POCATELLO, Idaho – The Northern Arizona volleyball team took their first step towards a Big Sky title on Thursday, posting a commanding sweep of fourth-seeded Idaho, 25-16, 25-20, 25-16, to move onto the conference semifinals. The fifth-seeded Lumberjacks (21-7) outhit the Vandals and held advantages in blocks, digs and aces, successfully avenging a sweep to Idaho earlier in the season by controlling the match in all facets.

Thursday's quarterfinal win was a complete turnaround of the team's previous meeting in which Idaho handed NAU its only three-set loss in conference play on Oct. 2. In the first meeting, Idaho hit .323, the highest percentage by a Lumberjack opponent this season, but was held to a .064 clip tonight. The Lumberjacks used 10.0 team blocks plus a 67-48 dig advantage to contain the Vandals' offensive attack.

"I definitely think we've improved since that last match and tonight was less about Idaho than it was about us," said head coach Ken Murphy. "Our leadership has really emerged since then and skill-wise we're real similar as a team, but we have more belief in ourselves and what we're capable on our side of the net. Tonight was all about the players and I'm so proud of them."

The Lumberjacks dominated the opening set, hitting .391 and using six team blocks to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Sophomore Lauren Jacobsen helped break open a close first set that NAU led just 13-12, with a pair of kills and an ace to start a 6-0 run. The run put the Lumberjacks in motion as they closed the set on a 12-4 run. The Vandals did manage to snap the NAU run with three straight points to cut their deficit to 19-15, but senior Sydney Kemper answered with one of her four first-set kills to swing the momentum back to NAU. Junior Payton Bock punctuated the first set with a solo block on the final point.

The second set once again began as a close affair with the teams knotted up at 10-10. Another momentum-turning run with sophomore Jensen Barton at the service line gave NAU the necessary distance it needed. Bock fueled a 5-0 spurt with two kills and her second solo block, but the Vandals would not go quietly closing to 19-17 late forcing a Lumberjack timeout. Two points later with the score at 20-18 in favor of NAU, junior Janae Vander Ploeg and Barton put down consecutive kills. With a four-point lead in hand, Vander Ploeg capped the set with a kill and sent the 'Jacks into intermission with a 2-0 lead.

A pair of blocks to start the third set forced a quick Idaho timeout as NAU took three of the first four points. Idaho tied the score at 5-5, but for the third time NAU used a run to seize control of the set. Jacobsen started the run with a kill and ended it with an ace as the Lumberjacks grabbed a 10-5 lead. Another 5-0 spurt pushed the Lumberjacks' lead to double-digits at 18-8 and they maintained that 10-point lead as late as 23-13. The Vandals scored the next three points, but the 'Jacks quickly regrouped and wrapped up the sweep with kills from Vander Ploeg and Bock.

"When we first played them, we didn't play like ourselves at all," Bock said. "The last match we played in Portland (the regular season finale), we played like ourselves and that gave us confidence tonight. We played together and confident tonight. We played every point 100 percent."

NAU hit only .191 for the match, but won the battle between the Big Sky's top two teams in terms of hitting percentage. Kemper led the Lumberjacks offensively with 12 kills and hit .500, while recording a double-double with 12 digs. Bock hit .429 to go along with seven kills and a match-best six blocks. Vander Ploeg and sophomore Isabelle Gosar also led the Lumberjack charge at the net with five and four blocks respectively. Vander Ploeg also added eight kills and 17 digs.

Redshirt junior Stacia Williams led all players with 18 digs. Barton recorded 35 assists and a pair of aces. Jacobsen also posted two aces and senior Hannah Hill added one as NAU totaled five aces to none for Idaho.

"We were steady – we didn't get too high or too low – and we played one point at a time with maximum effort," Murphy said. "We never wavered from that and we played with great energy and I'm really proud of that."

NAU will play top-seed and host Idaho State in Saturday's second semifinal. First serve is set for 7:30 p.m. in ISU's Reed Gym.