BOZEMAN, Mont. (November 16, 2019) – As they saw Montana State slowly erase their 2-0 lead, the Northern Arizona volleyball team remained steady. Even in front of a hostile Senior Night crowd of 1,107 in Shroyer Gym, the Lumberjacks kept their cool and they emerged with a 25-21, 25-14, 24-26, 16-25, 17-15 thrilling victory over Montana State on Saturday to post their fourth straight win.
"These are the types of matches that we've been searching for the last few months," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "Our team is learning how to rely on being our style of volleyball and if we do that, they'll get the result that they want. The environment was as tough as we'll play in and Montana State was playing great. If we could it in this situation, we can do it any time."
With the victory, the Lumberjacks (18-10, 11-5 Big Sky) kept pace with Weber State for the second seed in the conference tournament. The 'Jacks are also two games up on three teams tied for fourth with one week remaining in the regular season.
To do so though, the Lumberjacks needed to hold off a hard-charging Bobcat team who had eyes on knocking off the 'Jacks for the second time this season. After NAU won the first two sets, Montana State won the next two to force a winner-take-all fifth set. There, the Bobcats overcame deficits of 7-3 and 10-7 to reach match point first at 14-13.
Junior
Heaven Harris' career-high 20th kill staved off the Montana State clincher and NAU served for match point following an ensuing Bobcat error. Montana State responded with a block to knot the fifth set at 15-15 before senior
Abby Akin sliced right through the Bobcat defense with a kill. On their second match point, NAU capitalized with an emphatic block by Akin and sophomore
Ryann Davis, which marked the pair's third rejection in the final game alone.
Just one night after tying her career-high of 19 kills, Harris eclipsed the total with 20 on .357 hitting. Freshman
Taylor Jacobsen posted 14 kills, while Akin finished with nine and Davis tallied eight. The Lumberjacks hit .241 as a team and used 13 blocks to aid their efforts in holding the Bobcats to just .140 hitting – including .000 in the fifth set.
Akin led the defensive charge with seven blocks, which pushed over 500 for her career. Currently at 502, she is just one of two players in program history with 500 career blocks joining NAU's all-time leader, Payton Bock. Davis matched her career-high with five blocks of her own.
Harris, Jacobsen and Akin combined for seven kills during a 10-3 first set run that put the Lumberjacks in front, 18-12, after they fell behind to open the match. Montana State cut its deficit in half at 19-16, but senior
Sydney Lema tallied a kill and Harris and freshman
Neche Newton combined for a block to push NAU's advantage back out to five.
After Harris had the hot hand in the first set – totaling seven kills on nine swings in the opening set win – Jacobsen collected six kills in the second set. The first three of Jacobsen's kills came during an 8-1 run to start the set, as sophomore
Aubrea Bandfield also posted three of her career-high tying four aces in the run as well.
NAU never looked back as it used another stifling 7-0 run, aided by three kills from Akin and Bandfield's fourth ace of the set – to take a commanding 22-9 advantage. NAU hit a robust .462 in the second set and held all of the momentum going into the third set.
However, the 'Jacks played from behind for most of the third set, although a late rally almost pushed them over the edge. Trailing 20-15, a mini 3-0 run brought NAU within 20-18. After two Bobcat points, the Lumberjacks proceeded to go on a 5-1 run that tied the game at 23-23 only for Montana State to deny NAU of a sweep by scoring three of the final four points.
An 8-1 run by Montana State, which snapped an early 3-3 tie, was all the Bobcats needed to cruise to a fourth set victory. The Lumberjacks never got closer than four the rest of the game, which forced them to play their second five-set match of the week.
NAU led 7-3 to start the final game only for Montana State to score four straight to tie it at 7-7. Davis and Akin put NAU ahead, 8-7, with a block prior to the changeover and Davis followed with back-to-back kills to give the Lumberjacks a 10-7 advantage. After a 5-1 Montana State run switched the edge over to the home team, Harris hammered down a kill to even the score at 12-12.
The kill was the first of three by Harris in a stretch where the teams alternated points. Harris' last kill held off Montana State's only match point and preceded a 4-1 match-ending run by NAU.
"There was never a time, even in the third and fourth sets, where we backed off," Murphy said. "I give credit to Montana State because it was a high-level match. Despite being up 2-0, it never changed how we were competing and I liked how we stuck to it."
NAU returns home to the Rolle Activity Center for the final time this season with its last two home matches. First, the Lumberjacks will face Eastern Washington at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday before they host Idaho on Saturday at 11 a.m. for Senior Day for Akin, Lema and
Abby Stomp.
