Volleyball Wraps Up Regular Season at Home Versus Eastern Washington and Idaho

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 19, 2019) – With just one week remaining before the conference tournament, the Northern Arizona volleyball takes a four-match winning streak into their final homestand in the Rolle Activity Center this Thursday versus Eastern Washington at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday versus Idaho at 11 a.m. This week's matches will be the final two home matches for seniors Abby Akin, Sydney Lema and Abby Stomp.

Each of the three seniors hold places in the top 10 all-time lists in program history and they will be recognized prior to the start of Saturday's match versus Idaho. Akin is NAU's all-time leader in hitting percentage, currently at .389, and sets played with 448. She is second in career blocks with 502 and ninth in career service aces with 110. Akin also is just 18 kills away from joining the 1,000 kill club entering her last two career home matches.

Last weekend, Lema moved into third all-time in career digs with 1,469. She is also tied for eighth in sets played with 422 and is approaching the top 10 in service aces. Meanwhile, Stomp is seventh with 2,446 career assists in program history.

The three seniors will look to lead the Lumberjacks to a pair of victories in Rolle this week where the 'Jacks are 9-1 this season. With two more wins, NAU would tie the second-most home wins in a season. NAU won 11 home matches in 1999 and 2013.

NAU remains tied with Weber State for second in the conference standings to begin the final week before the conference tournament. Following a pair of five-set wins over Montana and Montana State last week on the road, NAU is 18-10 overall and 11-5 in league play having won eight of its last nine matches.

"We've been saying this, but when we focus on the things we need to do on our side, a lot of good things happen," said head coach Ken Murphy. "Every week I feel like we've proven that to ourselves a little more. It's allowed us to be more relaxed on the court. I'm hoping we have a couple more matches where we relax, play hard and not overthink things in the match."

Junior Heaven Harris was named the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week after averaging 3.90 kills per set and hitting .333 versus Montana and Montana State last week. Harris had her two most productive matches since returning from injury, first tying her previous career-high of 19 kills versus the Grizzlies. She followed up with a career-high 20 kills against the Bobcats. Harris is ranked ninth in the Big Sky with a team-high 3.11 kills per set. She is also sixth in the league with a hitting percentage of .316.

NAU fell to Idaho, 3-1, in Moscow on Oct. 17 in the teams' first meeting this season, but the 'Jacks proceeded to dispatch Eastern Washington, 3-1, two days later in Cheney. That win ignited the Lumberjacks' current 8-1 stretch over the last five weeks after they started out conference play with a 3-4 mark.

"It's night and day (from the last time we played these two teams)," Murphy said. "Honestly, we've gotten healthier and we've gotten more cohesion in our lineup. But that was the last weekend where we didn't have a good handle on what we were going to do in a match and how we were going to find success on any given night. Since then we've improved in that regard and the results have shown."

Eastern Washington remains in the hunt for a conference tournament bid, but the Eagles will need some help as they are two games behind a game behind eighth-place in the league at 6-22 overall and 4-12 in conference play. The Eagles fell to Idaho, 3-1, and Big Sky-leading Northern Colorado, 3-0, last week. The Eagles are in the bottom half of the league statistically. Eastern Washington is hitting .137 this season and allowing opponents to hit .228.

Idaho has already clinched its spot in next week's conference tournament and finds itself in a three-way tie for fourth at 9-7 in conference play. After beating Eastern Washington in four sets, the Vandals were swept by Northern Colorado ending a four-match homestand with a 13-15 overall mark. The Vandals are third in the league in hitting at .228, but eighth in opponent hitting at .212. Idaho does lead the league in blocks though, averaging 2.71 per set overall and 2.84 in conference play.

The first 250 fans to Thursday's match will receive a free winter beanie. There will also be a raffle for Dutch Bros Coffee at Saturday's match.

This week's final two home matches will be streamed on Pluto TV Channel 539 online at this link and on the free mobile Pluto TV app. Live stats will be available at this link.