FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (October 1, 2021) – The Northern Arizona volleyball team wraps up the second week of the conference schedule in Greeley, Colo. Saturday night versus Northern Colorado in a matchup between two of the Big Sky's three remaining unbeaten teams. The Lumberjacks and Bears will battle at 5 p.m. MST with the match available on ESPN+.
NAU and Northern Colorado both enter Saturday's showdown undefeated in league play at 3-0 and coming off wins against Southern Utah. The Lumberjacks swept the Thunderbirds Tuesday night in Cedar City, Utah, while the Bears defeated them on Thursday at home in four sets.
NAU extended its win streak to three matches on Tuesday, posting its third consecutive sweep to open conference play. Behind a performance that saw the Lumberjacks hit .276 and hold the Thunderbirds to a .067 hitting percentage, NAU (5-7 overall) improved to 3-0 in the Big Sky for the fifth time in school history and the first time since 2016.
Junior
Taylor Jacobsen led NAU with 14 kills versus Southern Utah, raising her season average to 3.73 kills per set which ranks second in the league, but the Lumberjacks received error-less efforts from senior
Ryann Davis and redshirt junior
Morgan Gappmayer. Both players totaled eight kills with Davis doing so on 12 attempts and Gappmayer on 11.
Davis, who set a new career-high in hitting (.667) on Tuesday, moved up to fifth in the Big Sky with a hitting percentage of .309. She leads NAU in the category among qualified players, although sophomore
Savannah Bloom is attacking at a .402 clip, which would lead the conference if she had enough attempts to qualify.
Sophomore
Jordan Elder is averaging a team-best 0.92 blocks per set this season, including 1.33 per set in conference play so far. Last season versus Northern Colorado, Elder totaled 12 blocks, tying the second-most by an NAU freshman in a match.
Through three conference matches, NAU leads the Big Sky in hitting percentage (.293) and opponent hitting percentage (.092) in conference-only statistics. Jacobsen is off to a fast start in Big Sky play, leading the league with 4.67 kills per set and 5.61 points per set.
Saturday's match between the two unbeaten teams is shaping up to be a tight one if recent history is any indication. The Lumberjacks and Bears have split their last eight head-to-head meetings going back to 2015. Of the eight matches, five have gone the distance, including two of the last three in Greeley. Northern Colorado holds the slight 3-2 edge in five set matches in that span.
Northern Colorado, the preseason No. 3 in the Big Sky Coaches Poll, holds the conference's top overall record (11-3) and is one of three teams – along with NAU – undefeated through three conference matches. The Bears knocked off Southern Utah, 3-1, Thursday night at home to move to a perfect 3-0 in league play. Northern Colorado is the Big Sky's best offensive team, leading the league in hitting percentage (.221) and kills per set (13.13). Kailey Jo Ince ranks fourth in the conference with 3.55 kills per set, while the Bears' setter Daisy Schultz, the 2019 Big Sky MVP, paces the Big Sky in assists at 9.52 per set.
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