COUGAR CLASSIC SCHEDULE
Friday, Sept. 8                      Seattle Pacific vs. Concordia Irvine, 11:00 a.m.
                                              Seattle Pacific at Cal State San Marcos, 6:00 p.m.
                                                The Sports Center / San Marcos, Calif.
 
Saturday, Sept. 9                 Seattle Pacific vs. St. Edward's, 10:00 a.m.
                                              Seattle Pacific vs. Colorado School of Mines, 3:00 p.m.
                                                The Sports Center / San Marcos, Calif.

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SEATTLE – They've gotten past their opening-weekend jitters. Put a couple marks into the win column. Even added a new line to the school volleyball record book.
 
Now, it's Week 2, and the Seattle Pacific Falcons are ready to get back onto the competition court.
 
After going 2-2 at the Seaside Invitational in San Diego, SPU returns to Cal State San Marcos for the Cougar Classic on Friday and Saturday.
 
The Falcons will play two matches each day. Up first is Concordia Irvine on Friday at 11:00 a.m., followed by host San Marcos at 6:00 p.m. Saturday's slate begins at 10:00 a.m. against St. Edward's of Texas, and concludes against Colorado School of Mines at 3:00 p.m.
 
All four matches will be in The Sports Center at CSSM, which is where Seattle Pacific actually started last week's Seaside tourney with a 3-0 sweep against Lewis University.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
All four Cougar Classic matches will have free live stats. The appropriate link is at the top of this story. Live Webcasts also will be available, but those require a paid subscription to the CCAA Network.  The link with information about that is also at the top of this story.
 
HANNAH HAMMERS HER WAY INTO RECORD BOOK
To say senior middle blocker Hannah hair was on target last Saturday afternoon against Cal State San Marcos isn't quite the whole story.
 
 

Hair swung at the ball 12 times and put 10 of them onto the floor. The other two were kept in play, giving her a final line 10 kills-0 errors-12 attacks for a hitting percentage of .833.
 
That tied the SPU record set on Sept. 27, 2010 by Nikki Lowell, who had an identical line of 10-0-12.
 
Hair's percentage was easily a career high, beating the .727 (8-0-11) that she recorded against Western Oregon on Oct. 2, 2021.
 
The error-free effort was her second of the season, 13^th of her career, and third with double-digit kills.
 
On Wednesday, Hair was selected as Female Falcon of the Week.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- It doesn't happen often in preseason action, but SPU will play teams from four different conferences this week: the Pacific West (Concordia Irvine), the California Collegiate Athletic Association (San Marcos), the Lone Star (St. Edwards), and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (Colorado Mines).
--Not only will the Falcons be somewhat familiar with the San Marcos venue, they'll also be familiar with the San Marcos team. In addition to having played a match in The Sports Center last Friday, they played CSSM last Saturday in their final Seaside Invite match, sweeping to a 3-0 victory.
-- At 2-2, SPU is already ahead of last year's record after one weekend, as it went 1-3 at the Concordia St. Paul-St. Cloud State Invitational in Minnesota.
-- For the second week in a row, the Falcons will be playing a team that is receiving votes in the AVCA national poll. Last week, it was Lewis and Point Loma Nazarene. This time, it'll be Colorado School of Mines on Saturday. The Orediggers were No. 22 in the preseason top 25. They are in the No. 30 position this week.
-- Speaking of receiving votes, SPU is on that list for the second straight week, now with 10 points. It had three points in preseason voting.
-- It's only one week in, but the Falcons are No. 2 on the GNAC hitting percentage list at .234. A big reason for that was their accuracy against Cal State San Marcos last Saturday when they hit .357 for the day on 46 kills and just 11 errors on 98 attacks. SPU hit .355 in Set 1, then .435 in Set 2, and .318 in Set 3.
-- Wilks had two error-free matches last week, and Hair had one, in which she tied the SPU single-match hitting record.
-- Their best mark last season was .351 (43-9-97) at Western Oregon on Oct. 29.
 

-- Senior middle blockers Allison Wilks and Hannah Hair ranks Nos. 1 and 3 in GNAC hitting. Wilks is at .533 (26-2-45), and Hair is at .465 (23-3-43).
-- Defensively, Seattle Pacific has three of the conference's top 10 blockers. Wilks and senior Erin Smith are tied for No. 4 at 1.15 per set (15 total for Smith, including a career-high nine against Biola last Friday) and 14 total for Wilks). Hair is tied for No. 9 at 1.00 per set (11 total).
--Winning the first set continues to be key for the Falcons. Last year, it happened just seven times, but they went on to win all seven of those matches. Last week's victories against Lewis and San Marcos also started with first-set victories and ended in 3-0 sweeps.
--While this will be head coach Jason Rhine's first match-up against Colorado School of Mines as SPU's head coach, he saw plenty of the Orediggers during his seven seasons as an assistant at Colorado Christian, as both schools are members of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
 
