THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Oct. 3                 Alaska Fairbanks at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                             Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                             Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Oct. 5                  Alaska Anchorage at Seattle Pacific, 2:00 p.m.
                                             Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                             Live Webcast        Live stats
 

SEATTLE – Four weekends … eight plane rides … two van rides … 6,700-plus miles …
 
… and 11 matches.
 
That's how the Seattle Pacific Falcons spent their September, on and off the volleyball court. They got plenty of practice time at home. But now, they finally get to play at home.
 
SPU will spend most of October in Brougham Pavilion, beginning this week when the two Alaska schools come to town. Fairbanks (10-4, 2-2GNAC), one of the most improved teams in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, is here on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. Anchorage (7-7, 1-3 GNAC), always a tough hurdle to clear, is in on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
 
The Falcons (1-10, 1-2 GNAC) are hoping the friendly confines of Brougham will help them get back on track. They were 8-1 at home last season.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
This week's matches and all remaining GNAC contests will have free live Webcasts on YouTube and free live stats. The appropriate links for this weeks' matches are at the top of this story.

TULINO WAS ALL OVER THE COURT
Senior setter Emily Tulino was doing a lot more than just assisting and digging last week.

Along with an assist / dig double-double, she put a career-high three kills on to the court at Northwest Nazarene. That gives her eight for the year; her single-season best is 11.

At Central Washington, in addition to another double-double, Tulino tied her career high with two block assists. She has five blocks so far, topping her previous single-season best of four from last year.
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- This will be just the fifth time in the 39-year history of the program that the Falcons won't have played at home until October. The last time that happened was 1997 when their first Brougham Pavilion match was on Oct. 6.
-- The latest-ever home opener was Oct. 16, 1993.
-- SPU went 8-1 in Brougham Pavilion last year, the only loss coming to Western Washington.
-- This will be the second time in the past three years that the home opener has been against Fairbanks. In 2022, the Falcons won, 3-1.
-- Seattle Pacific's all-time homecourt record is 254-126.
-- That includes a 128-72 record in GNAC matches dating back to the conference's first season 2001,and 16-6 in first GNAC home matches of the season.
-- SPU won all four matches against the Alaska schools last year, defeating both at home and both on the road. That has happened just twice previously, in 2005 and again in 2006.
-- Seattle Pacific remains one of the best defensive teams in the GNAC, ranking No. 1 in blocking (2.52 per set) and No. 2 in lowest opponent's hitting percentage (.172).
-- The Falcons had 49 total blocks in last week's two matches: 23 at Northwest Nazarene (20 block assists / 3 solo) and 26 at Central Washington (all block assist).
-- That defense will get put to the test against Fairbanks on Thursday as the Nanooks are No. 1 in hitting (.238) and No. 1 in kills per set (12.77).
-- As was the case at Central last Saturday, three of the GNAC's top-10 hitters will share the court on Thursday: No. 4 Hannah Hair (.305) and No. 9 Allison Wilks (.279) from SPU, and No. 8 Karli Nielson of Fairbanks (.283).
-- It also will feature four of the top 10 blockers: No. 1 Hair (1.45), No. 2 Elizabeth Jackson of UAF (1.12), No. 4 Josie Jansen of UAF (1.-8) and co-No. 7 Wilks (0.98).
-- Coach Jason Rhine is 3-1 against Alaska Fairbanks and 2-2 against Alaska Anchorage.
 
SCOUTING THE ALASKA FAIRBANKS NANOOKS: 10-4, 2-2 GNAC (tie 4th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 43-18.  Current series streak:  SPU won 2 .  Last time: SPU 3,  UAF 1 (20-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-13 Oct. 28, 2023 at Seattle).  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: Alaska Fairbanks put together a nine-match winning streak after an 0-2 start and comes to Seattle having taken 10 of its last 12. That included a GNAC-opening night 3-2 win at Western Washington after having gone 0-27 previously in WWU's Carver Gymnasium. Senior 5-foot-11 outside hitter Karli Nielson is one of the top offensive threats in the conference, having slammed 181 kills (3.42 per set, No. 3 on the GNAC list) on .283 hitting (No. 8). Also in triple-digit kills are senior 5-11 outside Rilee White with 136 and junior 6-foot opposite Elena Guc with 126. White also has delivered a team-leading 27 service aces. Elizabeth Jackson, a senior 6-2 middle, has 56 blocks, an average of 1.12 per set that is No. 2 in the GNAC.
 
