THE REAL SEASON BEGINS: After playing 14 of its first 15 matches away from home, the schedule evens out for Seattle University as conference season starts and the Redhawks play eight home matches and eight road matches. The home slate begins this weekend with two WAC newcomers: Bakersfield on Thursday and Utah Valley on Saturday. After finishing ninth in the league last season and missing the conference tournament, the Redhawks will need to finish in the top six of the league standings in order to advance to Phoenix for this year’s WAC Tournament.
THE PREVIOUS WEEK: Seattle University completed its week-long California trip with a 3-0 loss to Cal State Northridge (25-23, 25-18, 25-18) last Tuesday. Alec Goodrie and Allison Farley collected seven kills apiece, while Lani Beadle led the way with 11 defensive digs. The Redhawks headed to Pullman, Wash., for the Cougar Invitational, first facing host Washington State Friday morning and suffering a 3-0 loss (25-13, 25-15, 25-20). Iris Ivanis led the Redhawks with six kills and six digs. Kirstin Schauble took over as the setter in the second set and finished with 12 assists, five kills in eight attempts without an error for a .625 hitting percentage, and three digs. Saturday morning, a fired-up Redhawk crew scored the first five points of the match on its way to a 3-0 victory over Nevada (25-12, 25-16, 25-19), snapping an 11-match losing streak. Ivanis notched the team’s first double-double of the season, collecting 12 kills and 11 digs, while Matea Mamic contributed seven kills, six digs, and two service aces. Goodrie was named to the All-Tournament Team after earning 11 kills in 28 attempts with only one attack error in the two matches in Pullman.
WAC STATISTICAL HIGHLIGHTS: Through matches of Sept. 24, Kerry Lane is sixth in the Western Athletic Conference in assists with 7.82 assists per set, while Allison Farley finds herself in seventh place in hitting percentage with a mark of .287 so far this season. As a team, Seattle U is fifth in the WAC in blocks with 1.95 blocks per set and seventh in the league in service aces with 1.13 aces per set and in hitting percentage at .160.
QUICK NOTE: Other than the Sunday, Oct. 6 match at New Mexico State, every other remaining regular season contest for Seattle U will have a start time of 7 p.m. local time, giving the Redhawks a chance to settle into a normal gameday routine.