THE SCHEDULE
Saturday, Nov. 23                Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific, 2:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 

SEATTLE – Collectively, they've played 699 volleyball matches for Seattle Pacific. Been on the court for 2,646 sets.
 
Now, after five seasons in maroon for some of them and four seasons for others, it's down the last match and the final sets for all of them.
 
The Falcons will wrap up their season and eight players will wrap up their careers on Saturday when Montana State Billings comes to Brougham Pavilion. The first serve will be at approximately 2:10 p.m.
 
SPU (9-16,9-8 GNAC) will be looking to secure a winning record in Great Northwest Athletic Conference competition.
 
Prior to match time, the Falcons will honor fifth-year players Sarah Brachvogel, Hannah Hair, Sydney Perry, Zoe Shuckhart, Erin Smith, and Allison Wilks, along with true seniors Abigail Cunningham and Emily Tulino.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Saturday's match will have a free live Webcast on YouTube and free live stats. Greg Sexton will call the action. The appropriate links are at the top of this story.
 
SALUTING THE SENIORS
They hadn't planned on having a five-year college career. But circumstances beyond their control ultimately presented them with that opportunity.
 
Regardless of how long they were here or how many matches and sets they played in, all eight of this year's Senior Day honorees all made significant contributions to the program.
 

Outside hitter Sarah Brachvogel was not able to play this year because of a knee injury. But her final competitive season in 2023 was by far her best with 340 kills, 204 digs, and 36 aces. That helped her make the All-GNAC first team and the D2CCA All-Region second team. And she was named the MVP of the preseason Cal State San Marcos Cougar Classic.

Abigail Cunningham has been steady and reliable in the back row, whether as the libero or as a defensive specialist, coming up with 948 digs. She also has delivered 74 service aces. At this year's season-opening Yotes Classic in San Bernardino, she stepped into the libero's spot, had 73 digs and was named to the All-Tournament team.
 
Middle blocker Hannah Hair will go down as one of the premier players in Seattle Pacific and GNAC history. She broke the conference career blocks record on Nov. 2 with her 598th. Last season, she was the NCAA Division II leader for blocks per set and was second in total blocks. She is a two-time All-American, was last year's GNAC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, and was this year's Preseason Player of the Year.
 
Sydney Perry is coming to the end of her best-ever season. She has 248 kills – her first time in the 200s – plus 25 service aces and 86 digs. All of those are single-season bests. Her kills total includes a career-high 19 at Northwest Nazarene on Sept. 26. Just last Thursday at Saint Martin's, she hit a season-best and error-free .458 with 11 kills on 24 attacks.
 
Zoe Shuckhart has been another dependable performer in the back row. This fall, for the first time in her career, she has reached triple digits in digs, coming into her final match with 103, including three matches in double digits. On Oct. 24 when SPU scored a 3-1 victory against Central Washington, Shuckhart did her part with a career-high four service aces.
 
Erin Smith has become a regular productive presence on the right side. Along with 184 kills – including the 500th of her career – she has gotten her hands on 73 total blocks, including her career 200th. Several of her kills or blocks have come at opportune times just when the Falcons needed a point to take the lead or close out a set. Her 41 digs this fall is a single-season best.
 
Emily Tulino has had by far the best season of her career. She comes into her final match with 791 assists this season and set up her 2,000^th on Oct. 17 against Western Oregon. On Nov. 2 in a five-setter at Alaska Fairbanks, Tulino racked up a career-high 61 assists. That was her third career high of the season. She will become just the fourth setter in the 39-year history of the program to lead the team in assists for all four years of her career..
 
