FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (October 22, 2022) - The Lumberjacks dropped a 3-1 match to the Idaho Vandals on Saturday afternoon.
"Going into the match we knew they had really good size, the one strength they would have that we might have needed to confront was the blocking and that was apparent today," Head Coach Ken Murphy said. "We thought the advantage was going to be in how we would defend in the back court and keep the rallies going, we just never got into a flow defensively."
The Lumberjacks drop to 3-13, 2-7 in Big Sky play with seven regular season matches left to play. After a convincing first set win, NAU was unable to bounce back falling in the next three sets. The 'Jacks were led by Jordan Elder and Kate Hatch, who both had impressive matches for the team.
Elder finished the match as the APS player of the game with 12 kills, two blocks, and three digs, recording a .364 hitting percentage. Hatch had 44 assists in the match, along with 11 digs for the double-double. Today's match was Hatch's six of the season with 40 plus assists, and her 12th career double-double.
The 'Jacks struggled to adjust to Idaho's stellar blocking, not being able to settle into defense quick enough, as the match went 25-21, 23-25, 23-25, 17-25. The storyline of the day was the Vandals blocking efforts, as the team finished with 15 compared to NAU's 4.
The 'Jacks put up a match high 17 kills in the first set, unable to create as many opportunities for kills throughout the rest of the match.
The second set came down to the wire, as Idaho led 21-18 late in the set, NAU not giving up easily as the two teams rallied back-and-forth for points. The Lumberjacks made a push down 24-20 as Jasmine West subbed in to serve, giving the 'Jacks three straight points with two aces in the mix before Idaho Allison Munday knocked down a kill.
Munday was a key piece to Idaho's success today, finishing with 13 kills, 7 blocks, and 8 digs. Munday finished the match with a .216 hitting percentage.
The third set looked promising for NAU with the 'Jacks leading 21-18 before the Vandals created a run of five points to put themselves on top 23-21. The Vandals five point run was highlighted by errors from the NAU team, unable to pick the pace up on serve receive.
The Vandals started building their lead early on in the fourth set, creating a bigger and bigger deficit that the Lumberjacks ultimately could not bounce back from. The 'Jacks were shut down by Idaho's three point runs early on in the set, as the Vandals found continuous success on blocks and kills from Munday and Taryn Vrieling up at the net.
"We're disappointed in our effort today, we don't feel like we showed much of the things we're capable of out there, what's good is that they are a group that cares about it and they want to do better and learn from these experiences, I think everybody in there is feeling like we let an opportunity get away from us today," Murphy said.
The Lumberjacks will now head on the road for a three match away streak, facing Portland State and Sacramento State next weekend.
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