FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona volleyball team brought the block party to the Rolle Activity Center, using strong play at the net to deny Weber State Saturday night in a three-set sweep, 32-30, 25-16, 25-16. The Lumberjacks tallied 15.0 blocks – their most in a three-set match this season and second-highest total overall – to force the Wildcats into 31 errors as they snapped their two-match skid.

"Weber State started out putting a lot of pressure on us and taking big swings," said head coach Ken Murphy. "Once we got in a rhythm blocking, I thought we controlled the momentum of the match. Offensively we were solid all night, and we started to slow down their offense. We feel that we're a strong defensive team that can hold teams to a low hitting percentage."

The Lumberjacks (17-6, 8-4 Big Sky) won a marathon first set – the longest set they've played all season – that Weber State pushed them to the limit. In a set that featured 20 ties and nine lead changes, it was NAU that prevailed. After Weber State turned a 17-14 deficit into a 24-22 lead, the Lumberjacks withstood two set points beginning with a Taylor Stephens kill and eventually held their first set point at 25-24.

The opening set appeared to just be getting started though as the teams found themselves tied at every step of the way until 30-30. During that stretch, the 'Jacks held three set points and the Wildcats had one opportunity. At 30-30, a Weber State service error plus a block by Stephens and senior Sydney Kemper finally put a cap on the first set.

With momentum squarely on their side, the Lumberjacks pushed out to an 11-4 run in the second aided by a 5-0 run including two of sophomore Lauren Jacobsen's match-high 12 kills. Unlike the first set, the lead never exchanged sides as NAU led throughout with the exception of a tied score at 1-1, building up to as much of a 10-point advantage to head into the intermission with the 2-0 lead.

In the third set, the score was tied at 9-9 before NAU started to edge forward and it led 18-13 following a kill from junior Janae Vander Ploeg. The Wildcats claimed the next two points to cut the NAU lead to three, only for Vander Ploeg to answer with two straight kills. The 'Jacks would take seven of the final eight points in front of a boisterous home crowd to complete the sweep, successfully bouncing back from their narrow five-set loss to Idaho State on Thursday.

"I liked that we didn't let Thursday affect us," Kemper said. "We came out and played the way we know we can play. We focused more on what we needed to do to be successful."

The Lumberjacks' block was a team effort led by Kemper's career-high tying nine, marking the most by a Lumberjack this season. The NAU middles, Stephens and junior Payton Bock, both contributed seven blocks as the 'Jacks held the Wildcats to a .096 percentage.

Jacobsen paced NAU's offensive efforts hitting a season-best .450 with her 12 kills. Vander Ploeg added 10 kills and is now 13 kills shy of a 1,000 for her career, which would make her the 12th player in school history to hit the milestone joining Kemper who accomplished the feat on Thursday.

"We started a little flat with our energy but we bounced back after the first set," Jacobsen said. "We wanted to set the bar high heading into the next few weeks finishing up conference and into the tournament."

Sophomore Jensen Barton recorded 32 assists in setting NAU to a .277 percentage. Barton also tied for the team-lead in digs with Jacobsen as the pair both recorded eight digs. Senior Hannah Hill, making her second career start at libero, chipped in six digs.

The Lumberjacks will host their final homestand next week with Eastern Washington on Thursday and Southern Utah on Saturday. Both matches will start at 7 p.m.