SACRAMENTO, Calif. (November 29, 2019) – One day after a grueling come-from-behind effort, the Northern Arizona volleyball team could not string together a second consecutive rally as they saw their season end in the Big Sky semifinals on Friday. The Lumberjacks were swept by Weber State, 25-21, 25-15, 25-21 as they close the 2019 campaign with a 21-11 record – their fifth 20-win season in the last six years.
"We had such great effort in this match," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "Both teams played really great defense and Weber State made a few more little plays during long rallies. There were a lot of long rallies and I'm really proud of our team's effort."
Weber State hit .287 in the victory, while NAU was contained to only a .200 attack percentage. Freshman
Taylor Jacobsen led the 'Jacks with 10 kills and posted nine digs, while freshman
Jasmine West recorded a match-high 21 digs.
Although the Wildcats held a significant attack advantage, the Lumberjacks matched the Wildcats in the block column with each team posting nine team blocks. NAU's middle blockers – senior
Abby Akin and freshman
Neche Newton – each tallied four stops.
The Lumberjacks started strong with four different players recording kills during a 7-4 opening run to the match. After the Wildcats claimed a brief 10-9 edge, junior
Heaven Harris sparked a 5-0 NAU run with a pair of kills. She added a third during the surge that moved the 'Jacks ahead 14-10, only for the Wildcats to score eight of the next nine points. NAU never got closer than 19-17 as Weber State claimed the first game.
The Wildcats commanded the second set in a wire-to-wire victory behind a strong service game and a defense that clamped down on the Lumberjacks. Weber State recorded five of their seven aces and limited NAU to only .098 hitting. After the Wildcats scored the first four points, the 'Jacks fought back to 7-5 behind kills from sophomore
Ryann Davis, sophomore
Aubrea Bandfield and senior
Sydney Lema. However, Weber State ran away from NAU with an ensuing 11-2 run to extend its lead out to 18-7.
In need of second comeback down 2-0 in as many days, NAU battled Weber State early in the third set and led 8-6 following a Lema ace. The Wildcats answered and held an 18-14 advantage before the Lumberjacks made one final push.
Harris tooled the Weber State block for a kill and Newton followed with a pair of kills – one assisted with Jacobsen and one solo – to force a Wildcat timeout with their lead cut to 18-17. Weber State responded out of the timeout with a 5-1 run and NAU never got closer than three the rest of the match.
In their final career matches, senior
Abby Stomp led the 'Jacks with 19 assists while Lema hit .286 and recorded six kills, 14 digs and a solo block. Akin totaled four kills to go with her four blocks.
NAU concludes the season having won 11 of its final 13 matches with both losses coming at the hands of Weber State.
"This tournament was a microcosm of our season," Murphy said. "Sometimes we were a little flat and weren't super organized, but sometimes we played some really great volleyball and fought hard."
