Moving on. The Seattle Pacific University volleyball team continues one of the nation's toughest preseason schedules this weekend at the Western Washington Invitational in Bellingham. Sputtering after losing all four matches in a season-opening tournament, the Falcons (0-4) will play three times prior to the start of Great Northwest Athletic Conference counters. This week's tourney begins Friday morning (Sept. 6) with SPU taking on UC Davis (3-1), followed by a mid-afternoon rendezvous with red-hot and No. 7-ranked BYU Hawaii (3-0). Action concludes Saturday afternoon (Sept. 7) versus Cal State Stanislaus (4-0). The home opener is Sept. 14 versus GNAC favorite Western Washington, now ranked 11th nationally.

Rough beginnings. Coach Kellie Ryan did her best to warn her team, both physically and mentally, of the tough tournament field that awaited them at the Coyote Classic in San Bernardino last weekend. But nothing could have prepared them for the strong teams they encountered. SPU suffered its share of growing pains in its first four matches, winning just one game on its way to a 0-4 start to the season, the worst since 1997. In the opener, the Falcons salvaged one game against tourney champ, host and nationally-ranked Cal State San Bernardino, but then lost 11 consecutive games in sweeps by Sonoma State, UC San Diego and Cal State L.A.

Bright spot. Despite the rough start, it doesn't take a magnifying glass to see positive signs from the first week. A late addition to training camp, Monica Herrera (Jr., Lima, Peru/Mercy College) led the SPU offensive attack with 33 kills for a 2.53 per game average. She also tacked on a team-high five service aces, including four against Sonoma State. Following an error-filled (13 in 40 attack attempts) debut, she rebounded to hit .194 in the next three outings. After losing the bulk of last season's offensive arsenal, the Falcons will likely look to Herrera as their primary attacking weapon this season.

Golden diggers. The defense was put under tremendous pressure last week, with the opponents hitting a combined .282. As a team, the Falcons averaged 12.2 digs per game. They were also busy at the net, averaging 1.92 blocks per game. Chelsey Myers (Fr., Minden, Nv./Douglas) led SPU with seven blocks at the tourney, followed by redshirt Andra Taylor (Jr., Camas, Wa./Mt. Hood CC), who made the most of her first court time with six blocks. Meanwhile, the front line of Carri Colvin (Sr., Vancouver, Wa./Prairie) and Kathleen Monda (So., Woodinville, Wa./Washington State) totaled 66 kills.

Offensive retooling. Ryan knew her team lacked the offensive gusto of last season's squad, which is why she emphasized a defensive strategy in the offseason. Offensively, the Falcons struggled at the net last week, hitting as many kills (102) as they did errors (102). In addition to Herrera, the supporting trio of Colvin, Monda and Myers took their fair share of swings at the net. Colvin recorded 21 kills, while Myers and Monda added 13 and 12, respectively. Ryan hopes practice and match experience will be the missing ingredient to help the Falcons to gel in time for the conference schedule.

Quick sets. Seattle Pacific's slowest start to a season was 0-6 in 1988. Ryan is obviously hoping for a turnaround such as two years ago, when the Falcons dropped their first three matches only to reel off a school-record 20 consecutive victories...Andrea Detorre (Jr., Vancouver, Wa./Prairie) missed last week's matches with a knee injury. She is not expected to return until midseason...Strangely, setter Katy Higgins (Jr., Redmond, Wa.) led the team in attacking percentage (.167) after the first weekend...Ryan's starting six has just one senior and a combined 10 years of collegiate volleyball experience between them...SPU took Sunday off to visit Disneyland as a team. In temperatures which soared past 100 degrees, not surprisingly the Falcons took a special liking to "Splash Mountain"...The Falcons youth served them well in getting back to practice this week, Ryan reports.

"While they didn't take the weekend's struggles lightly, they were very excited to be back in the gym to make adjustments and to continue improving."

Opponent and series notes. The Falcons' three opponents this weekend own a combined record of 10-1. SPU's first opponent, UC Davis, dropped its first match of the season Sunday, falling in five sets to Central Washington. The Aggies are now 3-1 on the season and are 1-1 all-time against the Falcons. The teams have not met since 1999...BYU Hawaii once again appears to be a national contender, knocking off top-ranked and NCAA Division II defending national champion Barry University to improve to 3-0. The Seasiders won the national title in 1999. The only previous meeting between the teams was a 3-0 sweep by BYUH in that season, when both were members of the Pacific West Conference...Cal State Stanislaus has not dropped a game this season, sweepings its own tourney last weekend with four 3-0 victories. The Warriors, however, have not beaten SPU in five tries, the last in 1999.

SPU Coaches. In her first two seasons as a head coach, Kellie Ryan's teams have been nothing short of spectacular. The Falcons earned their first two trips to the NCAA tournament, won 44 of 58 matches and established a new record for consecutive wins (20) and while equaling the marks for most wins (24) and fewest losses (6) in a season. Ryan, whose past collegiate experience included two years under JoAnn Atwell-Scrivner at SPU (1994-95) and one year at Syracuse, was the SPU 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). Antonela Secer, a native of Croatia, returns for her second year as assistant coach, along with Jim Woolace, formerly a high school coach in Fairbanks.

Missing links. For the latest and best information on Seattle Pacific University athletics, stay where you're at -- on The Falcons Online. For updated standings and statistics, see the Great Northwest Athletic Conference web site.