Positive momentum. With four straight wins on the road and seven of the next 10 matches at home, the pieces might be falling into place for the Seattle Pacific University volleyball team. The Falcons (5-2, 12-3), who need a surge over the second half of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference season in order to make the NCAA Division II playoffs for a second year in a row, return home to face Saint Martin's (2-4, 5-13) Wednesday night (Oct. 3) at Brougham Pavilion before visiting red-hot Western Washington (7-0, 12-3) Saturday night (Oct. 6). Next week SPU hosts Humboldt State and Western Oregon.

Great white north. The Falcons have accumulated plenty of frequent flyer miles this season, over 11,000 actually. Their latest road trip took them north to Alaska to play a pair of conference matches on back-to-back nights. SPU played a injury-riddled Alaska Anchorage first, beating the Seawolves in four games. Like their previous two matches, the Falcons performed well under pressure and won three very close games that saw UAA reach 28 points twice and 31 once. The following night, SPU downed Alaska Fairbanks convincingly in another four-game outing. The victories marked the Falcons third and fourth consecutive conference victories, matching their longest win streak of the season.

Impressive return. Most athletes try to ease back into competition following an injury. But Cathleen Price (Fr., Gresham, Or./Sam Barlow) has proven far from ordinary in her first season. After missing three matches with an ankle sprain, Price returned to Coach Kellie Radloff's lineup card at Anchorage and played her most impressive college match to date. Price led the Falcons with 23 digs, 11 digs, five service aces and two blocks. Her kill total was a career-high and the most for any Falcon this season. The next night against Fairbanks, Price again led the way, finishing the match with a team-high 17 kills and 15 digs. Those two performances earned Price GNAC player of the week.

Raining double-doubles. With Leilani Kamahoahoa (Sr., Oregon City, Or./Canby) still sidelined by knee and ankle injuries, Radloff once again needed a team effort last week. And she got it. For the first time this season, the Falcons finished the UAA match with four players reaching double-double kill and dig totals. Price paced SPU with 23 and 11, respectively, while Carri Colvin (Jr., Vancouver, Wa./Prairie) added a career-high and team season-high 24 digs to her 12 kills. Monica Abrahamson (Sr., Spokane, Wa./Rogers) slammed 12 kills and notched 17 digs while Leah Wiiest (Sr., Spokane, Wa./Deer Park-Cornell) contributed 20 kills and 17 digs. The following night, the Falcons had three players with double-doubles and were a single kill away from having four.

Quick sets. Kamahoahoa remains questionable for this week. She has missed the last four matches since being injured in the second game of the Central Washington match Sept. 17... Four consecutive conference wins have helped the Falcons climb from seventh to third in the GNAC standings...Seattle Pacific ranks second among GNAC teams in hitting percentage (.211), kills (14.68), assists (13.19) and services aces (2.22)...Individually, Katy Higgins (So., Redmond, Wa./Redmond) is second in assists (11.12). Price ranks fifth in service aces (.58) and ninth in attacking percentage (.269). Wiiest is fourth in blocks (1.10) and seventh in kills (3.51). Kamahoahoa is fourth in digs (3.21).

Opponent & series notes. Wednesday's match was rescheduled from an original date of Sept. 14. 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 and Seattle Pacific has won 16 of its last 17 home matches. Overall, SMC trails the series 22-4...SPU met Western Washington three times last season. The Falcons won the season series 2-1, winning at home and in the first round of the Pacific West Conference championships in Honolulu. The Vikings lead the all-time series 24-15.

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.