at Seattle).  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: It has been a streaky kind of season for Saint Martin's. It started out 9-0, lost four straight to start GNAC play, won three in a row, and now has lost its last six, including the only match it played last week, 3-1 at Western Oregon. Sophomore 5-foot-11 outside hitter Tia Allen is always a threat whenever the Saints are in control of the ball, as she has 271 kills, a 3.47 per-set average that ranks No. 4 in the GNAC, although (SPU limited her to just five on 32 swings in Seattle last month.) Allen also ranks second on the team in digs with 220. Jennifer Soha, a sophomore 6-foot middle blocker, has 154 kills and hits a solid .360 that is the fifth-highest conference percentage. She also a big blocker with a team high 60, including 13 solos. Loredana Fouonji, a freshman 6-1 middle blocker, has 50, and sophomore 6-1 middle Maddy Gooding has 43 with 10 solos. Setting up the attack is 5-7 junior Karla Soto with 738 assists. That's a 9.58 average, putting her fourth on the GNAC list.
 
SCOUTING THE WESTERN OREGON WOLVES:  9-12, 5-8 GNAC (8th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 37-13.  Current series streak: SPU won 1.  Last time: SPU 3,WOU 1 (25-19, 22-25, 25-15, 25-22; Sept.29, 2022 at Seattle).  Last WOU series win: WOU 3, SPU 0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-22; Oct. 28, 2021 at Monmouth).  Wolves on the Web.
Wolves in a nutshell: Western Oregon snapped a three-match losing streak last Saturday with a 3-1 victory at home against Saint Martin's. Sophomore 5-foot-10 outside hitter Madison Hornback and sophomore 5-9 outside Bailee Hartstook are nearly dead-even on the attack. Hornback has 183 kills and a 247 per-set average; Hartstook is at 181 kills and a 2.45 average. Both were in double digits against SPU last month, as Hartstook had 11 on solid .348 hitting (11-3-23) and Hornback hammered 10 and made it a double-double with 11 digs. Hornback also has delivered 24 service aces and ranks second on the team with 201 digs. Senior 6-foot-2 middle blocker Delaney Smith is a strong presence on the front row offensively and defensively. She leads Western Oregon in blocks with 52 (0.79 per set) with 17 solos. She also has 116 kills on .359 hitting and keeps her errors way down with just 26 on 251 attacks.
 
WILKS WINS HER FIRST WEEKLY AWARD
Getting a volleyball past Allison Wilks wasn't easy last week – just ask the Central Washington Wildcats and the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks.
 
 

The SPU junior got her hands on 17 total blocks in those two home matches, and on Monday was named the GNAC Defensive Player of the Week.
 
Wilks had a career-high 10 blocks – all block assists – against Central. That broke her previous career highs of seven block assists (which she reached four times) and eight total blocks (which she had on sept. 3 against Chaminade).
 
In addition, Wilks had 14 kills and .400 hitting in the two matches combined.
 
This was her first career Player of the Week award.
 
COMING UP ACES – AND MORE MILESTONES
Senior setter Lindsey Lambert, who recorded her 2,000th assist on Sept. 15, now has 100 service aces to go along with it. She hit the century mark last Saturday in the middle of the third set against Northwest Nazarene.
 
With five matches left in the regular season, numerous other milestones are still very reachable.
 
-- Allison Wilks needs 13 more blocks for 200.
-- Hannah Hair needs 17 more blocks for 300.
-- Maddie Pruden needs 39 more kills for 500.
-- Emily Tulino needs 66 more assists for 1,000.
 
AROUND THE WEST
The showdown between Alaska Anchorage and Western Washington for first place in the GNAC last Saturday in Bellingham clearly went the way of the Seawolves. Led by a mind-boggling 33 kills from Eve Stephens, UAA – which just two nights earlier was upset 3-1 at Simon Fraser -- beat the Vikings, 3-1. Scores were 25-12, 25-16, 21-25, 25-23. Anchorage (22-2, 12-1 GNAC) thus swept the season series and now is 1½ matches ahead of Western (15-5, 10-2) with three weeks left in the regular season.
 
The California Collegiate Athletic Association also had a first-place battle on the docket between first-place Cal State  Los Angeles and second-place Cal Poly Pomona last Friday on Pomona's home court. The visiting Golden Eagles won in a 3-0 sweep but it most definitely wasn't a blowout. Quite the opposite, in fact: Set scores were 28-26, 25-23, 29-27. But the following day at Cal State San Bernardino, CSULA was on the other end of a sweep as the Coyotes won, 25-21, 25-21, 25-21.  After all that, the Eagles (17-5, 12-2 CCAA) are still on top, with Pomona (17-4, 11-3) and San Bernardino (17-4, 11-3) one match behind.
 
Chaminade still leads the Pacific West, but was dealt its first conference loss last Wednesday, 3-1 by visiting Point Loma Nazarene. That ended a 13-match winning streak for the Silverswords, who bounced right back two nights later to sweep Concordia Irvine. Chaminade (17-7, 12-1 Pac West) still leads by 1½ matches ahead of both Point Loma (16-6, 11-3) and Fresno Pacific (12-7, 11-3).

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for this week's GNAC volleyball notebook. Click on this link for a look at the latest results, polls, and statistics.

UP NEXT
The Falcons wrap up the road portion of their 2022 schedule next Saturday, Nov. 5 with a visit to Montana State Billings. First serve is at 11:30 a.m. Pacific time. SPU swept the Yellowjackets on Oct. 8 in Seattle, 25-15, 25-22, 25-20.
 
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                     GNAC                Overall
Alaska Anchorage         12-1         22-2
Western Washington       10-2         15-5
Northwest Nazarene        9-4         16-5
Central Washington        8-5         13-8
Seattle Pacific           7-6          9-12
Simon Fraser              6-6          9-12
Alaska Fairbanks          5-8         15-10
Western Oregon            4-8          8-12
Saint Martin's            2-10        12-10
Montana State Billings    0-13         7-15