SCOUTING THE CONCORDIA IRVINE EAGLES: 3-1, 0-0 Pac West
All-time series: CUI leads, 2-0.  Current series streak: CUI won 2.  Last time: CUI 3, SPU 2 (23-25, 25-19, 19-25, 25-14, 15-6; Sept. 6, 2019 at San Diego).  Last SPU series win: None.  Golden Eagles on the Web.
Golden Eagles in a nutshell: Coming off a solid 17-10 season and 14-6 record in conference play, Concordia is right back in a winning groove, taking three out of four at its own Golden Eagle Invitational last weekend, the only loss coming to No. 4-ranked Wayne State. Senior 5-foot-9 outside hitter Kirra Schulz racked up 59 kills in those four matches, an average of 3.69 per set to rank No. 2 in the Pac West. Also in the top 10 (at No. 10) is junior 6-foot outside / opposite Kennedy Farley with 46 (2.88 per set). Schulz (with 9) and Farley (with 8) are among the top 10 for service aces, as well. Halli Hooks, a sophomore 6-4 middle blocker, is tough at the net with a conference-leading 1.25 blocks (20 total). Setting up the offense is 5-9 grad student Alyson Fullbright, averaging 6.0 assists.
 
SCOUTING THE CAL STATE SAN MARCOS COUGARS: 0-4, 0-0 CCAA
All-time series: SPU leads, 2-0.  Current series streak: SPU won 2.  Last time: SPU 3, CSSM 0 (25-19, 25-17, 28-26; Sept. 2, 2023 at San Diego).  Last CSSM series win: None.  Cougars on the Web.
Cougars in a nutshell: Things started well for San Marcos last week, as it took the first two sets of its opener against Biola in the Seaside Invitational. But it then went the opposite direction, as BU came back to win that match in five, and the Cougars subsequently were swept in their next three matches, including by SPU in the tournament finale on Saturday. Junior 6-foot outside hitter Sofia Hedqvist and redshirt senior 5-11 outside Trinity Barr each had seven kills against the Falcons, and share the team lead with 37 apiece through four matches. Anchoring the middle are 6-1 redshirt junior Alyssa Gurrola (8 blocks, .279 hitting) and 6-foot junior Isabelle Bakken (6 blocks, .240 hitting).
 
SCOUTING THE ST. EDWARD'S HILLTOPPERS: 1-3, 0-0 Lone Star
All-time series: First meeting.  Hilltoppers on the Web.
Hilltoppers in a nutshell: St. Edwards dropped its first three matches at the UT Tyler Invitational – including a pair of five-setters after being up 2-0 against Fort Lewis and 2-1 against Southern Nazarene – but finished on a positive by sweeping the University of Montevallo. Leading the way for the Hilltoppers are three players who not only can find the floor, but can do so with a certain degree of accuracy. Freshman 5-foot-11 outside hitter Landry Baughman leads the team with 37 kills on .217 hitting. Addy Badley, a redshirt sophomore 6-foot middle blocker / opposite, has 32 kills and hits .312, and freshman 6-1 middle blocker Cora Young has 20 kills on .405 hitting. Baughman and Badly also are the top blockers with eight each – and Badely's total includes six solos. In fact, the 40 total blocks for St. Edward's are split right down the middle with 20 solos and 20 combined.
 
SCOUTING THE COLORADO MINES OREDIGGERS: 2-2, 0-0 RMAC
All-time series: Tied 1-1.  Current series streak: Mines won 1.  Last time: Mines 3, SPU 0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-17; Sept. 3, 2021 at Golden, Colo.).  Last SPU series win: SPU 3, Mines 1 (SPU 3, Mines 0 (15-9, 15-8, 15-10; Sept. 26, 1991 at Golden, Colo.).  Orediggers on the Web.
Orediggers in a nutshell: Colorado Mines won two (both 3-1), then lost two (both 3-0) at its own Oredigger Classic last weekend. Grad student 6-foot-2 outside hitter Rose Stuewe is already coming up with some big numbers, logging 50 kills in the four matches combined, on .277 hitting accuracy. That included 18 kills on .484 hitting in the opener against Fort Hays State. Madison Glassco, a redshirt junior 5-11 outside , logged 34 kills, and sophomore 6-foot middle blocker Morgan McChesney was effective  both ways with 27 kills on .309 hitting and a team-leading 16 blocks (two solo), a 1.23 average that is No. 2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Allison Jansen has 23 kills and is hitting .467 (23-2-45), ranking No 2 in the RMAC. The Orediggers are hitting .238 as a team and averaging 14 kills per set.

