FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona volleyball team rebounded from their lowest hitting percentage in nearly two months by posting their most efficient offensive performance of the season against Idaho State on Saturday in a 25-17, 25-21, 25-17 sweep. The 'Jacks had four hitters hit above .350 and as a team posted a season-high .445 hitting percentage to move to complete the season sweep of the Bengals.
"More and more, we're gaining an understanding of the things we need to do to be successful," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "I was impressed with our ability to relax and control the match from start to finish against a team like Idaho State. Today was one of our better offensive matches and this team has a lot of weapons. When we are distributing the ball well, we're capable of matches like this."
The Lumberjacks (12-13 overall, 8-6 Big Sky) committed just three attack errors – a single error in each set – in their first match with a .400 hitting percentage in more than a calendar year since sweeping San Francisco last Sept. 17. The effort came just two days after NAU hit only .148 versus Weber State.
Sophomore
Abby Stomp recorded 43 assists – and was the only player in the match to record a double-double with 10 digs – as she effectively kept the Bengals off balance with her distribution. NAU tallied 52 kills, its most in a three-set match this season, with redshirt junior
Kaylie Jorgenson leading all players with 16 kills on .366 hitting.
Freshman
Heaven Harris and sophomore
Abby Akin added 12 and 11 kills respectively without committing an error, while redshirt junior
Brittni Dorsey recorded kills on all five of her swings.
NAU was able to run its offense to a tee due to one of its best matches in terms of serve receive with Idaho State totaling just one ace.
"Kaylie, Sydney (Lema) and Jordan (Anderson) are really gelling as group," Murphy said. "Even if we don't pass it perfect to the net, we avoided aces and we stayed in rallies really well. If we get the ball to our setter, we're pretty potent and I think we'll be even better when it comes to the conference tournament."
Jorgenson got NAU's first home sweep of the season going with nine first set kills. Five of her kills came during a game-changing 9-2 run that turned a one-point Lumberjack lead into a 19-11 advantage. The Lumberjacks were red-hot hitting .500 in the opener while compiling 19 kills in the first set.
Harris took the baton from Jorgenson offensively and Akin put up a wall defensively to lead NAU to a victory in the second set – the most closely contested of the match. Harris hammered down eight kills, while Akin tallied four of her match-high six blocks to help the 'Jacks hold off the hard-charging Bengals. Consecutive kills by Harris forced an Idaho State timeout at 22-17, but Idaho State closed to 23-21. Akin and Harris turned away a Bengal attack to get to set point before Akin finished it with a kill.
NAU appeared to be well on its way to sweep, leading 18-11 in the third set, but Idaho State refused to go quietly. The Bengals roared back to get within 19-16, but with junior
Jordan Anderson at the service line, NAU used a 5-0 run to pull away. During the run, the Lumberjacks were aided by four Bengal errors.
The 'Jacks held the edge in every statistical category with the largest margin coming in attack percentage. As great as NAU's offense was, the Lumberjacks notched a 7.0-2.0 blocking advantage, as well as a 52-47 edge in digs to hold the Bengals to only .203 hitting. Sophomore
Sydney Lema, Anderson and Stomp all finished with 10 digs each, with Jorgenson and senior
Dani Westfall combining for 16 more.
NAU faces a challenging split week next week by first traveling to face North Dakota in Grand Forks, N.D. on Thursday before returning home next Saturday versus Southern Utah for Senior Day at 1 p.m. in the Rolle Activity Center.
