THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Oct. 26                 Alaska Anchorage at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                             Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                             Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Oct. 28                Alaska Fairbanks at Seattle Pacific, 2:00 p.m.
                                             Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                             Live Webcast        Live stats
 

SEATTLE – On their toughest road trip of the year – the one to Alaska – the Seattle Pacific Falcons found a way to win their volleyball matches against Anchorage and Fairbanks last month
 
This week, they'll have to find a way to do it again – only this time, they'll be at home.
 
Still maintaining their hold on first place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, SPU, now ranked No. 19 nationally, will welcome their Alaska counterparts to Brougham Pavilion. Anchorage visits on Thursday at 7:00 p.m., and Fairbanks comes in on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
 
The Falcons (16-3, 10-1 GNAC) scored 3-1 victories against both teams at the end of September.
 
Seattle Pacific returns home after a 2-0 road trip to start the second half of the GNAC schedule, winning 3-2 at Central Washington and 3-1 at Northwest Nazarene.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
All GNAC matches home and away will have free live Webcasts on YouTube, and free live stats. Greg Sexton will call the action for all home matches. The appropriate links for this week's matches are at the top of this story.
 
 

HAIR COLLECTS ANOTHER AWARD
For the second time this season, Hannah Hair has been named the GNAC Defensive Player of the Week, this time with 20 total blocks in two matches combined at Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene.
 
Hair previously won the award on Oct. 2 after coming up with 14 blocks on the road trip to Alaska.
 
For her career, Hair now has five Defensive Player of the Week honors. She also has been named Offensive Player of the Week twice.
 
ONWARD AND UPWARD
Seattle Pacific climbed three places to No. 19 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association national poll. The Falcons picked up 281 points, which was 106 more than last week when they were ranked No. 22 for the second week n a row.
 
In the preseason poll SPU received three points and was the very last entry (No. 50 overall) on the 'also receiving votes list.
 
The victory against Central Washington last week bumped the Falcons ahead of the Wildcats, who are now No. 20.
 
West Region schools continue to be well represented, as there are still six in the top 25: No. 8 Cal State San Bernardino, No. 15 Chaminade, No. 19 SPU, No. 20 Central, No. 22 Cal Poly Pomona, and No. 23 Cal State Los Angeles.  Point Loma Nazarene (No. 30 overall), Biola (No. 38) and Simon Fraser (No. 41) are receiving votes.
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The Falcons have won four matchers in a row and 15 of their last 16.
-- They are 4-1 in Brougham Pavilion.
-- The 16 wins is the highest total for SPU since it went 21-7 in 2011.
-- Seattle Pacific will go for season sweeps against both Anchorage and Fairbanks.
-- The last time the Falcons swept either school was against Fairbanks in 2014.
-- Their most recent sweep of Alaska Anchorage was back in 2006.
-- SPU piled up 112 kills last week – 59 in the five-setter at Central and 53 in the four-setter at NNU. The only higher two-match stretch was 130 kills on Sept. 8 in the Cougar Classic at Cal State San Marcos. The Falcons had 71 in a 3-2 victory against Concordia Irvine, and 59 more in a 3-1 win vs. San Marcos.
-- SPU came up with a season-high 27 total blocks in the 3-2 win at Central last Thursday.
-- Of the nine sets they played last week, the Falcons topped .300 hitting in four of them: .359 (first set), .303 (fourth) and .385 (fifth) at CWU, and .359 (fourth) at NNU.
-- SPU won both opening sets again last week, pushing its record to 11-0 this season and 18-0 over the past two seasons when putting the first one into the book. The Falcons had to come from behind to take Set 1 at Northwest Nazarene, down triple set point at 24-21 before running off five in a row.
-- The Falcons remain the toughest team in the GNAC to hit against, limiting opponents to .142. On offense, they are No. 2 in hitting at .223, trailing only Central Washington's .242.
-- SPU also is the top blocking team at 2.73 per set. That's the team's highest average since 2.84 in 1996.
 

-- Senior outside hitter Sarah Brachvogel is still the conference's kills-per-set leader at 3.32, having hammered 29 last week, with 21 of those at Northwest Nazarene.
-- But right behind her at No. 2 on the list is Anchorage senior Nicole Blue at 3.26.
-- Those two are also 1-2 in points (kills-aces-blocks), but in reverse order. Blue is on top at 3.99 per set; Brachvogel is next at 3.88.
-- Freshman libero Christina Lopez has worked her way up to No. 8 on the GNAC digs list with an average of 3.41 per set (140 total). She had a career-high 21 at NNU on Saturday, her first time in the 20s. Her previous high was 17 (three times).
-- Coach Jason Rhine is 1-2 against Anchorage and 2-1 against Fairbanks.
 
