Synonymous with Seattle Pacific University women's volleyball since its inception, Coach JoAnn Atwell-Scrivner is leaving coaching effective June 30.
Atwell-Scrivner, 44, built the SPU program from scratch into the best in the Northwest among NCAA Division II schools. The Falcons set school records for winning percentage in 1998, going 23-7, and again this past season with a mark of 24-6, just missing the NCAA playoffs. In her final six seasons, SPU won 68 percent of its matches (121-58) and posted four 20-win seasons.
Atwell-Scrivner will retain her faculty position in the Physical Education Department at Seattle Pacific. She plans to devote her time to teaching, to completing her doctoral studies, and to her family.
"This is something I had been thinking about for a while," says Atwell-Scrivner, who has been assisted by her husband, Rich Scrivner, throughout her thirteen-year coaching career. "When you're coaching, it's tough to do anything else."
"JoAnn and Rich lifted SPU volleyball to the championship level," says Athletic Director Tom Box. "This season only punctuated how successful she has been."
While all of the fall sports teams competed in postseason play, the last left standing was the women's cross country team. Seattle Pacific University, paced by All-American harrier Heather Wallace, placed sixth in the NCAA Division II Championships November 21 in Joplin, Missouri. It marked the fourth year in a row that the Falcons have finished in the top 10 nationally, and it represents their best finish since taking third in 1986.
Wallace, the three-time Pacific West Conference champion, finished 31st overall, yet Coach Doris Heritage says, "It took a total team effort. I'm very proud of them all."
In soccer, the Seattle Pacific University Falcons made the playoffs for the 10th straight season and won more games (15-4-2) than any of the previous six years. Still, their championship dreams were dashed in the first round with a 1-0 home loss to UC Davis. Ironically, Seattle Pacific had defeated the Aggies 3-0 earlier, and it was the first time SPU had failed to score at Interbay Stadium in nearly two years.
Johann Noetzel, the senior goalkeeper who had anchored a rigid defense, was selected to the All-America team and earlier was named the Pacific West Conference Player of the Year.
If the early going is any indication, both the Seattle Pacific University men's and women's basketball teams should once again find themselves in the thick of March Madness.
The Falcon women were ranked No. 2 in the region, trailing only their archrival Western Washington as the top team in the West. Western managed a 90-85 overtime win at Brougham Pavilion December 11. In that game, Seattle Pacific's Ashley Miller scored 37 points -- the fourth-highest total in school history.
The men's team started slow but then, led by Oregon transfer Donte Quinine and senior Drake Hudgins, defeated arch-rival and No. 9-ranked Central Washington to spark a nine-game win streak. The biggest game of the season will likely be February 19 when the Falcons host Central Washington.
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