OGDEN, Utah (November 2, 2019) – Two big Weber State runs in the first two sets put the Northern Arizona volleyball team in a hole too great to pull themselves out of as the Lumberjacks saw their four-match losing streak come to an end Thursday night with a 25-20, 25-17, 25-23 loss. NAU falls to 14-10 overall and 7-5 in conference play.
The Wildcats scored nine straight in the first set and six straight in the second set to completely flip the scoreboard in their favor. In the third set, the Lumberjacks led by as much as five before the Wildcats erased the deficit to complete the sweep.
"We were very tight and there were a lot of areas that we could've been better," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "We gave ourselves a shot with our defense. With all of the things that were chaotic on our side, we managed to keep them off-balance on their side. The first two sets got away from us, but I'm proud of how we regrouped to give ourselves a shot going into the third."
While NAU contained Weber State to .208 hitting, the Lumberjacks posted their second-lowest hitting percentage of the season at .093. Although both teams committed 18 attack errors each, Weber State tallied 44 kills to NAU's 29 – also marking the Lumberjacks' second-fewest this season.
Weber State also held the advantage at the service line, 7-4, although NAU kept Weber State out of the ace column completely in the third set. The Lumberjacks, led by five from senior
Abby Akin and three from redshirt freshman
Morgan Gappmayer, outblocked the Wildcats by a 9.0-8.0 margin.
Senior
Sydney Lema recorded a pair of aces to open the match as the Lumberjacks scored the first two points and led 4-2. Weber State seized control with a 9-0 run and NAU was forced to play from behind. The Lumberjacks chopped away at the deficit with a late 6-1 run to close to 22-20, but the Wildcats scored the final three points to wrap up the first set.
The Lumberjacks once again opened the second set with the first two points – this time on a pair of solo blocks by freshman
Taylor Jacobsen – but the Wildcats evened the score at 5-5. The set remained tied at 11-11 until Weber State moved ahead with a 6-0 run. NAU never got closer than five the rest of the game.
Facing a must-win third set, the 'Jacks received a spark from junior
Olivia Turner, who posted six of her team-high tying eight kills in the game. She recorded three kills during a 7-2 run that snapped an 8-8 stalemate helping the Lumberjacks to a 15-10 advantage. NAU remained in front as late as 21-19 following another kill by Turner, but Weber State tied it at 21-21. Turner tied the score one final time at 23-23 before the Wildcats secured the sweep with the last two points.
Akin matched Turner's eight kills and hit .368. Freshman
Lillian Thomas led the Lumberjacks with 17 digs while Lema added 10 as she surpassed 1,400 digs in her career.
The Lumberjacks will head home for a pair of important matches next week in the Rolle Activity Center. NAU will host Sacramento State on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. before the 'Jacks face Portland State on Saturday, also at 6:30 p.m.
