SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. (September 6, 2019) – The Northern Arizona volleyball team complemented a strong defensive performance with a balanced attack to quickly sweep Seton Hall, 25-12, 25-20, 25-12, in the opening match of the Seton Hall Classic Friday morning. The Lumberjacks (2-2) hit .241 as a team and held the Pirates to a .026 clip in the brisk 80-minute match in their home opener.
"Our block and our defense were in sync today," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "Jasmine (West) played her best match so far in terms of being in control of her area on the court. Taylor (Jacobsen) and Sydney (Lema) played really good defense and provide good offense. We had good defensive effort and we got good production from our outside hitters, which made us more balanced and that's important for us."
Senior
Sydney Lema recorded her first double-double of the season with 10 kills and 10 digs while hitting .360. She was one of three Lumberjacks with double-digit digs as freshman
Jasmine West totaled 19 and freshmen
Taylor Jacobsen following with 14.
The trio helped the Lumberjacks to a season-best 62 digs, while senior
Abby Akin was a defensive force at the net posting seven blocks. Two of her seven stuffs were of the solo variety and as a team, NAU notched a commanding 9.0-3.0 blocks advantage. That resulted in Seton Hall's .026 attack percentage, which was by far the lowest from an opponent through the first four matches of the fall.
NAU's offensive balance was evident from the get-go with five different players tallying a kill during the Lumberjacks' match-opening 9-4 run. The 'Jacks never trailed after the Pirates claimed the match's first point as they cruised to the 1-0 lead in the match. Lema connected on five of her 10 kills and NAU forced Seton Hall into more attack errors (eight) than kills (seven) in the opening stanza.
The second set was the most closely contested of the morning with NAU clinging to a slim 12-11 lead before breaking the score open with a 6-0 run. Akin started the surge with a kill and sophomore
Aubrea Bandfield tallied a pair of aces during the run. The Pirates did not fade though, eventually forcing the Lumberjacks into a timeout with the NAU lead down to 22-20. The 'Jacks quickly responded though and closed the game with the final three points, two coming on Pirate errors.
After the lead was exchanged three times in the first nine points of the third set, the Lumberjacks seized control and never looked back with a 12-1 run that completely flipped the scoreboard in their favor. Lema and sophomore
Ryann Davis each contributed three kills, and redshirt senior
Victoria Ewalefo added a kill and a block, in the momentum-shifting NAU run.
Lema tallied five kills on seven swings in the final set and Jacobsen clinched NAU's second victory of the season with her second ace on match point.
The Lumberjacks had seven aces in the match with Bandfield recording her second three-ace performance in four matches. Bandfield also led NAU with 15 assists with senior
Abby Stomp recording 14 helpers.
Behind Lema's 10 kills, Jacobsen and Davis both added eight kills apiece. Ewalefo posted her most efficient match in the young season with four kills on five attempts.
The Seton Hall Classic resumes for NAU this afternoon with a 1:30 p.m. MST first serve versus Northeastern in Walsh Gymnasium.
