FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 3, 2022) – Holding a five-set victory over the defending Big Sky Conference Champions this season, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks will seek their first road win against the Northern Colorado Bears since 2016.
While Northern Colorado has rolled up six consecutive victories since falling to Northern Arizona in Rolle Activity Center on Oct. 8, the Lumberjacks have three straight and five of their past six since the match. Set for a 5 p.m. MST start time at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley, Colo., Saturday's match can be streamed on ESPN+.
With Northern Arizona's 25-23, 25-21, 18-25, 18-25, 16-14 victory against Northern Colorado came after a stretch of 1,080 days between meetings in Flagstaff. Meanwhile, the Lumberjacks will make their third trip to Greeley since March 2021 with four consecutive losses since a 3-1 win in September 2016. Falling 3-0 last October, Northern Arizona also dropped its March 2021 doubleheader 3-0 and 3-2 during the spring season.
Sitting second in the Big Sky at 8-3, with a 14-8 record overall, Northern Colorado is in pursuit of the top spot in the conference and the chance to return the Big Sky Tournament to its home court in 2023 after hosting during the spring and in 2018. On the other end of the conference standings, Northern Arizona enters the weekend at 3-15 overall and 2-9 in the Big Sky. Sitting a game and a half back of Idaho State (11-12, 3-7 Big Sky) for the eighth and final conference tournament berth, Northern Arizona faces a crucial stretch in its final five conference matches.
After traveling to Northern Colorado, the Lumberjacks will host the third-place Weber State Wildcats and Idaho State to close out their home schedule before traveling to seventh-place Eastern Washington and 10th-place Idaho to wrap up the regular season.
Looking to bounce back from a tough loss at Sacramento State, Northern Arizona's offense will hope to return to where it was against Northern Colorado in the first meeting. Hitting .218 against the Bears, the fifth-best percentage this season, the Lumberjacks managed just .137 against the Sacramento State Hornets on Saturday.
One of the few bright spots, junior
Jordan Elder hit .406 against Portland State and Sacramento State last week with 2.67 kills per set and five block assists in the two matches. Freshman Kylie Moran ranked second for the week with 1.83 kills per set and a .135 hit percentage.
Elder finished with eight kills in the last meeting against Northern Colorado, with Moran's 13 and
Savannah Hasson's 12 pacing the team in the victory. It was the Lumberjacks dominance on the block that truly helped them pull off the upset of the Bears as Northern Arizona finished with 28 total kills, including a team-best nine block assists. The Bears managed just 17 blocks and fell in five sets despite their 81-53 advantage in kills.
As a team, Northern Arizona still ranks 58th in the nation and first in the Big Sky with 36.2 total attacks per set. However, the Lumberjacks are eighth in the Big Sky with a .185 hitting percentage this season.
Defensively,
Millie O'Ketter's 4.36 digs per set ranks second in the Big Sky and 81st in the nation as the junior is 63 digs away from reaching 1,000 for her career.
Sweeping four of their six wins since falling in Flagstaff, Northern Colorado is led by Kailey Jo Ince and Makenzie Harris who rank third and fourth in kills per set with 3.51 and 3.30 in the Big Sky this season. Syd Cole leads the Big Sky with 11.3 assists per set, positioning herself seventh in the nation this season.
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