 

COACH RHINE SAYS …
(On last week's matches)
"Allison (Wilks) and Hannah (Hair) had some great hitting percentages. Sarah Brachvogel took a lot of swings for us and found some creative ways to keep scoring. I thought Sydney (Perry) had a couple of really good matches, figured out some good match-ups, took advantage and scored at a higher rate. Sometimes, there are some people going great, and other times, there are other people doing well. We're trying to get everyone clicking at the same time."
 
(On this week's tournament)
"Irvine had a good first weekend. That will be a fun match-up; they have a little bit different style. We get to see San Marcos again, so we have to make sure we're ready for what they might bring. And I'm looking forward to playing Colorado Mines. They're from my old conference (RMAC), I know the coaches well, and they do a good job."
 
DOUBLE DOSE OF DOUBLE-DOUBLE NEWBIES
Coming into the season just two returning players who had recorded  double-doubles in an SPU uniform: junior setter Emily Tulino (14) and senior middle blocker Hannah Hair (3).
 
That list is now up to four.
 
 

Sarah Brachvogel got her first one in last Friday's victory against Lewis, logging 10 kills and 10 digs. She came up with another one the next day against Biola, with 15 kills and 11 digs.
 
A few hours later on Saturday, senior outside hitter / opposite Sydney Perry recorded her first, with 10 kills and 10 digs against Cal State San Marcos.
 
In that same match, Tulino came up with her first of the season, with 19 assists and 10 digs.

 
RAISING THEIR OWN STANDARDS
Hannah Hair's.833 hitting effort against Cal State San Marcos last week, which doubled as a career high along with tying the SPU single match record, wasn't the only significant individual performance.
 
 

Other career highs:
-- Sarah Brachvogel 11 digs against Biola (after previously setting a high of 10 just 24 hours earlier against Lewis).
-- Erin Smith nine block assists / total blocks against Biola.
-- Sydney Perry 10 digs against Cal State San Marcos.
-- Abigail Cunningham tying her career high of eight assists against Cal State San Marcos.
 
MARCH TO A MILESTONE
In the making
100th block            Sydney Perry (has 94)
100th dig                Brianna Ingram (has 99)
200th assist           Abigail Cunningham (has 186)
600th kill                Hannah Hair (has 591)
 
Made last week
100th dig                Sarah Brachvogel (has 124)
300th kill               Sydney Perry (has 315)
                             Allison Wilks (has 302)
500th kill               Maddie Pruden (has 519)
600th dig               Abigail Cunningham (has 605)

AROUND THE WEST
After the first full weekend of the season, the GNAC has two of the West Region's four undefeated teams. Northwest Nazarene went 4-0 at the Otter Invitational in Seaside, Calif., and Western Oregon won all four matches at the Stanislaus State Tournament in Turlock, Calif. Simon Fraser went 3-1 at the Hawaii Challenge in Honolulu. Central Washington split four matches at the Yotes Classic Showcase in San Bernardino, but one of the wins was 3-1 against Cal State Los Angeles, which reached last year's NCAA Final Four.
 
Cal State San Bernardino won all four matches at its own Yotes Classic, which included a 3-0 sweep of Western Washington and a 3-2 win against Central. While the Coyote are the only unbeaten team in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, four others—Cal Poly Pomona, Chico State, San Francisco State, and Cal State Stanislaus – are all 3-1.
 
Chaminade sits atop the Pacific West Conference at 8-0. The Silverswords got started a week earlier than most other schools by playing in the Alaska / Hawaii Challenge at Alaska Fairbanks, going 4-0 there, and following up with a 4-0 run through the Hawaii Challenge in Honolulu. Concordia Irvine is 3-1 coming off its own Golden Eagle Invitational. Biola, Point Loma Nazarene, and Pac West / D2 newcomer Westmont are all 2-1.

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link fof the latest news, notes, and results from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific heads into GNAC play next week, visiting Western Oregon and Saint Marrtin's. The first serve in Monmouth on Thursday, Sept. 14, is at 7:00 p.m. Then on Saturday the 16th, the Falcons and Saints will get going at 3:00 p.m. in Lacey.


GNAC STANDINGS
                                                        GNAC           Overall
Northwest Nazarene         0-0       4-0
Western Oregon             0-0       4-0
Simon Fraser               0-0       3-1
Alaska Anchorage           0-0       4-4
Central Washington         0-0       2-2
Montana State Billings     0-0       2-2
Saint Martin's             0-0       2-2
Seattle Pacific            0-0       2-2
Alaska Fairbanks           0-0       2-6
Western Washington         0-0       0-4