From the first practice of the season to the last point, Abbie Wright reminds her players to trust the process.
That process – and the trust that her Falcons placed in it – has yielded some winning rewards.
After winning eight of their final 12 matches in 2019 and then seeing their fall 2020 season canceled by the coronavirus, Wright's Falcons put together an 11-7 record during an abbreviated 2021 spring schedule. That included two victories against Western Washington (the second of which was a three-game sweep in Brougham Pavilion) and back-to-back victories against Central Washington, also in Brougham.
Through her four seasons at the helm, Wright has racked up 50. During that time, SPU has hit the .500 mark in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action twice.
In the classroom, seven SPU players were on the GNAC All-Academic team in 2020. During Wright’s four seasons, 17 Falcons have combined to earn 29 conference academic awards.
With a 50-51 overall record and 29-31 in GNAC matches, Wright comes into Year 5 with a team of 18 players – more than she has ever had. Of those, two are newcomers for the 2021 season. That group of 18 includes 11 players from Washington.
Wright was named the head coach at Seattle Pacific on Feb. 16, 2017 after serving the previous four seasons as an assistant under head coach Aaron Seltzer at Biola. During her first year there in 2013, the Eagles reached the NAIA national championship match before falling short of University of Texas-Brownsville.
Biola returned to the tournament in 2014, 2015, and 2016. The team’s overall record during those four years was 115-24. The 2014 campaign included a share of the Golden State Athletic Conference title.
In 2015, the program achieved its first-ever No. 1 national ranking. It was after that year when Wright earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association / NAIA Southwest Region and National Assistant Coach of the Year Award.
A setter during her days on the court, Wright still owns the Biola records for most matches played (143), most sets played (508), and service aces (182). Her teams made it to NAIAs all four years, advancing the semifinals in 2007 and 2008, and to the quarterfinals in 2010.
Following the 2016 season, Wright was named to “30 Under 30” list by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. That honor recognizes top coaches across all levels of the game who are age 30 or younger.
“I’m a student of the game, and that’s something I really take pride in, constantly searching for the best way to do things, Wright said. “I’m prepared to work hard and stay a student of the game, and to grow, and get better in my coaching style.”
Wright graduated in 2010 with a degree in sociology, and minors in mathematics and Biblical studies. She was recruited by SPU before ultimately deciding to attend Biola.
“It’s kind of cool now that I’m coming back to coach there,” she said.