THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Nov. 10                               Simon Fraser at Seattle Pacific., 7:00 p.m.
                                                   Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
                                                   Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Nov. 12                                Western Washington at Seattle Pacific, 2:00 p.m.
                                                    Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
                                                    Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
SEATTLE – Seems as if the volleyball season was just starting with the first match of the year in St. Paul.
 
Now, the regular season is coming to an end with the last two matches of the year in Seattle.
 
That's where the Seattle Pacific Falcons find themselves, heading into Week 12 on the schedule with Great Northwest Athletic Conference home matches against Simon Fraser and No. 8-ranked Western Washington.
 
The Red Leafs come to Brougham Pavilion on Thursday, with the first serve at 7:00 p.m. The Vikings are in town on Saturday for SPU's Senior Day. That match will begin at approximately 2:10 p.m., following the ceremony.
 
Seattle Pacific (12-12, 10-6 GNAC) is riding a three-match winning streak into the final week. The latest of those victories came last Saturday, 3-1 at Montana State Billings.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
This week's contest and all remaining GNAC matches will have free live Webcasts and live stats. The Webcasts are available through YouTube. Greg Sexton will call all the action. The appropriate links for the Webcasts and live stats can be found at the top of this story.
 
PONDERING THE POSTSEASON
By winning in Billings last Saturday, the Falcons leveled their record at .500 (12-12). That means they now can be part of the conversation for this week's final set of NCAA West Region rankings.
 
While there is no guarantee they will be on the list that is released on Wednesday, their record, strength of schedule and RPI rating can be compared to other teams who are in the hunt for one of the eight spots available to the West Region tournament. SPU's strength of schedule has been ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in the West all season. But by rule, teams must have at least a .500 overall record to be considered.
 
Wednesday will be the last of the three regular-season sets of rankings. After this weekend's conclusion of the GNAC and Pacific West Conference regular seasons and the California Collegiate Athletic Association tournament, the regional ranking committee will meet one final time to determine which eight schools will make the West tournament: the three conference champion automatic qualifiers, plus five at-large selections.

 
SALUTING THE SENIORS
The Falcons will honor six senior players prior to Saturday's first serve against Western Washington.
 
Outside hitter / opposite Ashley Antoniak is having by far her best year on the court. She leads the Falcons in kills, coming into this week with 206, the first time in her career that she has been in triple digits. She is approaching 300 career kills and already has more than 300 digs.

Defensive specialist Paige Dawson picked up her 200th career dig earlier this season. Throughout her career, she also has served 39 aces, the most memorable of which came during her freshman year on match point against Central Washington as the Falcons came from two sets down to win.

Setter Austin Ibale has racked up more than 200 assists and 100 digs. Last season, in a span of eight days, she recorded three milestones: her 100th career dig in a win against nationally ranked Alaska Anchorage, her first collegiate double-double against Alaska Fairbanks and her 200th assist at Western Oregon.
 
Setter Lindsey Lambert earned her 2,000th career assist on Sept. 15 at home against Alaska Anchorage. She comes into this week with 2,241. Since that match she has logged her 100th kill and her 100th service ace. She has 21 career assist / dig double-doubles.
 
Opposite Maddie Pruden is enjoying her best year as a Falcon. She is closing in on 200 kills for the season (192 coming into the week) and is nearing 500 for her career (485). She has been a solid hitter this year from her spot on the right side with four matches of .400-plus and two of .500-plus.
 
