MATCH NOTES (PDF)
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (September 4, 2019) – One trip to the Eastern Time Zone down, two to go. The Northern Arizona volleyball team, coming off a 1-2 weekend at the Michigan Invitational, heads back east to the Seton Hall Classic this week in South Orange, N.J. The Lumberjacks' week two opener will be the host, Seton Hall, at 8 a.m. MST on Friday before NAU takes on Northeastern at 1:30 p.m. MST later in the afternoon. NAU will conclude the tournament with La Salle at 1:30 p.m. MST on Saturday.
"There are things we can learn from last weekend," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "The most important thing is knowing that we're capable of really great things if we're steady with our improvement as the season progresses. We feel like our serve game is good and we can score points well and if we can shore some things up particularly in our sideout game, we're capable of big things. Last weekend proved that."
The 'Jacks are looking to improve upon an opening week showing that started with a sweep of Tennessee Tech and ended with losses to No. 15 Michigan and Oakland. NAU narrowly missed pulling off its second-ever win over a nationally-ranked opponent when Michigan rallied from a 2-1 deficit to know off NAU in five sets. Two areas stand out statistically from the first week compared to last season. Albeit a small sample size, NAU's three opponents hit .233 last weekend as compared to a .164 clip in 2018. The Lumberjacks also allowed 1.83 aces per set as compared to a 1.09 opponent ace average last fall.
Junior
Heaven Harris garnered a spot on the Michigan Invitational All-Tournament team after leading the Lumberjacks with 2.92 kills per set. She recorded double-digit kills in all three matches and was effective, attacking at a .360 clip. Harris was particularly dominant against Michigan with 11 kills on .500 hitting. Also of note, senior
Abby Akin and freshman
Jasmine West posted strong starts to the season.
Akin hit a team-leading .400, which currently ranks fourth in the Big Sky Conference, and led the team with 1.42 blocks per set – good for third in the league. On NAU's all-time blocks list, Akin moved up from seventh to fourth over the first weekend of play as she currently has 388 career rejections to her name. Meanwhile, West earned the nod at libero and enters the week ranked fourth in the league in both digs (4.33 per set) and aces (0.50 per set). In her debut, West tallied 23 digs in NAU's 3-0 victory over Tennessee Tech.
In addition to West, freshman
Taylor Jacobsen and junior
Olivia Turner split time at outside hitter behind senior
Sydney Lema and both players had bright moments. Jacobsen registered nine kills in her first collegiate match against Tennessee Tech, while Turner posted a career-high 11 kills on .379 hitting – also a career-best – versus Oakland.
"We do have young players in really important spots, and even though we return a lot, we have to let this lineup develop," Murphy said. "That's challenging because you almost beat a nationally-ranked team and expectations go up. But we knew this was going to be a process and our newcomers were going to have to get used to being in different situations."
Seton Hall dropped all three of its matches at the Morgan State Invitational last weekend. The Pirates pushed Morgan State to five sets in their season opener, but were then swept by Quinnipiac and Towson. Last season, Seton Hall was 10-20 overall and 5-12 in the Big East Conference.
Like NAU, Northeastern and La Salle both went 1-2 last weekend. Northeastern defeated Indiana State in four sets in addition to suffering losses to Green Bay and Ohio at the GBD Invite. The Huskies, out of the Colonial Athletic Association was 16-14 last season and 9-7 in conference play. La Salle competed at Notre Dame's Golden Dome Invitational and after falling to the host in four sets, the Explorers bounced Bowling Green in five sets. La Salle, 18-12 overall and 9-5 in the Atlantic 10 a year ago, closed the first weekend of the 2019 season with a four-set loss to Wright State.
Live stats for all three matches this weekend will be available at this
link. Fans can stream NAU's Friday opener versus Seton Hall for free at this
link.
About Seton Hall:
Record: 0-3, 0-0 Big East
2019 Preseason Big East Poll: Eighth
All-Time Series: First Meeting
About Northeastern:
Record: 1-2, 0-0 Colonial Athletic Association
2019 Preseason CAA Poll: Fifth
All-Time Series: First Meeting
About La Salle:
Record: 1-2, 0-0 Atlantic 10
2019 Preseason Atlantic 10 Poll: Fourth
All-Time Series: First Meeting
