FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (October 8, 2022) – Staring straight at a fifth set for the fifth match in their last six, the Northern Arizona volleyball team did not blink this time. After seeing a two-set lead disappear, the Lumberjacks showed their mettle and prevailed over Northern Colorado – the defending conference champion – in a five-set Family Weekend thriller, 25-23, 25-21, 18-25, 18-25, 16-14.
The victory in front of a boisterous home crowd of 872 triumphantly snapped NAU's eight-match losing streak. It also was the Lumberjacks' first conference win of the season as they moved to 2-10 overall and 1-4 in the Big Sky. Northern Colorado fell to 8-8 overall and 2-3 in the league.
"We've been practicing better. The last two weeks, we've just started believing in ourselves and convincing ourselves that there's no reason to be hesitant out there or worry about outcomes if we play our game and play hard," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "I thought we played a lot of tonight's match feeling that way on our side."
NAU may have been outdone statistically including kills (81-53), hitting percentage (.254-.218) and digs (84-64), but the Lumberjacks recorded one more ace than the Bears (8-7) behind a career-high five by redshirt freshman
Jordan Cherniss. More importantly, NAU held a significant advantage in blocks at 16.0-8.5.
Senior
Neche Newton narrowly missed her second career double-digit block performance, finding her way into nine of NAU's 16 team blocks. Redshirt freshman
Kacee Moore posted a career-high six blocks, including two solo, while juniors
Kate Hatch and
Jordan Elder each registered five. For Hatch, who also recorded her eighth double-double with 41 assists and 13 digs and reached the 1,000 career assist mark, the five blocks were a career-high as well.
The 16.0 blocks were NAU's highest total since posting 18.0 against Northern Colorado during the spring 2021 season, while also helping neutralize the conference's leading offensive team for long stretches of the match.
NAU fell behind early 5-2 in the first set and trailed by as much as four at 18-14, but the Lumberjacks surged late. A 4-0 run, fueled by three Bear errors, pushed NAU ahead 22-21 and after Northern Colorado briefly tied it at 22-22, Newton and junior
Savannah Hasson turned back an attack to give them a lead again. Freshman
Kylie Moran, who led the team with 13 kills, then accounted for NAU's final two points with her final of five first set kills to complete the comeback.
The Lumberjacks led for nearly the entirety of the second set and broke it open with a 4-0 run that snapped a 14-14 tie. Hasson started the run with a kill and senior
Jasmine West followed with an ace. After a Moran kill, Hasson and Elder combined with a block to cap the surge. After Northern Colorado climbed within 22-21, NAU clinched the set with kills from Hatch and Hasson and a combo block by Newton and Hasson – the Lumberjacks' sixth of the game.
But the Bears, who had won three straight versus the Lumberjacks, refused to go quietly. After going wire-to-wire in the third set and scoring 20 of their 25 points on kills, the Bears also claimed the fourth set.
Immediately after NAU brought the fourth game even at 16-16 with a 4-0 run, Northern Colorado used its second 5-0 run of the set to pull away from NAU. The 5-0 surge was just the beginning of an eventual 9-2 set-closing run that sent the Lumberjacks to a decisive fifth set for the fifth consecutive home match.
Unlike the four preceding it though, this time NAU's resilience finally paid off. With the set tied at 5-5, the Lumberjacks ripped off an emphatic 6-1 run capped by Cherniss' fifth ace. A block by Moran and Elder then put NAU within match point leading 14-11, only for Northern Colorado to stave off three clinching points.
Facing a win-by-two scenario, the Lumberjacks got back to match point following a Bear attack error. On the ensuing serve, Newton and Hatch stuffed the Bears' final attempt, sending the Rolle Activity Center crowd into a frenzy.
"We started off super strong from the start," said Hasson, who set a new career-high with 12 kills while hitting .292. "Each and every game we've gotten better and each and every practice we've gotten better and it finally paid off today. The third and fourth sets were tough, but we made the choice to do it right now and that's exactly what we did. I couldn't be more proud of us."
Prior to Saturday's victory, NAU had dropped its first four Big Sky matches for the first time in program history, but a win over the defending champions sends the Lumberjacks' into their first two-match league road trip of the season with momentum.
"I hope this gives us some confidence," Murphy said. "UNC is really good and they're well-coached. We should look at a match like this and gain confidence and know that if we keep raising our standard every week, some great things can come out of this season and we can accomplish all of the goals we set for ourselves."
In addition to her team-leading 13 kills, Moran also recorded 12 digs in her second career double-double while also hitting .289. She was one of four Lumberjacks in double-digit digs along with Hatch, freshman
Keira Hall (13) and junior
Millie O'Ketter (11).
Offensively complementing Moran and Hasson in a well-balanced attack was Moore with nine kills and Elder with eight with the latter hitting a team-high .333.
After playing four of their first five Big Sky matches at home, the Lumberjacks will travel to Montana and Montana State next Thursday and Saturday respectively. Both matches will start at 6 p.m. MST.
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