Road less traveled. After playing six of its last eight matches in the friendly confines of Brougham Pavilion, the Seattle Pacific University volleyball team heads north to Alaska for a pair of Great Northwest Athletic Conference matches this weekend. The Falcons (6-12, 4-6), who playing five of the final seven on the road, face Alaska Fairbanks (7-4, 10-6) Friday night (Oct. 25) and Alaska Anchorage (6-5, 10-9) Saturday night (Oct. 26). The last two home contests are next week, beginning with Seattle University on Halloween.

Finding their way. Coach Kellie Ryan continues to search for clues that her young team is maturing, and road trips such as this have a tendency to bare the truth, for better or worse. The two Alaska schools are a combined 15-3 at home this fall while Seattle Pacific is 3-8 on the road. Judging by last week's inconsistency, these Falcons seem to still be finding their way. Case in point: Seattle Pacific hit .265 in the and recorded 53 errors in its first three-game sweep of an opponent this season, against Saint Martin's. While the next night's match versus Central Washington began well enough, the team's fortunes soon swooned. SPU hit just .152 in the final three games to lose 3-1 and finish the four-match home stand at 2-2.

Serves up. After struggling nearly the entire season from the service line, the Falcons hit a groove last week. Seattle Pacific served 20 aces or an average of 2.85 per game. That included an 11-ace, 3.65 average versus Saint Martin's-the team's best performance of the season. Stacia Willson (Fr., Colfax, Wa./Colfax) paced SPU with a career-high four aces and setter Katy Higgins (Jr., Kirkland, Wa./Redmond) equaled her career-best with three, and followed it up with two more versus Central. Andrea Dettorre (Jr., Vancouver, Wa./Prairie), regarded as a serving specialist of sorts, finished the week with her first three aces of the season. Dettorre had missed the season's first 13 matches with a knee injury.

Deep impact. Ryan's switch of Andrea Pennington (Jr., Bellingham, Wa./Whatcom) for Carri Colvin (Sr., Vancouver, Wa./Prairie) at libero seems to be sticking, both in practice and theory. Pennington once again drew the praise of fans at the pavilion with her flat-out saves and all-out hustle while Colvin continued to find her attacking touch. The Falcons continue to be among the best defensive teams in the conference while the offense appears more brilliant during high points, although unable to maintain them. SPU has not dropped beneath 12.6 kills per game since Ryan made the move, a mark the Falcons fell under seven times previously.

Not so secret. Her number is called out repeatedly as opponents get set for the play. One coach last week went as far as to assign one of his blockers to mark Monica Herrera (Jr., Lima, Peru/Mercy College) during the entire match. All the attention from opponents has yet to faze the "Peruvian Punisher," as the courtside public address announcer calls her. Instead, Herrera has continued her climb among the conference's most feared attackers. She has finished with 10 or more kills in 10 consecutive matches, averaging 4.68 per game and hitting .252 during that span. Herrera's 4.10 kills per game ranks No. 2 overall in the GNAC and her average of 4.57 in conference play tops the conference.

Quick sets. The Falcons, who have finished no lower than third in the conference each of the last four seasons, will require a late-season push to extend that record. It's a tall order, given that they are 5-6 in the GNAC and four of the remaining seven remaining matches are versus teams with winning records...Herrera's .469 hitting percentage versus the Saints was her best of the season...Higgins and Pennington each recorded five kills and no errors vs. Saint Martin's...Kathleen Monda's (So., Woodinville, Wa./Washington State) .471 hitting mark vs. Central was a high for the year. She hit nine kills and just one error on 17 attempts...Higgins ranks eighth among GNAC setters in assists per game with 9.88...Herrera ranks second in kills per game (4.10) and sixth in service aces (0.43). She is hitting .238 in league play as a opposed to .195 for the season...Colvin ranks ninth in digs (3.49) and Pennington has climbed to 11th (3.44)...Monda is ninth in blocking (0.91)...As a team, SPU is last in hitting (.128).

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.

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.

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.