THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Sept. 29                              Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                    Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
                                                    Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Oct. 1                                   Saint Martin's at Seattle Pacific, 2:00 p.m.
                                                    Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
                                                    Live Webcast        Live stats
                                                                
 
SEATTLE – Their long stretch of road volleyball matches reached a dramatic – and successful – conclusion.
 
Now, the Seattle Pacific Falcons get to spend a couple of weeks playing at home.
 
coming off victories at Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington last week, SPU returns to Brougham Pavilion for its next three Great Northwest Athletic Conference contests. That begins on Thursday when Western Oregon comes to town for a 7:00 p.m. first serve. The week finishes with a visit from Saint Martin's on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
 
The third and final contest will be on Saturday, Oct. 8, against Montana State Billings at 2:00 p.m.
 
Seattle Pacific went into Nampa and Ellensburg last week facing not only a pair of tough on-court challenges, but also boisterous crowds in both places. Even so, the Falcons came away with W's, in four sets at NNU (20-25, 25-14, 25-19, 25-23) and in five at Central (20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 17-25, 15-11..
 
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. Greg Sexton will call the action for both matches. The appropriate links for both the Webcasts and live stats can be found at the top of this page.
 
THIS AWARD IS ALL ABOUT TEAM
On the heels of their impressive road victories at Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington, the Falcons have been chosen as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Team of the Week.
 
That honor takes into account performances by all GNAC squads from the previous week across the five fall sports: volleyball, men's soccer, women's soccer, men's cross country, and women's cross country.
 
In Nampa, Seattle Pacific was up 2 sets to 1, but was down 23-20 late in Set 4 before putting the final five points onto the scoreboard. Then in Ellensburg, SPU also had a lead of 2 sets to 1 before Central Washington came back to force a deciding fifth. The Wildcat forged an 8-5 lead, but the Falcons scored 10 of the last 13 to take it.
 
The back-to-back wins marked the first time since 2011 that Seattle Pacific has defeated both NNU and Central on the same trip
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- Seattle Pacific is riding its first two-match winning streak of the season.
-- At 3-3 in conference play, the Falcons are smack in the middle of the GNAC standings, tied for fifth place with Alaska Fairbanks.
-- SPU is 1-1 at home, defeating Fairbanks by a 3-1 count on Sept. 15, and falling to Alaska Anchorage, 3-2, on Sept. 17.
-- Dating back to last season, SPU has won 12 of its last 14 home matches.
-- Seattle Pacific swapped sweeps with Western Oregon last fall, winning at home, but losing in Monmouth.
-- Maddie Pruden went off for a big day against the Wolves in Seattle with 12 kills on .391 hitting, plus four blocks.
-- Both matches against Saint Martin's ended in 3-0 sweeps for the Falcons.
 

-- Sydney Perry came up big against the Saints in both contests: 11 kills on .417 hitting plus three blocks in Seattle; 10 kills on .388 hitting plus three blocks in Lacey.
-- SPU has won 39 of the last 40 against Saint Martin's, going back to 2002. The lone loss since then was a during the pandemic-shortened 2021 spring season when the Saints stormed back to win the opener of a doubleheader in Lacey, 3-2, ending as stretch of 36 straight losses to the Falcons.
-- The Falcons are now into the second half of their 26-match schedule. They reached the midpoint last Thursday at Northwest Nazarene when they played their 13th match of the year.
-- With last Saturday's five-setter at Central Washington, SPU now has played five matches that have gone to the limit. That's one more than all of last year.
-- Seattle Pacific has reached exactly 100 service aces for the season. The 100th came midway through Set 4 last Saturday at Central Washington when Emily Tulino landed one smack on the sideline.
-- Of their five victories, the Falcons have come back from a first-set loss in three of them.
 




SCOUTING THE WESTERN OREGON WOLVES: 5-8, 1-4 GNAC (tie 8th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 36-13.  Current series streak: WOU won 1.  Last time: WOU 3, SPU 0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-22; Oct. 28, 2021 at Monmouth).  Last SPU series win: SPU 3, WOU 0 (25-17, 25-15, 26-24; Oct. 2, 2021 at Seattle). Wolves on the Web.
Wolves in a nutshell: Western Oregon put together a 4-4 record in preseason tournaments, then began GNAC play with a come-from-behind 3-2 victory at Alaska Fairbanks, but has dropped its last four. Setting the pace on offense for the Wolves is sophomore 5-foot-10 outside hitter Madison Hornback with 124 kills (2.58 per set) and sophomore 5-9 outside Bailee Hartsook (120 kills, 2.50). Hornback also has a team-leading 19 service aces. Also finding the floor with regularity – and accuracy – are freshman 6-foot middle blocker Ella Nordquist and senior 6-2 middle Delaney Smith. Nordquist has 92 kills and hits .313; Smith has 69 kills and a .336 hitting mark. Both are also tough on the block, and they often can get one by themselves. Of Smith's 36 total blocks, 17 are solo. Nordquist has 15 solos among her total of 31..
 
