FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 7, 2019) – The Northern Arizona volleyball collected 12 aces and 10 blocks while controlling every aspect of the match in a 25-16, 25-10, 25-15 sweep of Sacramento State Thursday night in Rolle Activity Center. The Lumberjacks hit .274 and forced the Hornets into 30 attack errors resulting in a -.071 hitting percentage – an opponent-low this season.
NAU rode its desired recipe for success with service pressure and defense leading to an effective attack to post its second straight home sweep. The Lumberjacks also snapped a tie with the Hornets in the Big Sky standings with the victory, improving to 15-10 overall and 8-5 in league play.
"Tonight we were dialed in," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "We had our best blocking match since early in the season. We had a group who is comfortable on the court and they know how to play our style. Our service pressure was great from the beginning and made it tough on (Sacramento State). Our offense came when it came, but we don't worry about it too much when we're playing defense like that."
The Lumberjacks received a boost with the return of junior
Heaven Harris to the lineup after missing the last 11 matches. While she only tallied a pair of kills on eight swings, she was in on three of NAU's 10 team blocks. Her presence also opened up NAU's attack across the net with freshman
Taylor Jacobsen (10 kills on .250 hitting) and senior
Sydney Lema (seven kills on .368 hitting) being the main beneficiaries.
"(Heaven) gives everyone a lot of confidence," said senior
Abby Stomp, who finished with 11 assists and a season-high tying two aces. "A huge part of our offense is getting everyone in a flow and with Heaven's presence on the court, she's a threat. That allowed us to distribute to other spots."
NAU used a 6-0 run to snap a 3-3 tie to start the match, only for Sacramento State to answer with five straight of its own. The five points were part of an 8-1 run that put the Hornets back on top briefly, 11-10, but the Lumberjacks scored 11 of the final 14 points to cruise to a first set win. The Hornets committed 10 attack errors in the opening set, while the 'Jacks turned up the service pressure early with six first set aces including four straight by Jacobsen to wrap up the game.
The Lumberjacks had it all working the second set in allowing a season-low 10 points. Jacobsen paced an NAU offense that attacked at a .560 clip with five kills and Harris and freshman
Neche Newton each posted three blocks in the second set. NAU got out to a 5-1 advantage, increased it to 16-8 and closed with a 9-0 run with sophomore
Aubrea Bandfield at the service line. Bandfield, who finished with a team-high 13 assists, aced set point – NAU's third ace of the game.
Both teams played the opening part of the third set evenly with NAU holding a 13-11 edge before the Lumberjacks landed the knockout blow. Senior
Abby Akin tallied two of her three aces and also added a solo block during an 8-1 run that blew the set open to 21-12. A handful of points later, Harris, fittingly, capped the sweep with a kill.
NAU's 12 aces tied a season-high and was also its most in a three-set match since also recording 12 against Bethune-Cookman on Sept. 9, 2016. Jacobsen, Akin, Stomp and freshman
Jasmine West all registered multiple aces on Thursday.
Akin led the Lumberjacks with five blocks, while Jacobsen and Newton both recorded four. Behind Harris' three was sophomore
Ryann Davis, who posted a pair of blocks in NAU's first double-digit blocking performance in a three-set match in nearly two months.
Next, the Lumberjacks will host Portland State on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in the Rolle Activity Center.
