FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (September 18, 2019) – The Northern Arizona volleyball team will be on the hunt for another big win and a positive end to the non-conference portion of the schedule at the Gators Invitational this weekend. After a undefeated weekend at home, the Lumberjacks make their third and final trip to the Eastern Time Zone to face Louisiana and No. 11 Florida on Friday at 7 a.m. MST and 4 p.m. MST. NAU's final match of the weekend will be versus Liberty at 7:30 a.m. MST on Saturday.
NAU carries a four-match winning streak into this weekend's tournament in Gainesville, Fla. following a perfect weekend in the Lumberjack Classic. The Lumberjacks, now 6-3 overall, did not drop a set in victories over South Dakota State, LSU and Fresno State to claim their own tournament title for the first time in four years.
Led by freshman
Taylor Jacobsen, the tournament Most Valuable Player, and All-Tournament selections junior
Heaven Harris and sophomore
Ryann Davis, the Lumberjacks posted an exceptional statistical weekend. NAU hit .306 while limiting its three opponents to .101 hitting. The Lumberjacks averaged 14.78 kills, 1.78 aces, 15.33 digs and 2.56 blocks per set. As a result, the 'Jacks now lead the Big Sky in hitting percentage (.287), kills per set (12.97) and assists per set (12.21) in addition to ranking second in opponent hitting percentage (.165). NAU ranks in the top five in all categories.
"We have to keep remembering that we're going into week four and we have a lot of season ahead of us," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "There are a lot of things we want to accomplish and for us to do that, we have to remember that we're not a finished product. It's easy to come out of a weekend like we had and feel like we're there, but there are so many great challenges ahead of us, including this weekend, and we need to take them one at a time."
Senior
Abby Akin leads the team with 1.67 blocks per set and a .418 hitting percentage, which place her first and second in the league respectively. Harris leads the Lumberjacks with 3.09 kills per set on the season, ranking fifth in the Big Sky, while freshman
Jasmine West is sixth with a team-high 4.15 digs per set.
This weekend, NAU will look to take down Florida for the second consecutive season and an SEC team in back-to-back weekends following its win over LSU last Friday. The Lumberjacks memorably defeated then-ranked No. 8 Florida last season in Flagstaff in five sets. It was the program's first win over a nationally-ranked team in three decades.
No. 11 Florida swept rival No. 23 Florida State on Tuesday at home after defeating South Florida, James Madison and Long Beach State last weekend. The Gators are 6-2 overall with their only losses coming to No. 1 Stanford and No. 8 Minnesota.
"We have confidence that if we execute our side of the net the way we want to, it works at a high level including against a team like (Florida)," Murphy said. "There are a ton of things that we can't control about this weekend. The environment will be different; but we can play our style of volleyball on our side and when we do that, we get the results we want a lot."
Louisiana was swept by Arizona State, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma at the Oklahoma Invitational last weekend to drop its record to 4-6. The Ragin' Cajuns had previously won their last four matches. Liberty bested fellow Big Sky foe Idaho State in its only victory of the Cougar Challenge. The Lady Flames, 5-4 overall, fell to UT Arlington and the host Washington State last weekend.
Live stats for all three matches will be available at this
link. The radio broadcast of Friday's match versus Florida can be heard at this
link.
About Louisiana:
Record: 4-6, 0-0 Sun Belt
2019 Preseason Sun Belt Poll: Fifth – West Division
All-Time Series: NAU, 1-0
Last Meeting: NAU, 3-0 (Sept. 7, 2007)
About No. 11 Florida:
Record: 6-2, 0-0 SEC
2019 Preseason SEC Poll: Second
All-Time Series: NAU, 1-0
Last Meeting: NAU, 3-2 (Sept. 7, 2018)
About Liberty:
Record: 5-4, 0-0 ASUN
2019 Preseason ASUN Poll: Fourth
All-Time Series: NAU, 2-0
Last Meeting: NAU, 3-0 (Sept. 5, 2015)