Allison Wilks will conclude her career as the best single-season hitter in SPU history and one of the best blockers. In 2023, Wilks hit .404. That made her the first Falcon ever to finish north of .400. In fact, she stayed above .400 for the entire season after hitting .455 in the first match of 2023. This season, Wilks has recorded her 500th career kill, her 300th block and her 300th dig.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- A victory on Saturday would not only give the Falcons a winning record in GNAC play at 10-8, it would guarantee them at least a tie for fifth place in the standings. If Alaska Anchorage beats both Western Washington and Simon Fraser, the Seawolves also would finish 10-8. If UAA loses either match, Seattle Pacific would be alone in fifth.
-- The Falcons are 5-3 at home.
-- A win against Billings would make it three season series sweeps in two weeks. Last week, SPU polished season sweeps of Saint Martin's and Western Oregon.
-- SPU scored its first victory of the season with a 3-1 decision at MSUB on Sept. 21. Sydney Perry had 10 kills, Hannah Hair recorded eight blocks (3 solo), and both Hair (.333) and Allison Wilks (.389) topped the .300 hitting mark.
-- Of the seven sets they played last week, the Falcons hit .300-plus in five of them: all three at Saint Martin's on Thursday, and two of the four at Western Oregon on Saturday, including .471 (19 kills-3 errors-34 attacks) in the third at Western Oregon on Saturday.
-- In the Saint Martin's match, both Hair (10-0-13) and  Perry (11-0-24) had error-free matches up front.
-- Emily Tulino comes into the final match with 13 assist / dig double-doubles for the season and 37 for her career.
-- Wilks and Hair are ranked No. 2 and 4, respectively in GNAC hitting, with Wilks at .356 and Hair at .321.
-- Coach Jason Rhine is 5-0 all-time against Montana State Billings.
 
SCOUTING THE MONTANA STATE BILLINGS YELLOWJACKETS: 7-20, 0-17 GNAC (10th).
All-time series: SPU leads, 38-13.  Current series streak: SPU won 7.  Last time: SPU 3, MSUB 1 (25-12, 20-25, 25-12,25-22; Sept. 21 at Billings).  Last MSUB series win: MSUB 3, SPU 1, (25-22, 25-23, 21-25, 25-19; Nov. 14, 2019 at Seattle).  Yellowjackets on the Web.
Yellowjackets in a nutshell: Billings got off to a promising start at 3-0, 4-1 and 6-3. But it has been a rough year in GNAC play. Sophomore 6-foot-1 middle blocker Julia Gordon has been a solid, consistent performer. She has 236 kills (2.46 per set) on a team-high .268 hitting. She also is the team's top blocker with 71, including 19 solos. Gordon had four blocks (all block assists) against SPU in September. Sophomore 5-10 outside hitter Jordin Taulua leads the way with 270 kills (2.93), and 5-9 grad student outside Jahsita Fa'ali'I is close behind with 256. Fa'ali'I also sets the serving pace with 33 aces. Senior defensive specialist / libero Christine Funk is approaching 500 digs for the season, coming into the week with 478.
 
NO. 1 … AND NO. 1 … AND NO. 1
For the second year in a row, Hannah Hair is going to be the No. 1 blocker in the GNAC She starts the week with 153, an average of 1.55 per set. The closest conference player to her is Central Washington's Morgan Halady, who is No. 2 in blocks per set at 1.17 and co-No. 2 in total blocks with 97.(SPU teammate Allison Wilks also has 97).
 
Hair also leads NCAA Division II in both categories. In blocks per set, her 1.55 is ahead Jada Suguturaga of Augusta (Ga.), who is at 1.48. For total blocks' Hair's 153 is plus-5 on second-place Bella Ray of Lewis (Illinois).
 
It's possible Hair could hang on to the lead in both categories. But both Augusta and Lewis are well positioned to make the NCAA Tournament, so Suguturaga and Ray will have additional opportunities to add to their stats.
 
 

THEY GOT TO A GRAND
No matter what happens this week, Hair and Allison Wilks will wind up their college days having combined for more than 1,000 blocks between them.
 
It happened last Thursday at Saint Martin's. The started that match with 999 (618 for Hair, 381 for Wilks). The only question was, which one of them would get the 1,000th?
 
