GREELEY, Colo. (November 22, 2018) – The Northern Arizona volleyball team's offense carried them to the semifinals, and their defense pushed the Lumberjacks to the championship match. Facing a powerful Idaho State team across the net, NAU posted 10.0 blocks to keep the Bengals at bay, while picking up a 25-17, 25-15, 25-21 semifinal win on Friday.
The Lumberjacks stuffed the Bengals into .142 hitting to notch their 12th consecutive victory, tying the second-longest win streak in school history. More importantly though, the win propelled NAU (25-8) into its third Big Sky Championship match in the last four seasons.
NAU and Idaho – the tournament's top two seeds – will square off for the Big Sky's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The top-seeded Lumberjacks and second-seeded Vandals will meet for the second time in 10 days with NAU having won the only season meeting last Thursday, Nov. 15, at home in three sets.
"It was a physical match; I thought Idaho State had their offense working so well early in the match and it took a big response from our team," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "I'm really proud of our effort. We turned the match into the type of match we like to play. We didn't pass great to start, but we got into a flow and our service pressure got better as the match went on. That's such a big piece of what we do."
NAU took Idaho State, the No. 5 seed in the tournament, out of the match with its service registering seven aces to just one error – their best ace-to-error ratio of the season. Junior
Abby Akin and freshman
Aubrea Bandfield each tallied two aces.
Their service pressure also resulted in the Bengals committing 21 attack errors compared to just 12 by the 'Jacks, who wound up hitting .252. Redshirt senior
Brittni Dorsey paced NAU with five blocks, while Akin totaled four. Redshirt senior
Kaylie Jorgenson, sophomore
Heaven Harris and freshman
Ryann Davis found their way into three stuffs each.
Senior
Jordan Anderson enjoyed a record-breaking evening in the back row where she recorded 21 digs, pushing her season total to an even 600. Anderson became the first player in program history to reach 600 digs in a season and in the process, set a new single-season record surpassing current NAU assistant coach
Anna Lofgren's previous record of 586 set in 2012.
"I'm so proud, but I couldn't have done it without our blockers setting up a funnel for me to get those digs," Anderson said. "It's been awesome for me to see how much I've improved. I owe it all to my teammates and my coaches for helping me achieve this."
The Bengals blasted the Lumberjacks early, scoring six of the match's first eight points, before the 'Jacks settled in. NAU managed to tie the score at 8-8, and then landed a haymaker to close the first set. Clinging to an 18-17 advantage, the Lumberjacks ripped off the final seven points of the set.
After their initial burst, Idaho State only hit .116 in the first set. Meanwhile, NAU hit .341 with Akin, Harris and Jorgenson each recording four kills.
Idaho State made NAU work offensively in the second set as NAU's hitting percentage dropped to .167. However, the Lumberjacks staked themselves a 2-0 match lead with four aces and five blocks.
Davis and Akin combined for two blocks and Bandfield chipped in an ace during a 5-0 run that put the 'Jacks in front for good early, 7-5. The Lumberjacks added another five-point surge, including two combo blocks by Jorgenson and Dorsey, to take a commanding 15-9 lead. Although NAU hit a low clip, the Lumberjacks' blocking wall kept the Bengals at an even lower percentage of .051.
NAU withstood a third-set challenge by Idaho State, who had won seven of its last eight matches, to complete the sweep. NAU battled through 10 ties – the last at 17-17 – and capped the semifinal match by scoring 10 of the last 14 points.
Each team held a three-point lead through the early stages of the third set, and it was Idaho State who led 17-15 until a 4-0 NAU run turned the set in its favor one final time. Bandfied even the score with an ace and Akin followed with two kills, which prompted an Idaho State timeout. The Lumberjacks never relinquished the lead with Dorsey and Harris turning back a Bengal attack on match point.
"We went into the match with a lot of respect for Idaho State," Anderson said. "We know they're a great team, but there wasn't a person on this team who thought we were going to lose tonight. We have a lot of confidence in ourselves, our skills and our mental toughness."
Harris was the lone Lumberjack with double-digit kills, finishing with 11. Bandfield handed out a team-high 20 assists.
Fans can catch Saturday's Eleven Sports broadcast of the Big Sky Championship match starting at 7:30 p.m. on
Pluto TV Channel 231 and
watchbigsky.com.
