Home sweet home. Proven mortal in its opening match of Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, the Seattle Pacific University volleyball team returns home, where it has proven invincible over the last year. This week the Falcons (1-1, 8-2) host a pair of GNAC matches, Friday (Sept. 14) versus Saint Martin's (1-1, 4-10) and Saturday (Sept. 15) versus conference co-leader Central Washington (2-0, 6-4) in Brougham Pavilion. The next road match is across town Sept. 20 at Seattle University.

Safe haven. Everybody needs a place of refuge at times, a place where they can feel safe and able to put their life in order. For the Falcons, the pavilion is that place. There, they have won 16 consecutive matches dating back to Nov. 12, 1999. Ten of those victories have been emphatic, 3-0 sweeps. Already this season SPU has won four matches at home, including two sweeps.

Nobody's perfect. Everyone makes mistakes, even the Falcons. Just two days after cracking the top 25 rankings for the first time in six years, Seattle Pacific stumbled and fell in its GNAC opener at Western Oregon. The important fact was that the players quickly closed ranks and recovered by beating Humboldt State to salvage a road split last week. This week the Falcons, who were No. 23, slid out of the top 25, although they earned enough votes to be listed 27th overall, among other teams receiving votes.

Not their night. Western Oregon used the SPU Invitational to effectively scout Seattle Pacific and then parlayed that information into a game plan which stymied the Falcons in Monmouth. The Wolves' defense denied the favorite attacking angles. Consequently, Seattle Pacific managed just 39 kills, committed 25 errors and the hitting percentage plummeted to .095. Although each game was close, it was the first time a non-Hawaii team had swept SPU in the last 50 conference matches. Two days later at Humboldt State, it was back to business as usual. The Falcons hit .308, made just 16 errors and served 15 aces to the Lumberjacks' four. Monica Abrahamson (Sr., Spokane, Wa./Rogers) slammed 13 kills in just 21 attempts to pace the four-game win.

Leilani & Leah. It's that time of year when the statistics begin to reach double and triple digits, and leaders begin to emerge not just on the court but on paper. Coach Kellie Radloff has said several times that for her team to achieve its goals, it must get big efforts out of both Leilani Kamahoahoa (Sr., Oregon City, Or./Canby) and Leah Wiiest (Sr., Spokane, Wa./Deer Park-Cornell). Each player ranks among the GNAC leaders in two categories thus far. Kamahoahoa is fifth in services aces (0.59) and eighth in digs (3.08) while Wiiest is sixth in blocks (1.14) and ninth in kills (3.30). Kamahoahoa, who became the school's all-time kills leader earlier this month, needs 89 to become the career record holder in digs as well. She is also 26 aces shy of Radloff's career mark there.

Quick Sets. Seattle Pacific ranks first among GNAC teams in services aces per game (2.32) and is second in attacking percentage (.225) and kills (14.08). Individually, Katy Higgins (So., Redmond, Wa./Redmond) is seventh in assists (10.00) and Cathleen Price (Fr., Gresham, Or./Sam Barlow) is seventh in aces (0.57)...Radloff continues to adjust her lineup, using Wiiest both in the middle, where she played last season, and on the left. Price, whose .236 attacking percentage leads the team, has alternated those positions with Wiiest during the first three weeks.

Opponent & series notes. The Falcons have won six in a row over Saint Martin's, including five by sweep. The Saints' last win in Seattle was in 1997. Overall they trail the series 22-4...SPU has also won six straight over Central Washington, although two of those matches went five games. SPU leads the series 22-18. The Wildcats began GNAC play by defeating both Northwest Nazarene and Seattle University in Ellensburg last week.

Tickets, please. General admission tickets for all SPU home volleyball matches are priced $5 with students, youth and senior citizens $3 with proper identification. Teams or groups can qualify for discount rates by call (206) 281-2085 in advance.

SPU Coaches. In her first season as a head coach, Kellie Radloff's team earned its first trip to the NCAA tournament, won its division in the Pacific West Conference and advanced to the conference semifinals for the first time. It set a school record with 20 consecutive wins and equaled the marks for most wins (24) and fewest losses (6) in a season. Radloff, whose past collegiate experience included two years under JoAnn Atwell-Scrivner at SPU (1994-95) and one year at Syracuse, was the Falcons' starting setter from 1989-91, earning all-conference as a senior. She remains the SPU record-holder for service aces (142) in a career and single match assists (83). Hannah (Bradford) Walker is in her first season as an assistant coach. She was an assistant at Whitworth College for two seasons and owns the SPU career record for kills average (3.5). Antonela Secer, a native of Croatia, also joins the staff along with Jim Woolace, formerly a high school coach in Fairbanks.