Turned out to be Hair. On the fourth point of the match, she and Eva LaRochelle went up and got a combined block. That made it 1,000. Hair had one more for the evening and Wilks also had one.
 
On Saturday at Western Oregon, Wilks had six more and Hair had four That puts them at 1,012.
 
SO CLOSE TO 8.0
No question that EmilyTulino is going to finish with her career-best per-set assist average this season. She comes into the week with 791 assists in 99 sets – a 7.99 average. Essentially, she's one assist short of 8.00.
 
So, what will it take to get there?
 
If it's a three-set match on Saturday against Billings, Tulino would need 25 or more assists to reach 8.00. If it goes four, she would need at least 33, and if it were to go the full five sets, she would need a minimum of 41.
 
Tulino's best per-set average was 6.55 as a freshman in 2021 (544 assists / 83 sets). Her highest total was last year's 568 in 101 sets (5.62 per set).
 
FALCONS REPLAY
-- Sydney Perry slammed 11 kills on an error-free hitting, Hannah Hair had 10 – also with an error-free performance – and SPU notched a 3-0 victory against Saint Martin's last Thursday. Scores were 25-17, 25-22, 25-21.
-- Eva LaRochelle hammered a career-high 15 kills, Erin Smith came up with a season-best seven blocks, and the Falcons won their final road match of the year, beating Western Oregon last Saturday, 3-1. Scores were 25-23, 17-25, 25-22, 25-18.

MARCH TO A MILESTONE
In the making
400th block            Allison Wilks (has 388)
600th assist           Sarah Chambers (has 532)
1,000th dig             Abigail Cunningham (has 948)
 
Made last week
300th dig                Allison Wilks (has 301)
 
AROUND THE WEST
First, it was Simon Fraser getting the upper hand for the GNAC title by winning in a 3-0 sweep at Central Washington. Then last Saturday in Burnaby, Central won in a 3-0 sweep. Now, the Wildcats are on top 14-2 while the Red Leafs are 13-3 heading- into the final matches of the season. Central is at home against Saint Martin's and Western Oregon. Simon visits Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday and Alaska Anchorage on Saturday. Whoever emerges on top gets the automatic NCAA qualifying berth, but both teams are well positioned to make the eight-team West Regional. Fairbanks has an outside chance, but would need to beat the Red Leafs and Western Washington.
 
Cal Poly Pomona already had the California Collegiate Athletic Association regular-season title wrapped up, but its 18-match winning streak came to an end last Thursday with a 3-1 loss at Cal State San Bernardino. However, the Broncos (23-2, 17-1 CCAA turned right around and beat second-place San Francisco State on Saturday, 3-1. Those two teams are the Nos.1 and 2 seeds for this week's conference tournament at Pomona. The intriguing first-round match is between No. 4 seed and defending national champion Cal State Los Angeles and perennial West Region qualifier and No 5 seed San Bernardino. Whoever wins that is likely into regionals. But the loser could be on the bubble.
 
The Pacific West Conference showdown between host Point Loma Nazarene and visiting Chaminade went to the Silverswords last Friday, 3-1 (25-16, 20-25, 25-23, 25-21). That ended a 22-match winning streak for the Sea Lions (23-1, 17-1) while Chaminade (25-4, 18-0) has won 15 in a row. Both teams, which are all but officially bound for the NCAAs, have two regular-season matches remaining this week..
 
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for the latest news, notes, results, and stats from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
UP NEXT
That's it. The Falcons will return to action next September. Their preseason schedule is still a work in progress. GNAC play will begin the third weekend of the month..
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                     GNAC         Overall
Central Washington       14-2     16-6
Simon Fraser             13-3     17-6
Alaska Fairbanks         11-5     17-7
Western Washington       11-5     12-10
Seattle Pacific Coast     9-8      9-16
Alaska Anchorage          8-8     14-12
Western Oregon            7-9     16-10
Northwest Nazarene        4-12     7-17
Saint Martin's            4-12     6-18
Montana State Billings    0-17     7-20
 

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