CHENEY, Wash. (October 19, 2019) – Behind their most effective offensive performance in over a month, the Northern Arizona volleyball team picked up a 25-14, 21-25, 25-11, 25-22 victory over Eastern Washington on Saturday. The Lumberjacks hit .285 for the match, and over .320 in each of their three winning sets, to improve to 11-9 overall and 4-4 in conference play.
"We did a lot better job getting our side under control and focusing on us for long stretches in the match," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "It starts with our defense. It got much better throughout the match and that creates so many offensive opportunities for us to take advantage of all of the hitters we have. We made some progress today in terms of our consistency."
The Lumberjacks dominated the first and third sets and closed the final set on a 5-0 run to soar past the Eagles, who hit only .151 on the afternoon. NAU had four players record double-digit kill matches led by freshman
Taylor Jacobsen's 15.
With the fourth set in the balance, the 'Jacks answered the call after a timeout trailing 22-20. Desperately trying to avoid another fifth set, the Lumberjacks received a sideout on an Eagle service error before Jacobsen tied the score at 22-22 with her final kill of the match. Senior
Abby Akin and sophomore
Ryann Davis followed by combining for consecutive blocks and Akin clinched the match with a kill through the heart of the Eastern Washington defense.
After posting just one combined block in the last two matches, Akin registered six blocks on Saturday to help NAU to a narrow 7.0-6.0 ace advantage. Meanwhile, Davis totaled a career-high six aces among the Lumberjacks' nine total. Davis became just the fifth player in program history to record at least six aces in a four-set match.
Both Akin and Davis recorded 12 kills apiece, while senior
Sydney Lema tallied 10 kills in her return to the outside. Jacobsen (15 kills, 12 digs), Davis (12 kills, 10 digs) and Lema (10 kills, 14 digs) each registered double-double efforts.
Davis spearheaded an initial 4-0 Lumberjack run with a pair of kills to start the match and the 'Jacks never trialed in the opening set. She contributed the first two of her six aces during a second 4-0 run that increased NAU's advantage to a set-best 19-8 lead and the Lumberjacks cruised to the first set win. Freshman
Jasmine West, who reentered the lineup at libero, recorded seven of her match-high 26 digs in the first set.
The second set was anything but the first as the teams battled through 14 ties and six lead changes. Eastern Washington used a pair of 4-0 runs to take a 13-9 lead before NAU fought back to tie it at 15-15. The teams played through ties at 16-16, 17-17,18-18, 19-19 until consecutive kills by Akin and Jacobsen put NAU ahead, 21-20. However, the Eagles scored the final five points of the set to even the match.
Eastern Washington erased an early 4-1 NAU lead to start the third set and knotted the score at 7-7. Squared away on the scoreboard, Lema started a prolonged Lumberjack surge with a kill, which freshman
Neche Newton followed with a pair of kills to force an Eagle timeout. The three points were just the start of a 15-3 run that put the set well out of reach, with Davis making a huge impact with three kills and three aces.
NAU got out to a 7-2 lead in the fourth set and were doubling up Eastern Washington, 12-6, before the Eagles made a charge. Eastern Washington took its first lead of the set at 19-18 and forced an NAU timeout leading 22-20 following a solo block. The block proved to be the final point Eastern Washington would score before NAU's match-clinching 5-0 run.
Akin and Davis' defensive exploits in the final run exemplified NAU's defensive improvements in the final two sets. After Eastern Washington hit .221 in the first two sets, the Eagles only hit .080 in the final two sets, including .000 with only five kills to go with five errors in the third game. NAU totaled five of its seven team blocks in the last two sets.
"We've been pressing too much and trying too hard," Murphy said. "Today, we got in a better flow and see the ball a little better. We got our hands on it with the block and our defenders were in really good spots. That's the mindset that has been key for us and today, we were able to keep that mindset for longer periods of time and hopefully that's something we can build on."
The Lumberjacks wrap up their marathon road trip Monday evening at Southern Utah. First serve from Cedar City, Utah is 5:30 p.m. MST.
