The Seattle Pacific University women’s volleyball team extended their win streak to seven straight victories in their home opener on Sept. 21 against Northwest Nazarene University. With an electric home crowd cheering them on, SPU won their fourth straight sweep, taking each set by five or more points.
Senior outside hitter and business finance major Sarah Brachvogel led the team with 16 kills on 29 attempts, which is a season-high attack percentage for her.
“I’ve been using the block better when attacking and making sure my passes are good to get the rest of our hitters up,” Brachvogel said.
Playing at home gives Brachvogel some extra juice as her family comes to every home game. Her family lives just a half hour north in Mukilteo, WA.
Senior exercise science major and middle blocker Hannah Hair attributes much of her personal success this season to the blocking system implemented by head coach Jason Rhine in the 2022-2023 season.
“Last year was my first year with it, and we ran commit calls; we have a balance and a read,” Hair said about their versatility in reading the opposing team’s attack for their block scheme. “I wasn’t super familiar with that system last year, but being able to work on that with coaches and other [blockers] all winter and spring has made our front line a really successful blocking team.”
According to senior outside hitter and pre-med major Sydney Perry, experience is as important a factor as anything else for this squad. With eight seniors on the team, this home opener will be the first of many “lasts” for this graduating class.
“We’ve been an old team, but we’re a really old team this year. We definitely went into the preseason with a little more confidence, and that has kind of just carried into the beginning of conference play,” Perry stated.
Support from fellow SPU athletes created an electric atmosphere, with the entire men’s basketball team in attendance, including SPU point guard Maui Sze shagging balls for the game.
Sophomore basketball player and business major Julian Mora was locked into the entire game.
“The volleyball team’s solid this year, and I’m excited to support them in their upcoming games this year,” Mora said.
The volleyball players appreciated the support from the basketball team. Brachvogel expects to return the favor once basketball season starts.
“That was the first time I’ve seen the entire basketball team show up to one of our games, which was really, really sweet,” Brachvogel said.
Aside from on-the-court volleyball logistics, a longtime tradition could play a significant role in the team’s success this year. The team has a pre-game ritual of listening to the song “We Get Turnt Up” by Team Twin before every game.
“We have little hand signals for each part,” Hair said. This takes place after the team leaves serving and passing warm-ups for a 30-minute locker room break before coming back out to finish warm-ups.
“It’s been going on for a long time before any of us got here. It’s honestly generational at this point,” Perry said.
Since their victorious home opener, the squad has continued their win streak. They beat Central Washington University in a tight five-set match on Sept. 23 and gained another win against Alaska Fairbanks on Sept. 28.
Whether it’s the on-court experience, support, pre-game music rituals or a mixture of the three, SPU women’s volleyball looks to maintain their win streak as they head into the intense GNAC conference play schedule.
