CEDAR CITY, Utah – Coming off a difficult loss at Idaho on Thursday, the Northern Arizona volleyball team bounced back in a big way Saturday night by handing Southern Utah its first Big Sky loss of the season. Led by a near triple-double performance by senior Sydney Kemper, the Lumberjacks received a variety of contributions across their lineup in the four-set win, 25-17, 22-25, 25-20, 25-17. NAU is now 3-1 in conference play and 12-3 overall.

"Southern Utah was a really good team and we had to play at a high level to win the match the way we did," said head coach Ken Murphy. "I'm especially proud of the team because Thursday was our first real dose of adversity and we bounced back and played exactly the type of match we wanted to play tonight. I'm optimistic that we can continue to get better in these types of tough matches."

Kemper tied her career-high, and set a new season-best, with 19 kills and hit .469 in the victory along with tallying 12 digs and seven blocks in her fifth double-double of the season. She was one of three Lumberjacks to record double-digit kills with senior Taylor Stephens and junior Janae Vander Ploeg also chipping in 10 apiece.

In the opening set, junior Payton Bock snapped an 8-8 tie with a kill and sent NAU on its way, as it gradually pulled away from the Thunderbirds to take the 1-0 lead in the match. Only once during the remaining of the set did Southern Utah notch back-to-back points, yet the Thunderbirds were still down just two at 19-17. With the slim lead, Kemper knocked down a kill and the Lumberjacks wound up taking the final six points of the set to hit the 25-point mark.

The second set was controlled by Southern Utah from the beginning though, as a 6-0 SUU run gave the home team a 9-4 advantage. The Lumberjacks trailed the rest of the way but put together a furious rally late. Down 20-13, the 'Jacks scored the next three points before the Thunderbirds got those three points back. A 6-1 NAU run capped by a Kemper kill put NAU at 24-22, but SUU claimed the ensuing point and evened the match at 1-1.

Senior Hannah Hill contributed a pair of aces during a 5-0 Lumberjack spurt that gave NAU the lead for good, 11-7, although the Thunderbirds hung tight in the all-important third set. It was not until Kemper recorded two kills and Stephens put down the set's final point that NAU was able to fully put away Southern Utah, who trailed just 22-20 late in the set.

Despite the fourth set's final margin, the scoreboard was knotted up at 15-15 midway through the set before the Lumberjacks broke away with a 7-0 run. The tandem of Kemper and Bock was too much for the Thunderbirds to handle during the run, as they combined on three blocks and each chipped in a kill. That swung the momentum fully in the Lumberjacks' favor and a solo block by Vander Ploeg – the team's sixth in the final set – ended the night and the win.

"I am overwhelmed and so proud of us," Kemper said. "It was a huge challenge – we came in knowing this weekend was a huge challenge – and it became an even bigger challenge for our team after Thursday. Everybody really came together tonight and it's looking really good for us right now."

Southern Utah came into the match allowing its opponents to hit a Big Sky-low .115, but NAU managed to hit .305 Saturday night. Sophomore Jensen Barton distributed a season-high tying 48 assists as all five of NAU's hitters totaled at least seven kills.

"We distributed the ball really well," Murphy said. "We passed the ball well and we got all of our hitters involved, keeping them off balanced. It was really nice to see us get a high amount of kills from a lot of different players."

Defensively, redshirt junior Stacia Williams was one of five Lumberjacks with at least 10 digs with a team-high 16. Vander Ploeg (14 digs) and Barton (10 digs) in addition to Kemper recorded double-doubles. The Lumberjacks held a sizeable block advantage – 14.0-3.0 – over the Thunderbirds with Bock and Kemper each recording seven blocks, keeping SUU to a sub-.100 percentage in the three sets it lost and a .141 clip for the night.

NAU is back at home next Thursday and Saturday versus Montana and Montana State respectively, with both matches at the Rolle Activity Center scheduled for a 7 p.m. start. The pair of matches will also be televised live by NAU-TV.