BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – While the Northern Arizona team battled back from a 2-1 deficit earlier Saturday morning to win a five-set thriller versus Virginia Tech, the Lumberjacks had the outcome reversed on them Saturday evening, suffering a five-set loss to Indiana. The Hoosiers overcame a 2-1 deficit to claim the title in their home tournament courtesy of a 22-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-12, 15-11 victory. With the loss NAU fell to 7-3 this season.

"Our team competed great and we played really hard in a challenging environment against a good team," said head coach Ken Murphy. "The key was that we couldn't slow them down defensively, but to their credit they played at a high level and it was challenging. I give a lot of credit to our team for hanging in."

The opening set was even at 6-all when senior Janae Vander Ploeg converted on a pair of kills to turn the tide in NAU's favor. She later added a service ace to cap a 6-1 run that allowed the Lumberjacks to hold a 12-7 lead. NAU led the rest of the way from there and hit .452 in the set to take the early advantage. Vander Ploeg finished the set with five kills while junior Lauren Jacobsen recorded four and junior Addy Lofstedt chipped in three in the opener alone.

The Lumberjacks could not have asked for a better start to the second set striking fast and early to the tune of a 6-0 lead. However, the Hoosiers turned it right around on the 'Jacks with the next seven points to quickly erase the NAU lead. Still, the Lumberjacks were ahead on the scoreboard, 12-10, a 4-0 Hoosier spurt was what it needed to take the lead for good. Although the Lumberjacks got as close as 20-19 late in the set, they could not regain the lead as Indiana finished the set with six of the last seven points to even the match.

With each team having won a set through two, the third set was the closest of the night with 13 ties. Neither team had a significant edge with the score tied at 17-17 until Vander Ploeg's kill broke the final tie of the set. Three consecutive Indiana errors parlayed into a four-point NAU lead, 21-17, it never relinquished. Jacobsen wrapped up the third set with a kill and had NAU sitting in the envious position of being one set away from victory.

The fourth set was controlled by Indiana as the home team kept NAU at bay throughout the entirety of the stanza. Tied at 4-4, the Hoosiers would go on to win 14 of the next 15 points for a commanding 18-5 lead en route to sending the match to a fifth set. In the fourth set, the Lumberjacks hit a match-low .077 while the Hoosiers hit .400.

NAU appeared to put aside the fourth set and courtesy of its outside hitting trio of Vander Ploeg, Jacobsen and Lofstedt, the 'Jacks got five kills between them during a 5-2 run to open the fifth set. NAU then led 7-5 before a set-changing, and match-turning, 4-0 run gave Indiana a 9-7 lead. The Lumberjacks never led again, but were able to close within one on three occasions – the last coming at 12-11 after a Vander Ploeg kill. Unfortunately, that would be NAU's final point with Indiana closing the match and avoiding defeat by securing the last three points.

Indiana hit .290 for the match including .400 in the final two sets to rally for the win, yet NAU hit a highly respectable .257 with junior Jensen Barton dishing out 40 assists. Jacobsen recorded 17 kills to lead NAU with Vander Ploeg also reaching double-figures with 14 kills. Lofstedt and junior Payton Bock also added seven kills each.

"Jensen did a great job keeping our hitters balanced and distributing," Murphy said. "She got Payton going a little more today and that helped diversify our offense. As usual our outside hitters did a very good job as well."

Redshirt freshman Brittni Dorsey paced the Lumberjacks at the net with five blocks. Vander Ploeg led the team with 13 digs and was joined in double-digit digs by Jacobsen and Barton. All three players notched double-doubles.

Jacobsen and Vander Ploeg were named to the All-Tournament team. Vander Ploeg averaged a team-high 3.31 kills per set this weekend while Jacobsen averaged 3.23 kills per set on a .327 hitting percentage. The All-Tournament honors are the third for both outside hitters in three tournaments to begin 2015.

It was a busy week for NAU, a week which started with Tuesday's four-set loss at No. 10 Arizona State before traveling to Bloomington. While NAU went just 2-2 in four matches this week, it was a significant week having played three teams from Power 5 conferences including its win over Virginia Tech.

"This was the most important week we've had in terms of growth and challenging ourselves," Murphy said. "Considering we're only three weeks into the season, I'm really impressed with the progress we've made and how much better we're getting as a team skill-wise. We've raised our expectations of what we're capable of."

The Lumberjacks will head down the mountain to Phoenix next Friday and Saturday for the GCU Invite in their final non-conference weekend. NAU will play Boise State on Friday at 3 p.m. followed by matches against UC Riverside and Grand Canyon next Saturday.