SCOUTING THE SAINT MARTIN'S SAINTS: 11-4, 1-4 GNAC (tie 8th).
All-time series: SPU leads, 61-6.  Current series streak: SPU won 3.  Last time: SPU 3, STM 0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-19; Oct. 30, 2021 at Lacey).  Last STM series win: STM 3, SPU 2 (17-25, 19-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-12; March 2, 2021 at Lacey). Saints on the Web.
Saints in a nutshell: Saint Martin's got off to a fast start, winning all nine of its non-conference matches, with three sweeps. But things got considerably tougher once GNAC play began, and the Saints were 0-4 before a 3-0 homecourt sweep of Western Oregon last Saturday. Sophomore 5-foot-11 outside hitter Tia Allen is very dangerous up front with 194 kills, a 3.80 per-set average that ranks No. 2 in the GNAC. Jennifer Soha, a sophomore 6-foot middle blocker, has added 102 kills heading into this week and hits at a .380 clip that is tied for No. 1 in the conference. She also leads the Saints in blocks with 32 (10 solo). Sophomore 6-1 middle Maddy Gooding and freshman 6-1 middle Loredana Fouonji are close behind with 28 and 27 blocks respectively. Karla Soto, a junior 5-7 setter, has served up 26 aces.
 
TRIPLING UP ON DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Emily Tulino has been digging them up and setting them up in a big way for the past couple of weeks.
 
 

The sophomore setter has recorded three straight double-doubles. In a five-setter at home against Alaska Anchorage on Sept. 17, she had a season-high 30 assists to go along with10 digs.
 
Last Thursday at Northwest Nazarene, she came up with 26 assists and a season-high 17 digs as the Falcons won in four. Then on Saturday at Central Washington, it was another 24 assists and another 10 digs.
 
Tulino now has five double-doubles for the year and eight for her career
 
Senior setter Lindsey Lambert also delivered double-double production at Central, with 20 assists and 10 digs for her second of 2022 and 19th of her career. It was the second time this season SPU had two double-doubles in the same match. The other time was in the Anchorage match at home when Ashley Antoniak had 14 kills and 10 digs to join Tulino.
 
STEPPING UP THEIR NUMBERS
Collectively and individually, the Falcons came up with some strong performances last week to improve their season statistical averages.
 
With 53 kills at Northwest Nazarene and 57 more at Central Washington, SPU is now averaging 11.09 per set after being in the 10-plus range all season. That moved them up from the bottom of the 10-team GNAC to No. 8.
 
Junior middle blocker Hannah Hair added 27 points to her hitting percentage and now is at .325, ranking No. 8 in the conference. Hair hit a combined .518 for the week (.538 at NNU, .438 at Central).
 
Junior opposite Maddie Pruden bumped her season hitting percentage up from .190 to .202. She hit .358 for the week (.370 at NNU, .346 at Central).
 
AROUND THE WEST
Alaska Anchorage is all alone at the top of the GNAC for now. The Seawolves (16-1, 6-0 overall) took control of the top spot last Thursday with a homecourt sweep of Western Washington, 25-22, 25-19, 25-22. WWU (4-1, 9-4 overall) and Northwest Nazarene (4-1, 11-2) are tied for second, and those two will square off on Saturday in Bellingham. On Thursday, the Vikings clash with Central Washington (3-2, 8-5).
 
Cal Poly Pomona, riding a 12-match winning streak has sole possession of first place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The Broncos are 6-0 in conference play, 12-1 overall, after a 3-2 victory against Cal State Los Angeles last Saturday (30-28, 25-16, 17-25, 19-25, 15-13). The Golden Eagles (10-4 overall) and Cal State East Bay (12-2) are tied for second at 5-1. CSULA beat Cal State San Bernardino (4-2, 10-4 overall) earlier last week. Pomona plays host to East Bay on Friday.
 
Point Loma Nazarene (10-3 overall) and Chaminade (10-6) are tied atop the Pacific West Conference at 5-0, with Fresno Pacific right behind at 5-1 (6-4 overall). Point Loma, winners of six straight, and Chaminade, which has won seven in a row, meet on Friday in San Diego.

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for the latest news and notes from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Click on this link for the latest results and statistics.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons wrap up the first half of their GNAC schedule next Saturday, Oct. 8, when Montana State Billings comes to Brougham Pavilion at 2:00 p.m. Because that is a travel partner match, SPU has next Thursday off from competition.
 
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                     GNAC              Overall
Alaska Anchorage         6-0        16-1
Northwest Nazarene       4-1        11-2
Western Washington       4-1         9-4
Central Washington       3-2         8-5
Alaska Fairbanks         3-3        13-5
Seattle Pacific          3-3         5-9
Simon Fraser             2-3         5-9
Saint Martin's           1-4        11-4
Western Oregon           1-4         5-8
Montana State Billings   0-6         6-7