PORTLAND, Ore. – Make it a three-peat for Hannah Hair. … and a 'welcome to the team' for Allison Wilks.
 
For the third year in a row, Seattle Pacific middle blocker Hair is a unanimous selection for the Preseason All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball team.
 
Wilks, her teammate in the middle, was voted to the 14-player squad for the first time.
 
The announcement was made on Friday by the GNAC office.
 
 

"Both Hannah and Ali had great seasons last year. Both are leaders on the court who you can count on in big situations to get a block or a kill," head coach Jason Rhine said. "We love that our offense is pretty spread out, but that also enables our middles to be really effective. We're hopefully trying to use everybody on the court, and that opens things up for everybody, including the middles, to get kills for us
 
"We love that they bring that and that they're back, and we're looking forward to seeing what they do this season," Rhine added.
 
A 6-foot-1 senior from Walla Walla with junior eligibility because of the pandemic shutdown in 2020, Hair also has been a unanimous choice to the postseason All-GNAC first team for the past two years.
 
 

Last fall, Hair started all 26 matches and played all 100 sets in helping the Falcons go 13-13 overall, 11-7 in conference play to tie with Central Washington for third place in the standings. She totaled 106 blocks (11 solo), slammed 181 kills and hit a single-season best of .345.
 
Of her 11 solo blocks a career-high five of those came in a five-setter at Alaska Fairbanks on Oct. 15. She had a double-double of 10 blocks and 12 kills against Simon Fraser on Nov. 10, including the 300th block of her career.
 
Hair's hitting accuracy included three matches of .300-plus, five of .400-plus, three of .500-plus, and three of .600-plus. She had back-to-back matches with no hitting errors: 11 kills on 16 attacks (.688) against Saint Martin's on Oct. 1, and 10-0-15 (.667) against Montana State Billings on Oct. 8.
 
She was named GNAC Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 3 after combined totals of 20 kills and just one error on 31 attacks (.613) in victories against Central Oregon and Saint Martin's.
 
 

With the breakout season that she had last fall, Wilks earned a place on the All-GNAC honorable mention list. In addition, she was the GNAC Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 24 after recording 17 blocks combined in homecourt victories against Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene.
 
Wilks played in all 26 matches, with 24 starts, and was in action for all 100 sets last season. She set a career high with 10 block assists (and total blocks) in a five-set victory against Central on Oct. 20. She had at least one block on 24 of her 26 matches, and multiple blocks in 22 matches.
 
In the season finale at home against Western Washington on Nov. 12, Wilks had two blocks, including her career 200th.
 
But it wasn't all defense for Wilks, She also found the court with her single-season best 127 kills, and she did so with .280 hitting accuracy. She recorded a career-best .857 percentage (6 kills-0 errors-7 attacks) in a 3-0 sweep of Western Oregon on Oct. 29. That was one of Wilks' six error-free matches. Along with that .857, she had two contests of .300-plus hitting, three of .400-plus, four of .500-plus, and one  of .700-plus.
 
Wilks also led the Falcons with 38 service aces.

Central Washington setter Tia Andaya, who racked up 12 assist / kill / dig triple-doubles last fall, was voted as the Preseason Player of the Year. She is one of three players on the team from the Wildcats, announced on Wednesday as the unanimous favorite to win the GNAC title in the preseason coaches poll. SPU was picked for a third-place finish.


2023 GNAC Volleyball Preseason All-Conference Team
Preseason Player of the Year: Tia Andaya, Central Washington

Name                                 School                          Position       Ht.        Yr.           Hometown (Previous School)                                          
*!$^ Tia Andaya        Central Washington    S/OH     5-9    Sr.     Ellensburg, Wash. (Gonzaga)
*!$& Brooke Dexter     Simon Fraser          OPP      6-2    Jr.     Anchorage, Alaska (West Anchorage HS)
! Emma Daoud-Hebert    Central Washington    MB       6-0    Jr.     Woodinville, Wash. (Woodinville HS)
*!$ Hannah Hair        Seattle Pacific       MB       6-1    Sr.     Walla Walla, Wash. (Walla Walla HS)
*!$ Ashley Kaufman     Central Washington    OH       5-8    Sr.     Hayden, Idaho (Lake City HS)
Gabby Kepley           Western Washington    PIN      5-11   Jr.     Bothell, Wash. (North Creek HS)
* Karli Nielson        Alaska Fairbanks      OH       5-11   Jr.     South Weber, Utah (Northridge HS)
*$@# Hannah Stires     Central Washington    DS/L     5-5    Jr.     Nine Mile Falls, Wash. (Lakeside HS)
! Bailee Hartsook      Western Oregon        OH       5-9    Jr.     Sweet Home, Ore. (Sweet Home HS)
Caroline McMahon       Northwest Nazarene    L        5-7    Sr.     Medford, Ore. (Cascade Christian HS)
Nicole Blue            Alaska Anchorage      OH       5-9    Sr.     Cerritos, Calif. (Cerritos HS)
Devyn Oestreich        Western Washington    PIN      5-11   So.     Olympia, Wash. (Capital HS)
@ Allison Wilks        Seattle Pacific       MB       6-1    Sr.     Bothell, Wash. (North Creek HS)
@ Jocelyn Sherman      Simon Fraser          OH       5-10   Jr.     Victoria, B.C. (Belmont Secondary)
 
*-2022 Preseason All-Conference
!-2022 First Team All-GNAC
@-2022 Honorable Mention All-GNAC
$-2021 First Team All-GNAC
^-2021 GNAC Newcomer of the Year
#-2021 GNAC Defensive Player of the Year
&-2021 GNAC Freshman of the Year