FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (October 26, 2021) – With just three weeks left in the regular season, the Northern Arizona volleyball team travels to the Northwest for matches against Eastern Washington and Idaho this week. Both matches will begin at 6 p.m. and will be available on ESPN+.
This week's matchups will be the first two opponents NAU will face for a second time this season after going through the entire league over the last five weeks. The Lumberjacks opened conference play with three-set home victories over both the Eagles and the Vandals last month. Looking back at NAU's first meetings with Eastern Washington and Idaho this fall, the 'Jacks dominated the box scores hitting a combined .301 and keeping the two teams down to a .103 clip. NAU also averaged 1.83 aces and 2.50 blocks per set.
Junior
Taylor Jacobsen was unstoppable, earning Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week honors after averaging 4.67 kills per set on .365 hitting. She was far from the only Lumberjack to shine though as sophomore
Millie O'Ketter averaged 5.17 digs and sophomore
Jordan Elder averaged 1.50 blocks the first time around versus Eastern Washington and Idaho.
NAU heads out on the road after notching its sixth sweep of the season last Saturday with a 3-0 win over Montana. In fact, all six of the Lumberjacks' conference victories have come in sweeping fashion. NAU is fifth in the league at 6-4 in conference play and is 8-11 overall.
"We see when we're consistent, we're very tough to beat and that's top to bottom in our conference." said head coach
Ken Murphy. "We just have to keep learning it and going through experiences. You have to go through individually and as a team to learn those lessons. Hopefully over the next three weeks, we can get more situations where we can keep moving forward so we can be ready for the conference tournament."
With just one week left until NAU's final homestand of the season, the Lumberjacks' trio of fourth-year players enjoyed big individual weekends versus Montana State and Montana. Redshirt junior
Morgan Gappmayer posted two double-doubles, averaging 3.13 kills and 3.75 digs per set, while senior
Ryann Davis hit .364 with 2.50 kills per set and senior
Aubrea Bandfield averaged 6.63 assists per set, including a career-high 33 digs last Thursday versus the Bobcats.
Both Davis and Bandfield will playing in their 100th career match on Thursday in Cheney. Davis leads the Big Sky in overall hitting percentage (.337) and in conference matches (.378). Meanwhile, Bandfield is averaging a career-high 5.29 assists per set this season. Over the last five matches, Gappmayer has enjoyed the best stretch of her career, averaging 3.00 kills and 2.89 digs per set with three double-doubles.
Eastern Washington is 4-6 in conference and 8-10 overall after splitting its road trip through Idaho State and Weber State last week. The Eagles opened the week with a five-set win over the Bengals before being swept by the Wildcats. All four of Eastern Washington's Big Sky wins have come in five sets. Maya McClellan leads the Eagles in kills at 2.63 per set, including an average of 2.73 in conference play. Sage Brustad runs complementary to McClellan in Eastern Washington's attack, averaging 2.25 kills per set on the season.
Idaho picked up its first conference victory of the season on Saturday, sweeping Idaho State on the road. The victory snapped the Vandals' nine-match skid to open Big Sky play. The Vandals are 4-15 overall and 1-9 in league action. Delaney Nicoll has provided Idaho an offensive jolt in conference play, ranking third in the Big Sky with 3.50 kills per set. Overall this season, Nicoll is averaging 3.07 kills per set, right behind Allison Munday's team-leading average of 3.12.
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