SCOUTING THE ALASKA ANCHORAGE SEAWOLVES:  7-7, 1-3 GNAC (9th)
All-time series: UAA leads, 33-32.  Current series streak: SPU won 2.  Last time: SPU 3, UAA 1 (25-15, 25-17, 19-25, 25-20; Oct. 26, 2023 at Seattle).  Last UAA series win: UAA 3, SPU 0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-13; Oct. 13, 2022 at Anchorage).  Seawolves on the Web.
Seawolves in a nutshell: Anchorage ended preseason play on a strong note, winning three of its last four. But it has been a rough start in the GNAC, falling in three at Simon Fraser and five at Western Washington before splitting at home last week by beating Saint Martin's, but falling to Western Oregon. Leading the way on offense are junior 5-foot-11 outside hitter Tia Allen with 115 kills, and senior 6-2 outside Bethany Tuchardt, right behind her with 114. Nearing triple digits are senior 6-foot outside Katie Birtcil-Tipton with 97 and junior 6-foot outside Larssen Anderson with 94. UAA has three players with 20-plus service aces, led by 24 of senior 5-10 setter Kadyn Osborne. Leilani Elder, a senior 6-foot middle, is the leading blocker with 50, including seven solos and an average of 0.98 per set.
 
SETTERS SETTING UP DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Heading into last week, the Falcons had just one double-double for the season, that being when fifth-year outside hitter Sydney Perry went for 12 kills and 12 digs against Cal State Los Angeles on Sept. 6.
 
 

The setter combination of senior Emily Tulino and sophomore Sophia Chambers pushed that total up to four.
 
Tulino had back-to-back-to-back performances, logging 38 assists (just one shy of her career high) and 14 digs at Northwest Nazarene, then 34 assists and 18 digs at Central Washington. She now has 26 for her career, most among the current crop of Falcons.
 
Chambers had 13 assists and 13 digs at NNU on Thursday. That gave 12 double-doubles for her career.
 
BIG AS EVER ON THE BLOCK
Hannah Hair has been on a tear with her blocking. The fifth-year middle has a total of 24 in her last three matches – eight each at Montana State Billings on Sept.21, Northwest Nazarene on Sept. 26,and Central Washington on Sept. 28.
 
 

But that's not the most productive three-match stretch that the two-time All-American has had. Last October, Hair got her hands on 30 blocks during a three-match stretch: 11 at Central Washington, nine at Northwest Nazarene, and 10 at home against Alaska Anchorage. And she kept it going through the next two matches, with nine vs. Alaska Fairbanks and nine at Simon Fraser.
 
Hair is up to 64 total blocks through the first 11 matches, an average of 1.45 per set. Her average ranks No. 8 in Division II. The leader is Paige Sanders of Grand Valley State at 1.65. Hair finished atop that list in 2023 at 1.63 per set.
 
Her block total of 64 is No. 9. The leader there is Kaylee Freund of Tiffin with 82. Hair finished last year with 160.
 
Hair is ahead of last year's total. Through 11 matches in 2023, she had 56 blocks.
 
4 DOWN, 1 TO GO IN PURSUIT OF 500
A pair of SPU players both reached the 500 milestone last Thursday at Northwest Nazarene – albeit in different stat categories.
 
 

Fifth-year outside hitter Sydney Perry's career-high 19 kills pushed her well beyond the 500 mark. She came at 491,so needed just nine more. Add on the 10 that she logged at Central Washington on Saturday, and Perry is up to 520 for her career.
 
