Dan Lepse, SID Mark Moschetti, Assistant SID, 206.281.2772 | 206.281.2266 fax | [email protected] | www.spufalcons.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE • September 22, 2009 2009 Brougham At Last - and Unbeaten in GNAC, too Volleyball Home for First Time Since Sept. 2, Falcons Play Host to Defending Champ Western Oregon (8-6, 2-0 GNAC) Aug. 21 Northwest Christian (exhibition) W, 3-0 The schedule: Thursday, Sept. 24: Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific, 7:30 p.m. Brougham Pavilion (2,650)/Seattle, Wash. Southern California Classic (Los Angeles) Live Webcast: www.greatnorthwest.tv. Live stats: www.spufalcons.com. Aug. 27 at Cal State Dominguez Hills W, 3-0 Aug. 28 at Cal State Los Angeles L, 0-3 Saturday, Sept. 26: Bye Aug. 29 at Cal Poly Pomona W, 3-0 Aug. 29 vs. Ashland (at CP Pomona) L, 1-3 Sept. 2 Hawaii Hilo L, 2-3 SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific volleyball team that will take the Brougham Pavilion court for its Great Northwest Athletic Conference home opener on Thursday night will be much Central Washington Invitational (Ellensburg) different than the one that was on that same court against Hawaii Hilo against Sept. 2. Sept. 3 Academy of Art L, 2-3 Much different, as in much more confident, and much more successful, too. Sept. 3 Sonoma State L, 0-3 Sept. 4 Brigham Young-Hawaii W, 3-1 Since that disappointing five-game loss to the Vulcans three weeks ago, the Falcons have Sept. 4 Evergreen State College W, 3-0 racked up six victories in nine matches. That includes a pair of road triumphs last week to open GNAC play. Western Washington Invitational (Bellingham) Seattle Pacific will try to make it a 3-0 conference start when defending champion Western Sept. 10 Notre Dame de Namur W, 3-1 Oregon visits for Thursday’s 7:30 p.m. match. Sept. 11 Grand Canyon W, 3-0 Following the five-gamer against Hilo, the Falcons lost two more the next day in the Cen- Sept. 12 West Texas A&M L, 2-3 tral Washington Invitational – including another five-gamer to Academy of Art. Sept. 12 British Columbia (no-count) W, 3-0 But they’ve been airborne ever since. Last Thursday, in a challenging environment at Sept. 17 *at Northwest Nazarene W, 3-2 Northwest Nazarene, SPU came back twice to pull out a five-game victory last Thursday, Sept. 19 *at Saint Martin’s W, 3-1 then took down Saint Martin’s last Saturday in Lacey. Sept. 24 *Western Oregon 7:30 p.m. Along the way, the Falcons have put themselves atop the conference rankings in hitting Sept. 30 *Western Washington 7 p.m. percentage, kills, and lowest opponent’s hitting percentage. Oct. 3 *Montana State Billings 7 p.m. Oct. 8 *at Central Washington 7 p.m. This is a quieter week for Seattle Pacific, with Western Oregon being its only match. Oct. 10 *Northwest Nazarene 7 p.m. That’ll set the stage for a visit from rival and perennial GNAC power Western Washington Oct. 15 *Alaska Anchorage 7 p.m. next Wednesday at 7 p.m. Oct. 17 *Alaska Fairbanks 3 p.m. Oct. 22 *at Western Oregon 7 p.m. SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS Oct. 29 *at Montana State Billings 6 p.m. Oct. 31 at Western Washington 7 p.m. Two road wins at the outset of the GNAC schedule is enough to make any coach happy. Nov. 5 *Central Washington 7 p.m. That’s certainly true for SPU’s Chris Johnson. Nov. 7 *Saint Martin’s 4 p.m. “I thought we played well at Northwest Nazarene, for the most part,” Johnson said. “We Nov. 12 *at Alaska Fairbanks 8 p.m. won a close Game 4 when we were down 2-1 at a really tough place to play. We did a Nov. 14 *at Alaska Anchorage 8 p.m. very good job (in Game 5 at NNU) of coming out aggressive and disciplined and putting * GNAC match the ball away when we had opportunities.” GNAC Standings On Saturday at Saint Martin’s, Seattle Pacific bounced back from some struggles in the GNAC Overall second game to polish off a four-game triumph. 