FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (October 27, 2018) – The Northern Arizona volleyball team started fast and showed resolve at the end to complete their fourth straight home sweep – marking the first time the Lumberjacks achieved the feat in five years. Led by strong offensive showings from junior
Abby Akin and redshirt senior
Kaylie Jorgenson, the Lumberjacks picked up a 25-15, 25-20, 28-26 victory over Portland State on Homecoming Saturday.
"We started fast and played the first exactly the way we talked about in scout," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "In the second set, Portland State passed really well and made it hard for us to get into a rhythm defensively. I give them credit; Portland State raised their level the last two sets. Even though our defensive wasn't playing well, we sided out and hit a high percentage. We had to work for it today."
Dating back to their sweep of Montana State on Oct. 4, the 'Jacks have won four straight home matches in straight sets. The last time NAU did so was during the 2013 season. Winners of seven of their last eight, the Lumberjacks are 17-8 overall and 9-3 in the Big Sky.
Akin was nearly unstoppable from the middle, hitting .571 and totaling a match-high 14 kills. On the outside, Jorgenson hit .444 – her second-highest percentage of the season – and recorded 13 digs. Jorgenson also notched 14 digs to secure her 17th double-double.
As a team, NAU eclipsed the .300 threshold for the third straight match, hitting .327. Redshirt senior
Brittni Dorsey's five blocks and senior
Jordan Anderson's 17 digs were team-bests defensively, as the Vikings attacked at a .162 clip.
NAU got on a roll early both offensively and defensively, racing out to a 9-2 advantage. Jorgenson recorded three of her six first set kills during an 8-0 run, while Dorsey and sophomore
Heaven Harris combined for a pair of blocks. Portland State managed to cut its deficit to 13-9 before NAU went on another five-point spurt to double its lead.
NAU's setter tandem of junior
Abby Stomp and freshman
Aubrea Bandfield engineered a Lumberjack attack that tallied 20 kills and hit .444 to aid NAU's battle back from an initial 5-1 deficit in the second set. Akin, Harris and junior
Sydney Lema each recorded multiple kills during an 8-3 run that provided NAU with a 19-16 lead it would not relinquish.
After allowing the Lumberjacks to attack at a robust .433 clip in the first two sets, the Vikings slowed them down in the third set. NAU hit only .174, but managed to escape three Portland State set points to complete the sweep. NAU led by as much as four, but it was Portland State who got to set point first at 24-23. The Vikings would have two additional opportunities to extend the match, but Lema and Akin rejected a Portland State attack to tie the score at 26-26. Freshman
Ryann Davis killed the next point and Lema and Akin put the bow tie on the match with another block on match point.
"Individually, we all had moments early in the season where we had to work through something," Jorgenson said. "But we all came out stronger and now we're working together as a team. It's perfect timing and we're ready to keep it going towards the conference tournament."
The Lumberjacks had advantages in kills (48-37), digs (54-47) and blocks (9.0-3.0).
NAU's current four-match win streak ties a season-best as the Lumberjacks embark on a road trip to Montana and Montana State. The Lumberjacks' road trip will start on Thursday in Missoula versus the Grizzlies at 6 p.m. MST.
