Road return. Winners in two of its last three matches, the Seattle Pacific University volleyball team will try to continue that upward trend in a pair of Great Northwest Athletic Conference road contests this week. As the season reaches the midway point, the Falcons (2-3, 3-9) travel to Idaho to play Northwest Nazarene (3-2, 6-5) Thursday night (Oct. 3) and then return to the Emerald City to play red-hot crosstown rival Seattle University Saturday night (Oct. 5). After that, six of the next eight matches are at home. A four-match home stand begins Oct. 11 against Humboldt State.

Alaska split. The Falcons managed to split a pair of home matches against Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Fairbanks last week at Brougham Pavilion, avoiding their first back-to-back losses at home since 1999. SPU reached the .200 hitting percentage plateau for the third straight match against Anchorage, slamming a season-high 67 kills. Excluding the one game won by the Seawolves, SPU hit .302 in that match, prevailing 30-22, 30-26, 25-30 and 30-28. Monica Herrera (Jr., Lima, Peru/Divino Maestro-Mercy) cracked a season-high 22 kills. Less than 24 hours later, the Falcons continued their red-hot hitting in game one vs. Fairbanks, but proceeded to fall apart in the final three. The Nanooks did not overpower SPU but instead managed to commit fewer errors at key stages. Overall, Seattle Pacific scored only one point fewer, going down 21-30, 30-28, 30-27 and 30-25. Herrera had 14 kills and libero Carri Colvin (Sr., Vancouver, Wa./Prairie) contributed 21 digs.

Tale of two teams. Twenty-two hours separated the best of times and the worst of times last week. SPU went from hitting .208 against Anchorage to .080 and only 48 kills against Fairbanks. The young squad appeared to be continuing their recent "gelling" with pinpoint accurate attack and steady defense. On Saturday, the Falcons appeared destined for their third straight win after hitting .150 and holding Fairbanks to .000 in the first game, but the SPU express derailed quickly. Service errors, miscommunication and missteps during pivotal points of games two and three proved to be their undoing. Such is life for Coach Kellie Ryan's inexperienced team, which has only four returnees.

Great wall of Monda. Kathleen Monda (So., Woodinville, Wa./Woodinville-Washington State) continues to establish herself as a force to be reckoned with at the net. After playing sparse minutes for the Cougars last season, Monda has quickly learned the SPU defense and just in the nick of time. She is averaging more than a block per game (1.1) since the GNAC schedule commenced and has committed just one error. Last week, Monda rejected 10 opponent attacks, including two solo blocks in the victory over Anchorage.

Persistence pays off. All their hard work in practice is paying off for Andra Taylor (Jr., Camas, Wa./Camas-Mt. Hood CC) and Katy Kravitz (Jr., Olympia, Wa./Olympia-Northern Colorado) as both are in the midst of breakout campaigns. After redshirting last season, Taylor is making the most of her first competitive season at Seattle Pacific. Last week she hit above the team's combined hitting percentages with .263 and .105 outings that included 13 total kills, eight blocks and a service ace. After appearing in just 14 matches last season, Kravitz has become a key piece to the puzzle on both offense and defense. She perhaps played her best match of the season vs. Fairbanks with five kills, 14 digs and three blocks.

Quick sets. Seven of the nine losses have been to teams with winning records, including four teams currently ranked in the top 10 of NCAA Division II. Of the next six opponents, only Seattle U. owns a winning record to date...Higgins ranks seventh among GNAC setters in assists per game with 9.62...Colvin is seventh in digs, averaging 3.48 and Herrera ranks sixth in kills per game (3.74)...The Falcons continued to struggle at the service line last week, committing 19 errors for the second straight week...Andrea Dettorre (Jr., Vancouver, Wa./Prairie) remained sidelined last week with a knee injury that she suffered in the preseason. She is expected to return sometime in October...SPU needs to win at least 10 of its remaining matches to avert its first losing record since 1997.

Opponent and series notes. The Falcons are unbeaten versus Northwest Nazarene in four previous meetings over the past two seasons. Although SPU swept the Crusaders last season, the first match of the season in Nampa was a nail-biter as the Falcons won in the fifth game, 15-7. NNU has played only twice at home this season and is coming off road wins at Humboldt State and Western Oregon...SPU is also perfect (6-0) against Seattle U., dropping only one game in the process. The Redhawks, with eight victories over Div. III and NAIA foes, are off to their best start in the program's three-year history, undefeated (5-0) in the GNAC and 13-1 overall. They take a nine-match win streak into Thursday's match with Western Washington.

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) while equaling 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 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). 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.