INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (August 31, 2018) – Redshirt senior
Kaylie Jorgenson and sophomore
Heaven Harris powered the Northern Arizona volleyball team to their fourth straight victory Friday afternoon, as the Lumberjacks dispatched SIUE by a score of 25-18, 22-25, 25-11, 25-19. NAU converted at a high efficiency offensively, hitting .267 in its tournament opener of the IUPUI Hampton Inn Invitational.
"We've been talking about how we feel we have really good weapons on this team," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "On any given night, we might have different standouts and today Kaylie and Heaven were unstoppable. They had great shot selections and gave SIUE all types of problems."
Jorgenson torched the Cougars at a .419 clip and recorded a match-high 19 kills from the left side. On the opposite side, Harris pounded down 15 kills on .375 hitting.
Jorgenson did the heavy lifting early, tallying 13 of her 19 kills in the first two sets, while Harris totaled nine of her 15 kills in the last two sets.
Behind seven first set kills by Jorgenson, the Lumberjacks took the opening stanza. NAU used a 4-0 run to move ahead 8-5, and led the remainder of the set. The 'Jacks carried that momentum into the second set, jumping out to a 12-5 lead before the Cougars made their move.
SIUE, a 23-win team a year ago, forced its way back into the set and eventually took a 21-19 lead courtesy of five consecutive points. NAU got within a point at 23-22 late, but SIUE ultimately denied NAU of a late comeback effort.
Sensing the need for a bounce back, the Lumberjacks took it to the Cougars in the third set, running away with a 25-11 set victory. The 11 points marked the fewest given up the 'Jacks in a set this season. NAU hit .538 and was never threatened in moving a set away from victory.
Harris notched three consecutive kills and Jorgenson chipped in a pair of aces during a 6-0 NAU run that snapped a 2-2 tie. The advantage only grew with another five-point spurt to 13-4 and NAU strung together a 7-0 run late – with three aces from freshman
Aubrea Bandfield – to wrap up the third set.
The Cougars scored the first four points of the fourth set and held a commanding 7-2 lead, only for NAU to tie it up at 9-9. After both teams traded 5-0 runs, junior
Abby Akin ignited a momentum-changing 8-1 Lumberjack surge with a kill. By the end of the run, NAU led 22-16 and junior
Sydney Lema sealed up the win with a kill on NAU's first match point.
"We had a couple of let-ups in the match, but other than that I thought we played really hard," Murphy said. "We had an expectation that we were going to compete defensively and our team did a great job of following through with that."
Akin's match-high five blocks helped NAU hold SIUE to a .170 hitting percentage, extending the Lumberjacks' streak of holding opponents under .200 to five matches to open the season. NAU totaled 7.0 team blocks.
Jorgenson led three 'Jacks in double-digit digs with 16 to notch her fourth double-double in five matches. Bandfield recorded team-highs of 23 assists and three aces.
The 'Jacks will have an early start to the morning on Saturday when they face Western Michigan at 7 a.m. MST. NAU will conclude the IUPUI Invitational with the host at 5 p.m. MST later in the evening.