SCOUTING THE ALASKA ANCHORAGE SEAWOLVES: 12-14, 4-7 GNAC (8th)
All-time series: UAA leads, 33-31.  Current series streak: SPU won 1.  Last time: UAA 3, SPU 0 (22-25, 25-14, 25-16, 26-24; Sept. 30 at Anchorage).  Last UAA series win: UAA 3, SPU 0 (25-18, 2-15, 25-13; Oct. 13, 2022 at Anchorage).  Seawolves on the Web.
Seawolves in a nutshell: Alaska Anchorage has been hovering around .500 most of the season, but dropped a pair of home contests last week, 3-1 to Simon Fraser and 3-0 to Western Washington. Senior 5-foot-11 outside hitter Nicole Blue is one of the leading offensive players in the GNAC. She has 313 kills, a 3.26 per-set average that is No. 2. Blue also is a solid server with a team-leading 47 aces. Also very productive in the front row is 6-2 outside / opposite Bethany Turchardt with 245 kills on .206 hitting, along with 57 blocks. Turchardt had 12 kills on .241 hitting when the Seawolves and Falcons played at UAA last month. Isabel Evans, a junior 6-3 middle blocker, comes up big on he block with 85 total, a 1.02 average that ranks No. 6 in the GNAC. She also has 140 kills / 1.69 per set, and hits .209. Close behind her with 80 (including team-high seven solos) is junior 6-foot middle Leilani Elder.
 
SCOUTING THE ALASKA FAIRBANKS NANOOKS: 12-13, 5-6 GNAC (tie 6th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 41-18.  Current series streak: SPU won 1.  Last time: SPU 3, UAF 1 (24-26, 25-22, 25-18, 25-18; Sept. 28 at Fairbanks).  Last UAF series win: UAF 3, SPU 2 (25-23, 25-22, 19-25, 19-25, 15-8; Oct. 15, 2022 at Fairbanks). Nanooks on the Web.
Nanooks in a nutshell: Fairbanks has found its footing, and it's showing up big-time in the results, especially the past two weeks. On Oct. 12, the Nanooks dropped a 3-1 decision at home to Northwest Nazarene. Just two nights later, they beat then-No. 16 Central Washington, 3-1; then last week swept Western Washington, 3-0, and defeated Simon Fraser, 3-1. That gave UAF five wins in seven matches since losing to SPU on Sept. 28. Karli Nielson, a junior 5-foot-11 outside hitter and the current GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, has 266 kills, a 2.96 average that is No. 6 on the GNAC list. She has delivered 26 aces and gotten her hands on 38 blocks. Ella Bines, a sophomore 6-3 opposite, and Lily Stewart, a fifth-year 6-1 outside hitter, are both productive and accurate: 168 kills on .258 hitting for Bines; 171 kills on .237 hitting for Stewart. Junior 6-foot middle blocker Kristina Head has 80 blocks, a 1.05 per-set average that ranks No. 4 in the GNAC.
 
A FAB 14 FOR WILKS
For a front-row player, getting through a match with no attack errors is tough to do. Sometimes, even with a perfect set and a solid hit, the ball lands an inch or two out of bounds.
 
It's volleyball. It happens.
 
 

But over a recent stretch of five matches, it didn't happen to Allison Wilks. The senior middle blocker went 14 straight sets without an attack error: the last two against Western Washington on Oct. 5, all three against Simon Fraser on Oct. 7, all three against Montana State Billings on Oct. 11, all five at Central Washington last Thursday, and the first set at Northwest Nazarene last Saturday.
 
During those 14 sets, Wilks had 22 kills on 39 attacks – a stratospheric hitting percentage of .564.
 
Wilks has 19 no-errors matches in her career, with seven of those this season.
 
WELCOME TO THE CLUB
For the second week in a row, the Falcons have had one of their players get credited with her first collegiate kill.
 
 

This time, it was freshman libero Christina Lopez. In Thursday's match at Central Washington, SPU was down 6-5 in the fourth set when Lopez took over the serve. An attempted kill by Ellie Marble was dug by Lopez, spinning around as she did so. The ball floated back toward the net and dropped over and onto the floor.
 