Outside hitter Lindsay Rosenthal has contributed not only offensively, but even has stepped in as a libero on occasion. She is three kills away from her career 100th, and last season collected her 200th and 300th career digs. Along the way, Rosenthal also has gotten her hands on 22 blocks.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- At 12-12, SPU is back at .500 for the first time since the opening day of the season. On Aug. 26, the Falcons split their first two matches at the Concordia St. Paul-St. Cloud State Invitational, defeating No. 15 Winona State in the opener, 3-0, but then losing to No. 6 CSP, 3-0.
-- Seattle Pacific is 5-2 at home this year.
-- This is the second time the SPU has won at least three straight this fall. It had a five-match win streak from Sept. 22 through Oct. 8.
-- The Falcons will be going for a season split against Simon Fraser and Western Washington. Western won 3-0 on Sept. 8 in Bellingham, and Simon won 3-2 on Sept. 10 in Burnaby, B.C.
-- Simon Fraser had 23 service aces against the Falcons during the match on Sept 10 in Burnaby , just one off the GNAC single-match record.
-- The teams combined for 45 total blocks: 23 by SPU, 22 by Simon Fraser.
-- Hannah Hair had six blocks for the Falcons, and had an error-free hitting night with four kills on nine attacks.
-- That was the first of her five no-errors matches this season.
-- Sarah Brachvogel led the way with 12 kills in Burnaby after Seattle Pacific had no one in double digits two nights earlier in Bellingham.
-- The week of that match was the same week Simon Fraser announced it would hereafter be known as the Red Leafs. The school was without a nickname after dropping the Clan moniker in 2020.
-- Maddie Pruden came up with eight kills at Western Washington and hit a team-leading .286 (8-2-21). But SPU as a whole hit just .085 (28-19-106), its third-lowest percentage of the season.
-- The Falcons stepped it up considerably at Simon Fraser with a .233 (48-18-129).
-- Saturday's 3-1 victory at Billings marked the seventh time this season SPU has come back to win after losing the first set.
-- On the other side of that equation, the team is 6-0 when winning Set 1.
-- Hair, Allison Wilks, Abigail Cunningham, and Sarah Brachvogel remain among the GNAC's top 10 on different statistics lists. Hair is No. 8 in hitting (.346) and No. 10 in blocks (0.99, with 92 blocks in 93 sets). Wilks is tied for No. 8 in blocks (1.00, with 93 in 93 sets). Cunningham is No. 6 in digs (3.80). Brachvogel is No. 5 in service aces (0.43 / 29 total).
 
SCOUTING THE SIMON FRASER RED LEAFS: 12-13, 9-7 GNAC (5th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 30-20.  Current series streak: Simon won 1.  Last time: Simon 3, SPU 2 (26-24, 25-18, 23-25, 23-25, 15-8; Sept. 10, 2022 at Burnaby, B.C.).  Last SPU series win: SPU 3, Simon 1 (25-23, 25-16, 21-25, 25-20; Nov. 11, 2021 at Seattle). Red Leafs on the Web.
Red Leafs in a nutshell: Simon Fraser has been on a nice roll lately, coming into the week with three straight victories and five in the last six matches. The first of those five was a 3-1 upset of then-No. 9 Alaska Anchorage, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 25-23. Sophomore 6-foot-2 opposite Brooke Dexter, last season's Freshman of the Year, had hammered 295 kills, a 2.89 per set average that ranks No. 7 in the GNAC – and she hits at a .275 clip, putting her at No. 10 in the conference. She had 19 kills on 30 attacks and hit .533 against the Falcons in September. Close behind her is sophomore 5-10 outside hitter Jocelyn Sherman with 258 (2.61). Sherman also leads Simon Fraser with 34 service aces and 241 digs. Kalyn Hartmann, a junior 6-2 middle blocker, has 103 total, which includes 19 solos, for a 1.00 average, tying her with SPU's Allison Wilks for No. 8 on the GNAC list.
 
SCOUTING THE WESTERN WASHINGTON VIKINGS: 19-5, 14-2 GNAC (2nd)
All-time series: WWU leads, 57-28.  Current series streak: WWU won 5.  Last time: WWU 3, SPU 0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-23; Sept. 8, 2022 at Bellingham.).  Last SPU series win: SPU 3, WWU 0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-22; May 14, 2021 at Seattle). Vikings on the Web.
Vikings in a nutshell: Western Washington has won four straight and 14 of 16 since going 5-3 through a rugged preseason schedule that included four nationally ranked opponents, the last three of them in the top 10. The Vikings are loaded from top to bottom, as they typically are. Senior 6-foot-1 outside hitter Calley Heilborn leads them in kills (285 / 3.17 per set, No. 5 in the GNAC), is the co-leader in service aces (28) and is second in digs (296 / 3.29,  No. 10 GNAC). She put up back-to-back monster double-doubles on a late October road trip to Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington: 23 kills (on .561 hitting) and 23 digs at NNU, then 22 kills (on .246 hitting) and 19 digs at Central. Chloe Roetcisoender has 229 kills (2.54) and a whopping 115 total blocks (1.28, No. 2 GNAC) with 15 solos. Also averaging more than two kills per set are senior 6-2 middle blocker  Olivia Fairchild (126 / 2.33), senior 5-10 outside Gabby Gunterman (175 / 2.24) and sophomore 5-11 outside Gabby Kepley (168 / 2.02)
 
GIVE 'EM AN 'A; FOR ACES
Lindsey Lambert had the first one. Sarah Brachvogel had the last one. And in between, the Falcons served up 17 other aces on Saturday in defeating Montana State Billings, 3-1.
 