Sophomore setter Sophia Chambers needed 13 assists at the start of the week to reach 500. She picked up exactly that many at NNU and had one more on Saturday at Central. She now has 501.
 
Earlier in the season, fifth-year middle Allison Wilks recorded her 500th kill and fifth-year middle Hannah Hair logged her 500th block.
 
The next one closing in on 500 is fifth-year opposite Erin Smith, with 485 kills.
 
 

COACH JASON RHINE SAYS …
(On finally getting to play at home)
"It feels good looking forward to some home matches. Some of our (freshman) players have never experienced it, so that's exciting They'll be happy to be back sleeping in their own beds and having a normal match day at home."
 
(On Sydney Perry's 19-kill night at Northwest Nazarene)
"We ran her a lot, she took a lot of swings and came up with a couple big blocks and played a good match. She came out and was really aggressive and was creative in her attacking, and that was great to see."
 
FALCONS REPLAY
--Sydney Perry slammed a career-high 19 kills, Hannah Hair had 11 along with eight blocks, but Seattle Pacific's comeback from two sets down  ultimately fell short in a 3-2 loss at Northwest Nazarene. Scores were 26-24, 25-23, 21-25, 19-25, 15-12.
-- Perry had 10 kills and Emily Tulino double-doubled for the second straight match, but Seattle Pacific saw Central Washington bounce back from a first-set loss to take a 3-1 victory on Saturday afternoon, 20-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-15.
 
MARCH TO A MILESTONE
In the making
200th dig         Zoe Shuckhart (has 194)
300th dig         Sarah Brachvogel (has 293)
400th dig         Christina Lopez (has 382)
500th kill        Erin Smith (has 485)
600th kill        Sarah Brachvogel (has 564)
1,000th dig       Abigail Cunningham (has 862)
2,000th assist    Emily Tulino (has 1,850)
 
Made last week
500th assist      Sophia Chambers (has 501)
500th kill        Sydney Perry (has 520)
 
AROUND THE WEST
Central Washington has emerged as the last team with an unbeaten GNAC record, now at 4-0 (6-4 overall). There's a 1½-game separation between the Wildcats and the second-place tie between Simon Fraser (2-1, 6-4 overall) and Western Washington (2-1 after sweeping Simon In Bellingham last week; 3-6 overall). Then it's a four-way tie for fourth at 2-2.
 
Cal Poly Pomona is making a strong case as the team to beat in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The Broncos already have beaten Cal State San Bernardino (3-1 CCAA, 7-4 overall) and San Francisco State (3-1, 9-3 overall). Last Saturday, they scored a 3-0 sweep of defending national champion Cal State Los Angeles (2-2, 7-4 overall), 25-14, 25-22, 25-15. Against those three teams, Pomona dropped a grand total of one set, that to San Bern. Chico State is also 3-1 (6-5). Chico hosts San Bernardino on Friday and San Francisco on Saturday.
 
The Pacific West Conference is shaping up as a three-way tussle between Azusa Pacific (5-0, 9-3 overall), Point Loma Nazarene (4-0, 10-0 overall, the last unbeaten team in the West) and Chaminade (3-0, 10-4 overall). Not to be overlooked is Fresno Pacific (3-1, 7-4). Point Loma hosts Azusa on Thursday, and Fresno is home against Chaminade on Saturday.
 
UP NEXT
While the Falcons will be home for most of the month, they do have one October road trip, and that is next week, as the visit Western Washington on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. in Bellingham, then cross the border to Burnaby, B.C., on Saturday, Oct. 12, taking on Simon Fraser at 5:00p.m.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                      GNAC          Overall
Central Washington        4-0       6-4
Simon Fraser              2-1       6-4
Western Washington        2-1       3-6
Western Oregon            2-2       9-3
Alaska Fairbanks          2-2      10-4
Northwest Nazarene        2-2       5-7
Saint Martin's            2-2       4-8
Seattle Pacific           1-2       1-10
Alaska Anchorage          1-3       7-7
Montana State Billings    0-3       6-6


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