1. Western Washington 2-0 9-4 1. Seattle Pacific 2-0 8-6 “We were able to recover from Game 2. That comes with having confidence in ourselves,” 3. Alaska Fairbanks 1-0 7-5 Johnson said. 4. Northwest Nazarene 2-1 9-5 5. Western Oregon 1-1 4-9 After a stretch of 14 matches in 24 days to start the season, the Falcons are looking forward 6. Montana State Billings 1-2 7-6 to a respite of sorts with just one match this week. But Johnson expects nothing but a tough 7. Alaska Anchorage 0-1 8-5 one from Western Oregon. 8. Central Washington 0-2 8-5 8. Saint Martin’s 0-2 1-8 “They’re a good team, they have a good coach (in Brad Saindon), and they’re better than their (4-9) record,” Johnson said. “They’ve played five teams in the top 25. They have a Thursday: W. Oregon at SPU, Alaska Anchorage at W. Washington, couple really good weapons that we’ve seen in person (at preseason tournaments), so we Alaska Fairbanks at C. Washington, NW Nazarene at St. Martin’s. Saturday: St. Martin’s at MSU-Billings, NW Nazarene at W. Oregon, have to be ready for sure.” Ak. Anchorage at C. Washington, Ak. Fairbanks at W. Washington. SCOUTING THE WESTERN OREGON WOLVES MOST RECENT SEATTLE PACIFIC STARTERS Sept. 19 at Saint Martin’s, W 3-1 All-time series: SPU leads, 15-14. Current Totals vs. Saint Martin’s/Season totals HOW DO THEY COMPARE? series streak: WOU won 2. Last time: WOU 3, (GNAC rank in parentheses) SPU 1 (25-19, 24-26, 25-12, 25-20, Nov. 15, 2008 Player Kills Pct. Aces SPU WOU at Monmouth). Paige Hoffman 7/89 .240/.251 0/0 Lindsey Wodrich 11/122 .115/.171 3/14 .216 (1) Hitting pct. .196 (8) Western Oregon was Wolves in a nutshell: Amber Johnson 5/77 .364/.388 0/0 last year’s dominant team in the GNAC, posting .150 (1) Opp. hit pct. .248 (9) Priscilla Collings 17/93 .306/.185 1/4 a 15-1 record to claim its first-ever conference 12.83 (1) 12.08 (7) Angie Pricco 4/33 .000/.120 1/3 Kills/game crown. The Wolves were the GNAC’s only rep- Cortney Weedman 3/15 .400/.462 4/14 11.85 (2) Assists/game 11.25 (5) resentative in the NCAA tournament. But its two Anna Herold (LIB) 0/1 .000/.125 1/7 1.3 (8) 1.54 (6) leading hitters graduated, so Western Oregon is Aces/game SEATTLE PACIFIC 51/693 .224/.216 11/70 doing some rebuilding this fall, although the other 1.85 (5) Blocks/game 1.69 (7) four starters are back. Freshman outside hitter 15.11 (5) Digs/game 15.88 (4) Danielle Reese sets the pace for the Wolves at Player Assists Digs Blocks the net with 139 kills (3.16 per game), and she Paige Hoffman 1/6 0/19 2/32 also leads the team with 125 digs. Senior middle Lindsey Wodrich 1/6 9/109 3/6 blocker Laura Sakala hits at a .406 clip, and leads with 29 blocks. The Wolves have Amber Johnson 1/8 1/15 5/48 played five teams currently ranked in the Division II Top 25, taking a game from both Priscilla Collings 0/6 14/68 3/10 Angie Pricco 0/2 2/25 6/34 West Texas A&M (now No. 7) and Sonoma State (now No. 15). Cortney Weedman 28/285 4/94 0/0 Anna Herold (LIB) 5/49 20/260 0/0 MOST RECENT WESTERN OREGON STARTERS SEATTLE PACIFIC 48/640 53/816 22/100 Sept. 19 vs. Western Washington, L 3-1 Totals vs. Western Washington/Season totals FALCON REPLAY Player Kills Pct. Aces Assists Digs Blocks When things don’t go well for the Falcons Amy Herron 1/9 .000/.304 0/16 42/390 8/95 1/6 now, they merely shake it off, move on to the Danielle Reese 11/139 .105/.157 0/8 0/5 11/125 1/12 next game, and get back on track. Laura Sakala 8/77 .429/.406 0/0 0/9 0/14 3/29 They did it again on Saturday night. Dead- Sylvia Herrold 8/112 .095/.241 2/15 0/5 15/81 5/23 locked 1-1 against Saint Martin’s heading into Samantha Ward 16/83 .208/.132 0/6 0/3 8/61 1/18 the 10-minute break, SPU went on a surge Lisa Martini 7/69 .312/.367 2/6 1/13 4/23 4/25 midway through the third game, then was in complete charge of the fourth game on the Cally Young (LIB) 0/0 .000/-.182 0/10 2/11 24/185 0/0 way to closing out a GNAC victory against the WESTERN OREGON 51/580 .159/.196 4/74 49/540 76/762 16/81.0 Saints. Scores in Marcus Pavilion were 25-16, 22-25, 25-19, 25-11. It was the 15th straight time Seattle Pacific has beaten Saint Martin’s. DOUBLE-DOUBLES AND OTHER DELIGHTFUL DIGITS Priscilla Collings, with 17 kills and 14 digs, The Falcons have racked up 15 double-double performances at the exact midpoint registered her second straight double-double (14 matches) of their 28-match schedule.