That broke the long-standing school record of 18, which was set at home on Oct. 21, also coming against the Yellowjackets, although at that time, the school was known as Eastern Montana when both it and Seattle Pacific were in the Pacific West Conference.

 

"We served really aggressively. That's something we've been good at, but maybe we've gotten a little more consistent on our serves," Rhine said. "We just got in a groove and served aggressively, and that made it hard for Billings to side-out."
 
This was the first new team record since Oct. 27, 2005. On that night, it was digs as the Falcons came up with 134 in a five-set victory at home against Western Washington.

By the end of the day, Lambert had served a season-high six aces, Allison Wilks had a career-high five, and Brachvogel tied her career high with four.
 
It was SPU's fifth match of the season with double-digit aces, the previous high being 15 in a five-setter against Cal State San Bernardino on Sept. 1.
 
NOT ONE RECORD, BUT TWO
It wasn't just serving in which SPU came up with a school record-setting performance on Saturday.
 
Their defense set one, as well, limiting MSU Billings to six points in the third set. The Yellowjackets had just three kills and hit minus-.143. The Falcons got three of their own points on blocks.
 
That was the first time since Sept. 11, 2015, that the Falcons kept an opponent to fewer than 10 points in a 25-point set. It was the eighth time in the 25-point set era (which began in 2008) that an opponent did not get to 10 points.
 
The previous low was seven points, on Sept. 25, 2010, at home against Saint Martin's. That happened in the third set of a 25-10, 25-20, 25-7 victory.
 
The fewest points that that Falcons have yielded in any set was four in a 15-point fifth against Cal State Los Angeles in 2013.
 
MARCH TOWARD A MILESTONE
Heading into the final week of the regular season, a  number of Falcons are within reasonable reach of career statistical milestones.
 
100^th block            Sydney Perry has 92
100^th kill                Lindsay Rosenthal has 98
200^th block            Allison Wilks has 197
300^th block            Hannah Hair has 297
500^th kill               Maddie Pruden has 485
1,000^th assist         Emily Tulino has 977
 
AROUND THE WEST
At 15-1, Alaska Anchorage begins the week with a one-match lead on Western Washington (14-2) in the GNAC. The Seawolves (25-2 overall) need to win just one of their two matches (at Western Oregon on Thursday or at Saint Martin's on Saturday) to clinch the crown and the automatic NCAA berth. If they and the Vikings wind up tied, UAA has the tiebreaker by virtue of winning both head-to-head matches. Regardless, both teams will be advancing to the NCAAs.
 
Cal State Los Angeles is the regular-season California Collegiate Athletic Association champion. The Golden Eagles (21-5, 16-2 CCAA) finished with two-match advantage on Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona, both of whom are 20-5, 14-4 CCAA. Cal State East Bay also has reached the 20-win mark (20-6, 13-5 CCAA). The conference tournament is Thursday through Saturday at Cal State San Marcos.
 
The Pacific West Conference is still up for grabs. Chaminade (20-7, 15-1 Pac West) has the lead heading into a four-match Northern California road trip to end the regular season. The Silverswords need to win two of those four to fend off Point Loma Nazarene (19-7, 14-4) and clinch the crown and automatic NCAA berth.

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at this week's GNAC volleyball notebook. Click on this link for a look at results, statistics, and polls.
 
UP NEXT
This week's matches will wrap up the season for Seattle Pacific.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                            GNAC                    Overall
Alaska Anchorage            15-1           25-2
Western Washington          14-2           19-5
Seattle Pacific             10-6           12-12
Central Washington          10-7           15-10
Simon Fraser                 9-7           12-13
Northwest Nazarene           9-8           16-9
Alaska Fairbanks             6-10          16-12
Western Oregon               5-11           9-15
Saint Martin's               3-13          13-13
Montana State Billings       0-16           7-18