MATCH NOTES (PDF)
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (August 23, 2018) – With the first of four challenging weekends ahead of them prior to the start of league play, the Northern Arizona volleyball team opens the 2018 season at the Aggie Invitational hosted by UC Davis on Friday. The Lumberjacks will play four matches in three days starting with their season opener versus Nevada at 12 p.m. followed by a pair of matches versus Utah Valley (10 a.m.) and Holy Cross (5 p.m.) on Saturday. NAU closes the tournament on Sunday with the host UC Davis at 2 p.m.
"We had great two-a-days," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "The first week, we really pushed ourselves to get better individually both offensively and defensively. The last week, we worked on tightening up our serving and receiving and getting into a nice rhythm on how we're going to play together competitively. We made so much progress and we're ready to play some matches and see how we're going to compete."
The Lumberjacks are coming off a fifth-place finish in the Big Sky Conference with a 9-7 league mark during the 2017 season. However, NAU posted its first sub-.500 record since 2010 at 13-15 overall. Optimism is high entering this weekend for the Lumberjacks though, having being picked second in the 2018 Big Sky Preseason Coaches Poll behind Idaho.
Reason for optimism is largely due to the return of all six of the Lumberjacks' starters, along with their libero, from last season's roster. In all, NAU has eight letterwinners back including three players who earned all-conference honors. Redshirt senior
Kaylie Jorgenson and junior
Abby Akin were All-Big Sky First Team selections in 2017. Jorgenson ranked third in the Big Sky with a team-leading 3.77 kills per set while also leading the team with 376 digs. Akin led the Lumberjacks, and ranked 10th in the conference, with 1.07 blocks per set in addition to hitting .364.
Meanwhile, sophomore
Heaven Harris is the reigning Big Sky Outstanding Freshman, and a 2017 All-Big Sky Second Team pick, after averaging 2.76 kills per set on a .355 hitting percentage a year ago.
The Lumberjacks are led by head coach
Ken Murphy, who is entering his sixth season at the helm of the program. In his first five seasons, he has compiled 105 victories with a winning percentage of .691. Both figures rank second in program history.
Live stats for all four matches this weekend will be available at this
link. Only NAU's Sunday match versus UC Davis will be streamed online on
BigWestTV.
About Nevada:
2017 Record: 10-20, 8-10 Mountain West
2018 Preseason Mountain West Poll: 10th
All-Time Series: NAU leads 7-6
Last Meeting: Nevada, 3-1 (Sept. 10, 2010)
About Utah Valley:
2017 Record: 15-16, 9-5 WAC
2018 Preseason WAC Poll: Fourth
All-Time Series: NAU leads 2-0
Last Meeting: NAU, 3-2 (Sept. 10, 2011)
About Holy Cross:
2017 Record: 5-24, 2-14 Patriot League
2018 Preseason Patriot League Poll: Eighth
All-Time Series: First Meeting
About UC Davis:
2017 Record: 16-14, 8-8 Big West
2018 Preseason Big West Poll: Sixth
All-Time Series: Tied 1-1
Last Meeting: NAU, 3-2 (Aug. 24, 2007)
