MISSOULA, Mont. – With five of their last six matches at home, the Northern Arizona volleyball team was eager to back to Flagstaff and it showed in a brisk 25-18, 25-13, 25-18 sweep of Montana Saturday night. The Lumberjacks needed just 77 minutes – their shortest match of the season – and trailed just once to post their first weekend sweep of the season and even their Big Sky record to 5-5 in the process.
"It was a great controlled effort tonight," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "From start to finish, we were in control of our side of the net and I was really impressed with our toughness to play every point as hard as we did despite the score being one-sided at times."
NAU (9-12 overall) posted a season-best .374 hitting percentage, eclipsing the .300 mark for the first time since its regular season finale last November. The Lumberjacks received 17 kills – the most by a 'Jack in a three-set match this season – from redshirt junior
Kaylie Jorgenson, who hit a personal season-high .438.
The 'Jacks completely controlled the service line with a 10-1 advantage. Six of their 10 aces occurred in the third set with Jorgenson accounting for three of them. Her team-leading three aces matched a career-best.
NAU also dominated the net, tallying 8.0 team blocks to the Grizzlies' 3.0. With sophomore
Abby Akin recording a match-high five blocks and redshirt sophomore
Victoria Ewalefo and sophomore
Abby Stomp each totaling three, Montana hit only .172 for the match. It was NAU's first sub-.200 opponent hitting percentage since Sept. 28 versus Idaho State, coincidentally NAU's last three-set win, and it marked the fifth straight match in which the Lumberjacks' opponent hitting percentage has dropped from the previous.
The Lumberjacks ripped off the first five points of the match and never trailed throughout the opening set. After the Grizzlies cut into their deficit to 8-5, the 'Jacks rattled off another 4-0 run and NAU maintained a lead of at least seven points the rest of the way.
Montana's lone lead of the match came at 2-0 to start the second set, but the home team was no match for NAU's offensive efficiency heading into the intermission. As a team, NAU hit .517 with 15 kills and zero errors on 29 attempts. Akin broke open a tight set all by herself with two kills and two blocks during a 5-0 run that made it 15-8 and the Lumberjacks ended the set with another five-point spurt.
The third set was the Jorgenson show as she torched the Grizzlies with seven kills and three aces in the final set alone. Her three aces spurred a 5-0 Lumberjack run that broke a 2-2 tie. Montana did close the gap to 11-8, momentarily forcing an NAU timeout, but yet another 5-0 run gave the Lumberjacks full control of the set at 21-14.
Freshman
Heaven Harris, Ewalefo and Akin aided Jorgenson's offensive exploits with a combined 18 kills and just one error between them. Harris was second on the team with nine kills and recorded her fifth match this season with a .600 hitting percentage or better.
In addition to her career-high three stuffs, Stomp recorded 36 assists in NAU's most efficient offensive performance of the season.
NAU totaled double-digit aces for the fifth time this season with senior
Dani Westfall and junior
Jordan Anderson each tallying two aces behind Jorgenson's three. Sophomore
Sydney Lema, Akin and Stomp rounded out the Lumberjacks' total with one apiece.
The Lumberjacks open their season-long four-match homestand next Thursday, Oct. 26 with undefeated Sacramento State at 7 p.m. in the Rolle Activity Center. The Hornets became the first team to punch their ticket to the Big Sky Championships on Saturday and are a perfect 10-0 in conference play.
