FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (January 18, 2021) – By the time the Northern Arizona volleyball team opens serve this upcoming Sunday, a total of 422 days will have passed since NAU's "most recent" match – in 2019. So it goes without saying that after more than a calendar year removed from their last competition, the Lumberjacks are amped to get the spring 2021 season going.
"The team is excited to play some matches; they've been denied that even with our spring matches (last year) even though they're unofficial," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "They work so hard for these opportunities and to be deprived of that, it adds up mentally for them. It'll be a huge relief for them to have an opponent they can focus on, and just start measuring ourselves because we're in the gym working hard."
The Big Sky Conference postponed the normal fall season to this spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and thus the spring will look a little different. Gone are the usual non-conference weekends as the Lumberjacks will head right into conference play beginning with their season opener on Sunday at home in the Rolle Activity Center versus Sacramento State.
The conference slate will also feature a unique twist in which all teams will face the same opponent at the same site twice in a weekend. The conference schedule will consist of 16 matches with each school playing eight matches – four opponents – both home and away.
While the season will be unlike any other, NAU's championship aspirations are the same as ever with Murphy entering his eighth season at the helm of the Lumberjacks. Although NAU's roster is youthful with just three returning upperclassmen, the talent level is deep, leaving NAU's all-time winningest coach all the more excited for the next two months.
"I like everything about the composition of our roster," Murphy said. "We're deep and we have great players in the gym. The hesitancy when you look at our team is that we're very inexperienced. We have a few upperclassmen and we're going to be starting several freshmen, but we get better every day. We're going to be better in April than we are right now, no doubt about it, but I don't think we have a weakness and I'm excited to be a part of this team's growth."
FALL TRAINING
With their season postponed, the Lumberjacks spent the fall months as they normally would – in the spring. The spring is typically spent implementing systems and focusing on skill development, and with time to gear up for the season, NAU took full advantage of its fall training.
Of course, the team still needed to work within the safety protocols in place, which created challenges and even doubt at times.
"As great as I think our team has been in focusing on the process and not worrying about what they can't control like when we're going to play a match or when we might get shut down, it is really challenging," Murphy said. "Going through this, the thing I never would have guessed a year ago is that some relationships are more difficult to establish. We've been working at it, but it's not easy to become familiar with each other when you're doing Zoom meetings."
"This is going to sound weird to some people, but giving high fives and patting the backs of your teammates are super important in team sports when people are telling you to avoid contact," Murphy added. "I am proud of how far we've come with that and we've really improved in these cultural areas in the last year."
Zoom meetings aside, the time was well spent especially given five freshmen to integrate within the team's systems in preparation for the spring season.
"Our freshman class has impressed me more than I can say," Murphy said. "They're really good volleyball players and really good people who have fit in with us since day one."
FRESH TALENT
NAU's freshman class of five will be leaned on heavily to help replace a graduating senior class of Abby Akin,
Sydney Lema and Abby Stomp – each of whom finished top 10 all-time in blocks, digs and assists respectively among a number of other categories.
The irony is that last season's senior class was also counted on to replace a senior class including some of the program's all-time greats when they were freshmen in 2016.
Four and a half years later, Murphy sees similarities and the potential for major impact with his freshman class of 2020.
"You look at that (2016) team and we came an inch away from winning a championship that year as well," Murphy said. "I think this team is really similar to that and our freshmen have great leadership, even if it's from a small number. For sure we're going to have some four-year starters out of this freshman group to replace (Akin, Lema and Stomp) as four-year starters. Freshmen are going to have days that are better than others, but we'll have to persevere through that."
The Lumberjacks added five players across the court including a pair of middle blockers in
Savannah Bloom and
Jordan Elder. NAU also has an outside hitter (
Lyla Hollis), a setter (
Kate Hatch) and a defensive specialist (
Millie O'Ketter) in this class that could see significant court time early and throughout the spring.
Each of NAU's five freshmen come to Flagstaff with an extensive list of accolades throughout their respective prep careers. Bloom and Hatch were named to their respective All-Region teams during their careers at Queen Creek High School and Mesa High School in the valley.
Hollis, Elder and O'Ketter all hail from the state of Colorado where they garnered All-State honors.
THE HAMMER
If NAU is going to have just one senior on its roster this spring, it is a good thing that she's got the biggest swing possibly in the Big Sky.
Heaven Harris is the Lumberjacks' lone senior this season and she is looking to become the fourth player in program history – joining Sydney Kemper, Janae Vander Ploeg and Abby Akin – to garner four career all-conference honors.
Despite missing 11 matches with an injury last season, Harris still earned All-Big Sky First Team honors after leading the team with a career-high 3.14 kills per set. Harris hit .314 and also registered 0.67 blocks per set.
"She's expanded her game during the offseason," Murphy said. "Everybody looks at her offensive game – she brings these highlight reel type swings – but Heaven is a way better blocker than she's ever been and the little things that happen in our sport have improved a ton for her."
With just two other returning upperclassmen – juniors
Ryann Davis and
Aubrea Bandfield – Harris will be counted on heavily from a leadership standpoint, which may be her greatest improvement over the course of her career.
"The biggest change in Heaven from four years ago until today is her leadership and her ability to make the people around her better," Murphy said. "Early on in her career, she latched on to other people for their leadership and now she provides that. I trust her 100 percent with our group. She's tough and she's competitive, but she says it in a way that makes people want to play hard with her."
Harris begins the spring just 86 kills shy of becoming the 15th player in program history to reach 1,000 in her career. The 2018 Big Sky Tournament Most Valuable Player currently ranks seventh in program history in hitting percentage (.303) and 10th in kills per set (2.91).
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