THE SCHEDULE 
Thursday, Sept. 15                              Alaska Fairbanks at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m. 
                                                    Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash. 
                                                    Live Webcast        Live stats 
 
Saturday, Sept. 17                               Alaska Anchorage at Seattle Pacific, 2:00 p.m. 
                                                    Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash. 
                                                    Live Webcast        Live stats 
 
 
SEATTLE – They've been practicing in Brougham Pavilion since the first week of August. 
 
Now that it's the second week of September, the Seattle Pacific volleyball team finally gets to play a match on their home court – two of them, in fact. 
 
After opening the season with 10 straight out of town, the Falcons will welcome their counterparts from Alaska for a pair of Great Northwest Athletic Conference contests this week. Fairbanks is the guest on Thursday at 7:00 p.m., then No. 14-ranked Anchorage comes in on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. 
 
Seattle Pacific (2-8, 0-2 GNAC) began conference play on the road last week, falling 3-0 at Western Washington, and 3-2 at Simon Fraser, coming from two sets down against the Red Leafs to force a deciding fifth set. 
 
The Falcons will be looking to get back into the win column after dropping their past four. 
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE 
Both of this week's matches and all remaining GNAC matches will have free live Webcasts and live stats. The Webcasts are available through YouTube. The appropriate links for both the Webcasts and live stats can be found at the top of this page. Greg Sexton will call the action on the Webcast. 
 
THE FRIENDLY CONFINES OF HOME 
After the 2020 season was canceled by the coronavirus pandemic, SPU had one of its best-ever homecourt seasons last fall. 
 
The Falcons won the first 11 in a row in Brougham Pavilion. The only team to get past them was Western Washington by a 3-1 margin, and that was in the home finale. 
 
Among the teams Seattle Pacific defeated in its home gym were No. 13 St. Cloud State and No. 24 Alaska Anchorage, both in three-set sweeps. Both of those schools eventually qualified for the NCAA Tournament. The Falcons also downed NCAA qualifiers Central Washington and Simon Fraser in Brougham. 
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK? 
-- The Falcons are 4-3 all-time GNAC homecourt openers. 
-- That includes a 3-1 victory against Northwest Nazarene last season. SPU also defeated Central Washington to wrap up their first home set of conference matches. 
-- Seattle Pacific's all-time homecourt record is 240-122. 
-- The Falcons split the series with both Fairbanks and Anchorage in 2021, each team winning at home. 
-- When the Nanooks came to Seattle, SPU came from behind twice, having dropped the first and third sets, to force a deciding fifth. In fact, UAF was two points away from winning it in the fourth, up 23-21. But the Falcons got the last four points to stay alive, then  won it in the fifth, 15-11. 
-- Middle blocker Hannah Hair had a monster match that day, going for a double-double of 11 kills and 10 blocks. 
-- With No. 14 Alaska Anchorage, SPU will be facing its sixth nationally ranked team of the season – all in the first four weeks. Previous top-25 opponents were No. 15 Winona State, No. 6 Concordia St. Paul, No. 9 St. Cloud State, No. 7 Cal State San Bernardino, and No. 11 Western Washington. 
-- The Falcons have gone to five sets three times in the first three weeks, winning one of them (Sept. 2 vs. Biola). Last year, they had four matches that went to the max, going 2-2. 
-- Junior outside hitter Sarah Brachvogel is currently among the GNAC top 20 in three statistical categories: Tied for No. 15 in kills per set (2.44 / 88 total), No. 13 in service aces per set (0.42 / 15 total), and tied for No. 17 in points per set (3.08 / 111.0 total). 
-- Hair is one of 14 GNAC players hitting better than .300, coming into this week at .301. Leading the way is Northwest Nazarene's Olivia Wright at 3.97. 
-- Senior setter Lindsey Lambert is 10 assists away from 2,000 for her career. She racked up a season-high 17 in Saturday's 3-2 loss at Simon Fraser.  
 
SCOUTING THE ALASKA FAIRBANKS NANOOKS: 11-3, 1-1 GNAC (tie 5^th) 
All-time series: SPU leads, 40-17. Current series streak: SPU won 1. Last time: SPU 3, UAF 2 (21-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-23, 15-11; Oct. 23, 2021 at Seattle). Last UAF series win: UAF 3, SPU 1 (20-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-23; Sept. 23 2021 at Fairbanks). Nanooks on the Web. 
Nanooks in a nutshell: After going 10-2 in preseason play and finishing that portion of their schedule on a seven-match winning streak, Alaska Fairbanks dropped a five-setter at home to Western Oregon in last week's GNAC opener, then bounced back for a four-set victory against Saint Martin's. Sophomore 5-foot-11 outside hitter Rilee White and fellow sophomore 5-11 outside Karli Nielson are both big threats across the front row with 153 and 150 kills, respectively. White's 2.83 average is tied for No. 6 in the GNAC, and Nelson's 2.78 is No. 8. In addition, White has a team-high 36 aces. Katrina Head, a sophomore 6-foot middle blocker, hits at a .319 clip with 109 kills. She also has 52 total blocks with 16 solos. Coming up even bigger on the block is sophomore 6-2 middle Elizabeth Jackson with 66 total (1.22 per set, No. 3 in the GNAC) and a conference-high 19 solos. 
 
