SEATTLE – Why settle for just one All-Region award when you can have two …
 
… and have a teammate join you on the elite postseason squad …
 
… and do all of that while playing for the West's Coach of the Year?
 
That's what Wednesday was like for Hannah Hair and the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
As they get ready for the program's first NCAA Tournament volleyball match in 12 years, Hair, Sarah Brachvogel and Jason Rhine all were honored with All-West Region awards.
 
Hair was named to the first team on both the D2 Conference Commissioners Association and the American Volleyball Coaches Association lists. That makes three All-Region awards for her. She was an AVCA honorable mention All-Region pick in 2021.
 
Brachvogel made the D2CCA second team. It is her first regional honor.
 
And Rhine was announced as AVCA's top coach in the West Region. It is his first and comes on the heels of being named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Coach of the Year last week.
 
"I appreciate it. It's surprising, with all these good coaches (in the region)," Rhine said. "I'm humbled to work with this team and get recognized for the work they've been doing all fall."

The D2CCA awards are voted on by sports information directors in each region. The AVCA awards are selected by member coaches.
 
A TWO-WAY THREAT
The plaudits keep flowing in for senior middle blocker Hair. Last week, she was voted the GNAC's Player of the Year and the Defensive Player of the Year. That's the first time one person has collected both awards in the same season.
 
The 6-foot-1 Hair certainly has the numbers to back it up. Heading into Thursday's NCAA first-round match at noon against Cal State Los Angeles, Hair has 156 total blocks – 41 more than her previous single-season high of 115 in 2021. She took over the NCAA Division II national lead in late September and has stayed in that top spot ever since, currently with a 1.66 per-set average.
 
 

She was chosen as the GNAC Defensive Player of the Week three times.
 
She has been every bit as much of a force on offense as she is on defense. Hair hammered 155 kills at .317 hitting accuracy. She had six error-free matches, one of which came on Sept. 2 in a 3-0 sweep of Cal State San Marcos to finish the Seaside Invite. Hair had 10 kills on 12 attacks in that one, an .833 percentage that tied the single-match school record.
 
Hair is on the brink of becoming the 19th player in program history to score 1,000 points (kills-aces-blocks). She currently has 990.5.
 
"It's great that coaches in our region see what an impact she has for our team and across both our conference and the region," Rhine said. "She has done a lot of hard work and has a great attitude. She deserves all the recognition that she gets."
 
Added  Hair, "It's super-exciting, and I'm really, really grateful for those things. Of course, we talk about how those awards are always team awards. You can't get that recognition if you're not playing with amazing volleyball players and playing for amazing volleyball coaches"

FABULOUS FALL FOR BRACH
Brachvogel has put together her best-ever season, and has raised her level even higher during the past month as the Falcons not only qualified for their first NCAAs since 2011, but also claimed their first conference crown since that same year. She recorded double-digit kills in each of the last eight matches – a stretch that started with 21 at Northwest Nazarene on Oct. 21, and included 19 in the GNAC title-clinching match against Saint Martin's.
 
 

By the end of the regular season, Brachvogel had racked up 332 kills. That's 108 more than the 224 she had through her first three seasons combined. She is hitting .223, by far a single-season career best, and after not ever having logged a kill-dig double-double prior previously, has recorded six this season. She had 197 digs, 33 service aces, and 49 blocks.
 
"It's truly exciting to see how much Sarah has continued to grow, going from a new starting role last year all the way up to one of our go-to hitters and being recognized for her amount of kills and blocks and aces. She scores in different ways and continues to grow as a player and a person, and I'm excited for her and what's next."
 
FALCONS FLYING HIGH WITH RHINE
 

During his second season in charge, Rhine guided the Falcons to a 22-4 record. After starting the season at 1-2, they ran off 11 consecutive victories. Then, they bounced back from a loss to Western Washington and strung together another seven in a row, and now have won their last three straight heading into NCAAs.
 
The Falcons were among the GNAC's top three in highest hitting percentage, assists, blocks, aces, and lowest opponents' hitting percentage.
 
Rhine has built a 37-17 record in his two years here.
 
"In such a short amount of time, the way he fit with the team and the way the team responds to his style of coaching and the way he treats us is so amazing," Hair said.