FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Rolle Activity Center home crowd packed a punch and the Northern Arizona volleyball team treated them to a 25-12, 25-21, 25-19 sweep of Southern Utah, sending Sydney Kemper, Hannah Hill and Taylor Stephens out with a win on Senior Night. With the win, the Lumberjacks finishes the season with a 10-1 home record, matching a program-best for season home win percentage (.909).

NAU heads into the final week of the regular season next weekend at 10-4 in the conference and 19-6 overall.

"I was impressed with how sharp we were," said head coach Ken Murphy. "We played with a lot of energy and stayed in our systems really well. We're going in the right direction. Our defense was exceptional tonight and we know that's a big piece of what we do. We got contributions from a lot of players at the net. There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic with what we can do at the conference tournament."

After playing even through the first 16 points of the night, the Lumberjacks utilized four Thunderbird errors during a 5-0 run to grab a 13-8 lead. SUU briefly sided out, but NAU grabbed the next eight points, with an additional four coming on attack errors by the visitors. By the end of the run, the Lumberjacks led 21-9 and wrapped up the set with a block by Stephens and sophomore Jensen Barton as NAU forced SUU into a -.152 clip in the first set.

Southern Utah held a 16-13 advantage midway through the second set, before junior Janae Vander Ploeg led NAU on a set-changing 7-0 run. Vander Ploeg repeatedly found the holes in the Thunderbird defense with four kills in the stretch which gave the 'Jacks a 22-17 lead. Kemper would end the set with consecutive kills and NAU claimed a 2-0 lead in the match.

Like the set prior, NAU found itself trailing midway through the third at 17-14 before once again seizing control. Barton contributed a pair of kills during a 5-0 run that put NAU in front 19-17 and the Lumberjacks took it from there. Three points away from a sweep, Vander Ploeg made quick work pounding down the last three kills, wrapping up the sweep – the team's seventh in 11 home matches this season.

"We want to go out there and show people why we were tied for number-one (in the preseason polls)," Barton said. "But even more so, we wanted to give our seniors a last great home match. We wanted to win really bad for them."

A night after joining the 1,000 kills club, Vander Ploeg paced the Lumberjacks with 14 kills without committing an error to hit a match-high .412. She also notched her team-leading 13th double-double with 13 digs. Kemper recorded 13 kills and also picked up her 11th double-double with 14 digs in her final home match as a Lumberjack.

"It was awesome to play in front our home crowd for the last time," Kemper said. "My emotions were crazy, but I'm really happy. I had a bunch of family who came out and had never seen me play before so it was great."

The Lumberjacks' defense held Southern Utah to just .060 hitting for the match and held a decisive advantage in digs 63-46. Redshirt junior Stacia Williams led the charge with a match-high 15 digs. Barton also chipped in a double-double with 34 assists – setting NAU to a .248 percentage – and 12 digs along with a career-high tying six blocks. Stephens posted four blocks in her home finale.

NAU heads out on the road for two final matches before the Big Sky Championships, playing at Sacramento State next Thursday and Portland State on Saturday.