SCOUTING THE ALASKA ANCHORAGE SEAWOLVES: 12-1, 2-0 GNAC (tie 1^st) 
All-time series: UAA leads, 31-30. Current series streak: SPU won 1. Last time: SPU 3, UAA 0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-22; Oct. 21, 2021 at Seattle). Last UAA series win: UAA 3, SPU 0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-12; Sept. 25, 2021 at Anchorage). Seawolves on the Web. 
Seawolves in a nutshell: Anchorage opened the season with an eight-match winning streak, seven of which were 3-0 sweeps. Last Thursday, UAA opened conference competition at home with a sweep of Saint Martin's, handing the Saints their first defeat after a 9-0 start. Leading the way for the Seawolves is reigning GNAC Player of the Year and current Preseason Player of the Year Eve Stephens. The 6-foot-1 opposite already has 203 kills (4.61 per set), the only GNAC player topping 200 and 53 more than the next-highest total. In last Saturday's sweep of Western Oregon, Stephens pushed her career kills total to 1,630, breaking the GNAC record of 1,628. She hits .389, the No. 3 conference mark with just 36 errors on 429 attacks (meaning that 91.6 percent of her swings either go for kills or are still in play). She also leads Anchorage with 29 aces and has 27 blocks. The only other Seawolf in triple digits for kills is senior 5-10 outside Lisa Jaunet with 137. She hits a solid .276. 

COACH JASON RHINE SAYS ...
 

(On getting ready for the Alaska schools)
"This week, we're excited about how we bounced back (from last week) and started practice for the week, and we continued to make some small adjustments. Hopefully, we're ready for a fun home opener.
 
(On some improvements that he has seen)
"Just the ability to hang in there and compete, even at the end of sets. We've had several sets that looked like they slipped away on paper, but there were others where we were down at the end of a set and came back and won, or fought back to tie the score at the end of a set. Against some really good competition, it shows that they're keeping a good confident, calm mentality at the end of sets and executing well."

STEADY ON THE RIGHT SIDE 
Maddie Pruden has become a picture of consistency on the right side through the past three matches. 
 
 

The 6-foot junior from Poulsbo, a ferry ride away from Seattle on Bainbridge Island, put eight kills into the book in each of the matches against Chaminade, Western Washington, and Simon Fraser. She did it some accuracy, too, attacking 54 times with only five errors for a combined .352 hitting percentage. That included a career-best .583 in the Chaminade match (8 kills-1 error-12 attacks). 
 
For the season, Pruden has 71 kills, second-most on the team behind Sarah Brachvogel's 88. 
 
Pruden also was effective on the block, with eight in those three matches combined. Her season total of 18 ranks No. 3 on the Falcons. 

ABOUT THAT EARLY-SEASON SCHEDULE … 
Of the 10 opponents that Seattle Pacific  played during the first three weeks, two are still undefeated, five are in this week's national top 25, with four of those in the top 10. 
 
St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth have identical 10-0 records and are ranked No. 6 and 10, respectively. Concordia St. Paul is No. 5 at 8-2, and Western Washington is No. 9 at 7-3. Cal State San Bernardino, with a 7-2 record is ranked No. 12. 
 
Altogether, those first 10 opponents have a combined 69-32 record and a .683 winning percentage. 
 
AROUND THE WEST 
Alaska Anchorage, Simon Fraser, and Western Washington all got off to a 2-0 start in GNAC play last week, and Northwest Nazarene, which played travel partner Central Washington and therefore had just that one match, is 1-0. UAA took down the West Region's last undefeated team with a 3-0 sweep of Saint Martin's. WWU and Simon meet on Saturday in Bellingham. 
 
Cal State East Bay, Cal Poly Pomona, and Cal State Los Angeles all recorded 2-0 starts in California Collegiate Athletic Association action. East Bay, at 9-1, has the best overall record in the conference, and has won nine straight after a season-opening five-set loss to Holy Names. In a stunner, Cal State Monterey Bay knocked off powerful Cal State San Bernardino in five sets after trailing, two sets to one, and winning in the fifth, 15-13. CSULA takes a trip to East Bay on Saturday. 
 
Concordia Irvine is one of four teams with perfect Pacific West Conference records, leading the way at 3-0 (6-4 overall). Point Loma Nazarene, Chaminade, and Fresno Pacific all won their first two in conference play. Pont Loma has the conference's best overall record at 7-3. Concordia visits Point Loma on Saturday while Fresno Pacific plays at Chaminade.

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at the weekly Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball notebook. Click on this link for a complete look at results and stats from around the conference.
 
UP NEXT 
The Falcons take to the road next week. Up first is a visit to Nampa, Idaho and a match at Northwest Nazarene on Thursday, Sept. 22 at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time. On Saturday the 24th, it's off to Ellensburg to face Central Washington at 7:00 p.m. That match against the Wildcats will take place in the on-campus Rec Center. Their regular home court is not available, as Nicholson Pavilion is undergoing a major renovation that is still in progress. 
 
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS 
                                                      GNAC                Overall 
Alaska Anchorage          2-0         12-1 
Western Washington        2-0          7-3 
Simon Fraser              2-0          5-6 
Northwest Nazarene        1-0          8-1 
Alaska Fairbanks          1-1         11-3 
Western Oregon            1-1          5-5 
Central Washington        0-1          5-4 
Saint Martin's            0-2          9-2 
Montana State Billings    0-2          6-3 
Seattle Pacific           0-2          2-8