GREELEY, Colo. (March 17, 2021) – The Wednesday doubleheader began with the defending Big Sky champions rallying for a five-set win and ended with them sweeping the Northern Arizona volleyball team. Northern Colorado held court in Bank of Colorado Arena, handing NAU a pair of losses in the Lumberjacks' final regular season series.
Northern Colorado opened the day with a 25-27, 25-16, 17-25, 25-21, 15-7 victory before holding off several NAU comeback efforts in a 25-18, 25-20, 25-15 sweep. NAU concludes the regular season at 9-5, while Northern Colorado moved into sole possession of third place in the Big Sky standings at 11-3.
"We're not going to overthink today too much," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "This type of format favors a veteran team. We felt there was a lot of growth and we feel our defense is good. UNC did some good things, but this wasn't about them at all. This was about us executing a little better on our side and if we can wrap our head around that going into the conference tournament, we feel like we match up really well against anyone we could potentially play."
Northern Colorado claimed the morning match despite NAU registering a season-high 18.0 blocks, which also matched the program's high total since 2018. Freshman
Jordan Elder had her hand in 12 of NAU's 18 stuffs, tying the sixth-highest single-match total in program history. Elder's 12 blocks also tied Karen Burley (1986) and Jenny Treglown (1994) for second-most by a freshman. Burley holds the NAU all-time and freshman block records with 18.
The Lumberjacks' significant 18.0-7.0 blocks advantage helped limit the Bears to a .174 attack percentage, but the Bears recorded 13 more kills (63-50) and five more aces (8-3). Northern Colorado also outdug NAU, 83-73, in Wednesday's first match.
NAU had its blocking dialed in from the start, registering seven total in a first set win. Still, the game was tight with nine ties and four lead changes, and it was actually Northern Colorado who got to set point first at 24-23. The Lumberjacks withstood two set points, the last on which freshman
Lyla Hollis tied it at 25-25 with a kill. Freshman
Millie O'Ketter followed with an ace and senior
Heaven Harris sealed the opening game with a kill.
After Northern Colorado evened the match with an offensive attack that hit .356 and totaled 20 kills in a wire-to-wire win, NAU gained the edge in the third set with Elder playing a role in all five of the Lumberjacks' blocks. NAU seized control with a 6-0 run that snapped an 8-8 tie and the 'Jacks put it into cruise control from there to take a 2-1 match lead.
Although the Bears eventually won the fourth game, and force a deciding fifth set, the Lumberjacks made them work for it, rallying back from a 16-8 deficit. However, at a critical juncture late, an NAU challenge on a swing by sophomore
Taylor Jacobsen off the Northern Colorado block was not overturned, denying the Lumberjacks of tying the score at 21-21. Instead, the Bears kept the point and the 22-20 lead and scored three of the last four.
In the fifth game, Northern Colorado never trailed, racing out to a 6-1 lead that NAU could not overcome.
Jacobsen led the Lumberjacks, who hit. 196 in the morning, with 17 kills while recording her ninth double-double with 13 digs. Junior
Aubrea Bandfield also notched a double-double with 22 assists and a career-best 15 digs.
Harris added 11 kills and was one of five players with at least four blocks. Junior
Ryann Davis set a new career-high with six stuffs and freshman
Millie O'Ketter led the team with 19 digs.
"We did a lot of the things we've been practicing and we were showing how our defense can affect our opponent," Murphy said. "We blocked well, dug the ball well and created a lot of opportunities to score. The serve game got away from us a little bit and that probably had an impact on the match, but it came down to a little bit more consistency. We controlled most of the match and gave away some points at times that were unfortunate for us."
Following the five-set battle in the morning, Northern Colorado swept NAU, jumping out to early set leads and holding off Lumberjack comeback efforts. In the first set, Northern Colorado led 10-3, only for NAU to close late. Two kills by Harris closed the gap to 20-16, and a combo block by Elder and Harris cut the deficit to 21-18.
The 'Jacks were halted right there though, as the Bears scored the final four points to claim the initial advantage in match two.
Likewise, in the second set, Northern Colorado's 9-4 lead was trimmed to one on a kill by freshman
Lyla Hollis at 12-11. A Bear error brought NAU within 14-13 before Northern Colorado scored six of the next seven points. NAU staved off two set points following kills by Davis and Jacobsen, but Northern Colorado put away NAU on the ensuing serve.
Northern Colorado hit .417 in the third set, while NAU hit .000, to complete the evening sweep.
"The difference between the first and second match was that we controlled our digs better in the first match," Murphy said. "In the second one, we were still fighting and defending, but we just weren't turning them into good swings for us. We hurt ourselves in those areas."
In the evening match, the Bears hit .241 while the Lumberjacks hit a season-low .103. Jacobsen posted a team-high nine kills and Harris posted seven. O'Ketter was the only 'Jack in double-figure digs with 10.
The Lumberjacks will take their bye week next week before returning to Greeley for the conference tournament beginning March 31.
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