FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (October 12, 2019) – The Northern Arizona volleyball team was two points away from another devastating five-set loss before the Lumberjacks stormed back with the match's final six points to complete a 22-25, 21-25, 25-17, 25-17, 15-13 come-from-behind victory over Montana on Saturday. NAU's first comeback from a 2-0 deficit snapped a three-match losing streak – all of which came in five sets – and evened the Lumberjacks' conference record to 3-3.
"We needed to prove to ourselves that we can be successful in these pressure situations," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "That can get in your head a little bit and I was really proud with how we performed at the end of that fifth set. Even though we were down, we played great defense and we took great swings and the last couple of weeks we've been really tentative in these situations."
NAU, now 10-8 overall, found itself in a fourth consecutive five-set match – the first time in program history that the Lumberjacks have played four straight matches to go the distance – but only after the Blue & Gold righted the ship after dropping the first two sets to a confident Montana squad.
The last time the Lumberjacks came all the way back from a 2-0 deficit was Aug. 25, 2017 versus Southern Illinois. NAU also posted its first five-set victory in seven tries this season.
Freshman
Taylor Jacobsen (season-high 17 kills, 18 digs), junior
Olivia Turner (career-high tying 15 kills, 18 digs) and sophomore
Ryann Davis (season-high tying 12 kills, career-high 13 digs) all posted double-double performances for the Lumberjacks. Senior
Abby Stomp notched a season-high 47 assists and set NAU to a .222 hitting percentage, the team's highest mark in three weeks.
The Lumberjacks were outhit (.239-.222), outdug (81-73) and outblocked (12.0-4.0), but held a sizeable advantage at the service line. NAU recorded 11 aces, including four each from Davis and senior
Sydney Lema, while not allowing an ace for the first time all season. Montana also tallied nine service errors.
With Davis at the service line and senior
Abby Akin in the front row, the 'Jacks exploded for a match-clinching 6-0 run. After the Grizzlies forged ahead, 9-6, behind a 4-0 spurt, the visitors had the Lumberjacks playing from behind and desperately trying to avoid another heartbreaker.
Trailing 13-9, Davis sided out for NAU with a kill and took her turn at the line where she immediately delivered her career-high fourth ace to slice the Lumberjack deficit in half. That prompted the first of two Montana timeouts, which preceded an Akin kill. A Montana error tied the score at 13-13 and Akin followed with another kill to force a final Grizzly stoppage at 14-13.
Two days after losing a 14-12 match point advantage versus Montana State, NAU did not let the opportunity slip away. Akin, who finished with 15 kills on .407 hitting, blasted her third kill in the final four points on match point.
"Today showed who NAU Volleyball is," Davis said. "We've been struggling and after the second set, there were obviously a lot of frustrations. It came from within from every player and we told ourselves we're more than capable of winning this match."
The Lumberjacks led the first set 16-11 and then later at 19-17 until the Grizzlies flipped the scoreboard with a 6-0 run. Montana hit .263 in the first set and then never trailed in the second set in taking a 2-0 match lead. NAU did string together a 5-0 run to tie the second set at 20-20, but Montana immediately followed with four straight points.
While the 'Jacks never completely slowed down the Grizzlies' attack, NAU's offense improved dramatically in the final three sets. After hitting .106 in the first two sets, the Lumberjacks hit a combined .341 in sets three, four and five. NAU's attack errors also dropped from 17 in the first two games to just eight the rest of the way.
Davis actually had a momentum-changing service run in the third set before her closing run in the fifth as she served NAU to seven straight points to put the 'Jacks ahead, 16-10. The Lumberjacks never let up and Jacobsen powered NAU to an easy third-set victory, after the teams were tied every step of the way until 10-10, with five kills.
In the fourth set, NAU turned up the service pressure and had Montana scrambling with five total aces. Jacobsen and Davis each posted two, while Lema recorded one, in the game as the Lumberjacks forced a deciding fifth set. Both of Jacobsen's aces were part of a 5-0 run that extended NAU's lead out to 21-13.
Both teams battled through 29 ties and 16 lead changes, including seven ties and four lead changes in the final stanza alone, in the tightly contested match.
The Lumberjacks' win gives them momentum heading into a difficult upcoming road match that will take them through three states for three matches in five days. NAU's road trip next week begins at Idaho on Thursday before continuing through Eastern Washington and Southern Utah before the 'Jacks return home on Thursday, Oct. 24.