Turns out Lopez wasn't done for the weekend. On Saturday at Northwest Nazarene, she got her second kill. This one capped a decisive 6-0 scoring run in the fourth set as the Falcons extended a13-11 lead to 19-11. The 19th point came when setter Emily Tulino lunged and got her left arm under an NNU attack to keep the ball alive. It went Lopez, whose attempted pass toward the front row instead went just far enough to clear the net and fall to the floor.
 
On Oct. 11 against Montana State Billings, senior defensive specialist Zoe Shuckhart picked up her first kill, and sophomore outside hitter Anna Pelluer recorded her first one – and then picked up her second one on the very next point.

 

COACH JASON RHINE SAYS …
(On coming from 24-21 down to win Set 1 at NNU)
"It was a good sign of maturity for the team that they were able to stay poised and go on aggressive runs right at the end. It was fun to finish off that set."
 
(On winning at both Central and NNU)
"Both are tough places to play. Both have fans who tried to get into our heads, and it was fun to respond well, Both environments are tough places to get wins, so it was exciting to do that."
 
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
In the making
100th block            Sarah Brachvogel (has 95)
100th dig                Brianna Ingram (has 99)
200th block            Maddie Pruden (has 188)
                             Erin Smith (has 166)
700th kill                  Hannah Hair (has 677)
1,500th assist         Emily Tulino (has 1402)
 
Made last week
100th block            Sydney Perry (has 100)
200th dig               Allison Wilks (has 201)
600th kill               Maddie Pruden (has 617)
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
Among the 278 volleyball program in NCAA Division II, the Falcons are:
-- No. 2 in blocking at 2.73 per set (Indiana of Pennsylvania 2.74).
-- No. 18 in total blocks at 188.5 (Indiana of Pennsylvania 255.0).
-- No. 27 in lowest opponents' hitting percentage at .142 (Spring Hill .088).
-- No. 41 in aces per set at 1.93 (Shaw 2.78)
 
Individually:
-- Hannah Hair No. 1 in blocks per set at 1.67 (1.42).
-- Hair No. 2 in total blocks with 112 (128).

Click on this link to see how SPU stacks up within Division II. Click on this link to see how other GNAC teams and players rank nationally.
 
AROUND THE WEST
While Seattle Pacific remains atop the GNAC, there's a three-way logjam for second place with Central Washington, Simon Fraser, and Western Washington, all at 7-4. It will get unjammed this week as Western hosts Simon on Saturday in the only match of the week for both teams, so one will be 8-4 and the other will be 7-5. Central is at Saint Martin's (6-4) on Thursday and at Western Oregon (2-8) on Saturday.
 
The California Collegiate Athletic Association has a big No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown coming up when first-place Cal State Los Angeles (11-1, 13-7 overall and winners of nine straight) visits second-place Cal State San Bernardino (10-3, 17-3 overall, winners of seven straight). However, CSULA must first visit San Francisco State (8-4, 12-8 overall) on Thursday. The Gators are tied for third with Cal Poly Pomona (15-5 overall).
 
That's not the only 1-2 battle on the docket. The Pacific West Conference also has one, also on Saturday when second-place Chaminade (10-2, 22-2 overall) is in San Diego against first-place Point Loma Nazarene (12-0, 15-4 overall). The host Sea Lions start the week on a 12-match winning streak; the visiting Silverswords have won their last nine. Both have matches prior to that, however: Chaminade at Concordia Irvine on Thursday; Point Loma home against Hawaii Hilo on Friday.

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for the latest news, notes, results, and stats from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
UP NEXT
A string of three consecutive road matches awaits the Falcons, beginning next Thursday, Nov. 2, at Simon Fraser in Burnaby, B.C., followed by a trip to Bellingham to face Western Washington on Saturday, Nov. 4. The first serve for both contests is at 7:00 p.m.

 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                       GNAC               Overall
Seattle Pacific           10-1        16-3
Central Washington         7-4        13-6
Simon Fraser               7-4        12-7
Western Washington         7-4         7-12
Saint Martin's             6-4        13-7
Northwest Nazarene         5-6         9-10
Alaska Fairbanks           5-6        12-13
Alaska Anchorage           4-7        12-14
Western Oregon             2-8         8-10
Montana State Billings     1-10        3-18