Opportunity knocks. Seeking to end its woes on the road, the Seattle Pacific University women's volleyball team boards a southbound charter bus for a pair of Great Northwest Athletic Conference road matches this week. The Falcons are aiming for their first conference road victories of the season as they visit two teams in the bottom half of the standings. SPU (4-5, 11-5) renews that quest Thursday night (Oct. 16) at Humboldt State (2-7, 4-13). A stretch of three consecutive away matches concludes Saturday night (Oct. 18) at Western Oregon (3-6, 8-9). Five of the final seven matches are at home, beginning Oct. 24 versus Northwest Nazarene.

The road ahead. Coach Kellie Ryan predicted that her young team would improve over the second half of the season and one of her goals was to finish among the top teams in the GNAC. Although the squad is hobbled by some nagging injuries, that appears to be possible. The Falcons are in the middle of the pack with a favorable schedule (SPU is undefeated at home) ahead. Already they have surpassed last season's total of nine wins.

Missing the mark While the Falcons possess the offensive firepower, they have lacked consistency in exploiting defenses. They have not hit above .200 (their season average) in a match since Sept. 19, and since that time they have averaged just .161. Fortunately, their serve/receive game, defense and some timely hitting has enabled them to split those six matches. SPU is 8-1 when its attacking percentage is .190 or higher.

Last week's results
Western Washington def. Seattle Pacific 30-25, 30-17, 30-22

Triple threat. The reason Ryan expects her team to improve both late this season and next is because her major offensive forces are sophomores and juniors. With three strong attackers seeing comparable opportunities, the Falcons may be one of the conference's most difficult teams to scout. Katie Ralph (So., Port Orchard, Wa./E. Tennessee St.) continues to emerge as one of the GNAC's promising young stars as she leads the Falcons in blocks (0.98) and hitting percentage (.281). Another rising star is Chelsey Myers (So., Minden, Nv./Douglas), who has tied the school record for kills (30) and is second on the team in kills average (3.65). Although she's struggled of late with her accuracy, Jessica Bauder (Jr., Richland, Wa./Columbia Basin CC) hits the heaviest ball and she leads the Falcons at 3.90 kills per game.

Setting by committee. Seattle Pacific is one of the few conference teams to regularly utilize two setters. Four-year starter Katy Higgins (Sr., Kirkland, Wa./Redmond) virtually shares the playmaking responsibilities with Jenna Von Moos (Fr., Stanwood, Wa./Stanwood). Von Moos continues to fight-off nagging shin splints to lead the Falcons in assists with 8.70 per game while Higgins is at 7.95. Higgins will likely complete her career as the record holder for assists average and No. 2 in total assists.

Quick sets. Seattle Pacific's last two conference road wins came at Humboldt State and Western Oregon near the end of last season...Saturday's match at No. 4-ranked Western Washington was the second shortest this season at 79 minutes. It was only the second time SPU has been swept this year, compared to nine last season...Ralph registered a .429 hitting percentage at Western with nine kills and zero errors. She currently ranks fifth in the GNAC in hitting accuracy (.281)...Seattle Pacific dropped to No. 5 in GNAC team hitting (.200), but climbed in digs (18.28) to third...The Falcons are second in service aces (2.14)...Individually, Bauder is fourth in kills average (3.90). Von Moos is seventh in assists (8.70). Bauder and Von Moos rank fourth and sixth, respectively, in service aces (0.56, 0.44). Ralph is sixth in blocks (0.98)...Libero Andrea Pennington (Sr., Bellingham, Wa./Bellingham-Whatcom CC) remains on pace to finish among the top three in career digs average at 3.66 per game to date. She ranks ninth in the GNAC this season at 3.77...On record pace is Bauder in service aces average. Dawn Wolfert set the record of 0.54 in 1993.

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.