GNAC release, with poll and team capsules (PDF)
 
PORTLAND, Ore. – The Seattle Pacific Falcons have been picked for an eighth-place finish in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference preseason volleyball coaches poll.
 
The Falcons received 46 points in the voting by the 11 conference coaches.
 
Defending champion Alaska Anchorage, which advanced all the way to the NCAA Division II championship match last fall, is an ever-so-slight favorite in what is looming as a three-way battle for the top spot.

The Seawolves received five first-place votes and 110 points. Right behind are Western Washington with three first-places and 109 points, followed by Northwest Nazarene with three first-places and 106 points.
 
Seattle Pacific is coming off an 11-17 season. That included a 7-13 record in GNAC play, which tied with Western Oregon for seventh place.

 

The Falcons, now under the direction of first-year head coach Abbie Wright, are returning all but two players from last year's squad.
 
Heading up that group are three All-GNAC honorable mention selections: sophomore outside hitter Gabby Oddo, junior middle blocker Shaun Crespi, and junior setter Symone Tran.
 
Crespi (Camarillo, Calif.) racked up 151 total blocks in 2016, an average of 1.42 per game that ranked No. 2 in the conference and No. 5 in all of Division II. That last time an SPU player had that many in a single season was 1992, when Tosca Lindberg recorded 193. Crespi also pounded 204 kills and hit .230, tops among the team's regular attackers.
 
Tran (Portland, Ore.) earned 1,085 assists, an average of 10.24 per game. She was the first Falcon to top 1,000 in  a season since 2012, when Shelby Swanson finished with 1,105.
 
Oddo (Alta Loma, Calif.) was leading the way on offense for Seattle Pacific with 242 kills (3.41 per game) when she went down with a season-ending injury on Oct. 15 and was sidelined for the final 10 matches. However, her total still ranked second on the team, and her average wound up No. 4 in the GNAC.
 
Other starters returning for the Falcons are senior outside / opposite Hannah Lautenbach (Portland, Ore.), senior outside Colleen Hannigan (Brentwood, Calif.), and junior libero Amanda Ganete (Hillsboro, Ore.).
 
Lautenbach led SPU in total kills with 256 (2.42 per game) and also had 304 digs (2.87) and 82 blocks. Her block total was second on the team. Hannigan finished with 149 kills (2.16) and 184 digs (2.67). Ganete came up with a team-high 511 digs (4.82 per game).
 
Seattle Pacific starts the season next week with four matches at the Hawaii Challenge in Honolulu. The Falcons open up against UC Colorado Springs on Thursday, Aug. 31, at 10:00 p.m. Pacific time. Other matches will be against Hawaii Pacific on Friday, Sept. 1, at 10:00 p.m., followed by contests on Saturday the 2nd against Chaminade (2:00 p.m. PDT) and nationally ranked Nebraska Kearney (7:00 p.m. PDT).
 
The first home match in Brougham Pavilion will be the Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener against Concordia-Portland on Thursday, Sept. 14, at 7:00 p.m.


2017 GNAC VOLLEYBALL PRESEASON COACHES POLL
Team (1^st-place votes)                     2016 record (GNAC)            Points
1.  Alaska Anchorage (5)   34-3  (19-1, 1st)      110
2.  Western Washington (3) 23-8  (17-3, 2nd)      109
3.  Northwest Nazarene (3) 22-7  (13-7, T4th)     106
4.  Central Washington     17-12 (13-7, T4th)      89
5.  Simon Fraser           21-8  (14-6, 3rd)       77
6.  Concordia              15-13 (11-9, 6th)       67
7.  Western Oregon         10-17 (7-13, T7th)      50
8.  Seattle Pacific        11-17 (7-13, T7th)      46
9.  Saint Martin's         6-18  (2-18, T10th      26
10. Alaska Fairbanks       3-24  (2-18, T10th)     25
11. Montana State Billings 7-23  (5-15, 9th)       21
 
Points awarded on 11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.