CEDAR CITY, Utah – With Thursday's heartbreaking loss behind them, the Northern Arizona volleyball team put together a complete performance to sweep Southern Utah Saturday evening in the Centrum Arena, 25-19, 25-21, 25-21 to snap its season-long three-match losing streak. The win was NAU's first conference victory of the season with the Lumberjacks improving to 5-8 overall and 1-1 in the Big Sky.
"It was a really complete effort and we did the best job all season of playing every point with great focus and controlling our side of the net," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "It was a great step forward for us."
With sophomore
Abby Stomp and senior
Dani Westfall setting the offense, the 'Jacks matched their season-best by hitting .296 while also posting their second consecutive exceptional blocking performance. Sophomore
Abby Akin recorded three solo blocks among her six total as NAU used 10.0 team stuffs to hold Southern Utah to only a .157 attack clip.
Offensively, redshirt junior
Kaylie Jorgenson notched 16 kills on a season-high .325 hitting percentage as she had her way all evening. Freshman
Heaven Harris (nine kills, .562 hitting) and Akin (eight kills, .533 hitting) were also forces on the attack with neither player tallying an error on the evening.
NAU survived an early counterpunch to roll to a first set win. Hitting .351 and led by six kills from Jorgenson, the Lumberjacks broke free midway through to set the match into motion. NAU opened with a 6-1 run only for Southern Utah to answer with a run of its own to slice the Lumberjack advantage to 9-8. With the score at 14-12, NAU got the cushion it needed with another 6-1 spurt bookended by a Jorgenson kill and Akin ace.
The second set was the most closely contested with nine ties on the way to 11-11. The Thunderbirds scored the next point, but Jorgenson forced an SUU timeout two points later following a kill and an ace. Akin proceeded to kill one straight down the middle and teamed with sophomore
Sydney Lema for a block out of the timeout and NAU never trailed again as the 'Jacks took a 2-0 lead into the break.
Although a 5-1 start to the third stanza set the tempo for NAU, it needed to battle late to complete the sweep. Unlike in their defeat to Northern Colorado two nights earlier though, the Lumberjacks finished strong and refused to give the Thunderbirds a glimmer of hope by extending the match. Leading by as much as five at 20-15, the NAU lead was down to 22-20 at which the Lumberjacks whistled for a timeout. Akin and Jorgenson responded with kills to set up match point, which Jorgenson clinched two points later.
"I was glad that the sets were close tonight because it allowed us to use the lessons we learned from Thursday," Murphy said. "We focused on the way we were playing regardless of the score and that was great to see."
Lema set a new career-high with 24 digs, and was one of four players with at least 10 digs. Jorgenson and Stomp were among that group, totaling double-doubles, as was junior
Jordan Anderson.
Next week's second week of conference play takes NAU to Idaho State and Weber State next Thursday and Saturday. The Lumberjacks open the week in Pocatello, Idaho at 6 p.m. on Sept. 28.
