FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (August 26, 2022) – The Northern Arizona volleyball team held late leads in the first and third sets Friday night versus Michigan, but could not close them out in an eventual 25-21, 25-14, 28-26 sweep at the hands of the Wolverines to conclude the first day of the Lumberjack Classic.
"We had nice leads in the first and third (sets) obviously, and we had a lot of control over what was happening," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "We made some little errors at the end of those sets and made it a little easier for Michigan. They're obviously a great team and they're going to take advantage. With a little more maturity and a little more growth as we go through this season, we'll be able to put those sets away."
NAU (0-2) led 21-18 in the first set before a 7-0 Michigan run swiped the game away from the Lumberjacks. In the third set, the Lumberjacks led 22-17 and got to set point first at 24-23, but they could not extend the match after two match points.
Michigan (2-0) hit .227 in sweeping NAU, while keeping the 'Jacks to just an .096 clip. The Wolverines, who doubled up the Lumberjacks in kills, 52-26, will take on Utah Tech on Saturday in what amounts to the Lumberjack Classic championship match. The Trailblazers (2-0) defeated the 'Jacks earlier on Friday in four sets before sweeping Old Dominion (0-2).
Friday night's opening set in the Rolle Activity Center slipped away from NAU after the Lumberjacks led for the majority of the stanza. NAU led by as many as six points on two occasions – the last coming at 20-14 following a kill by junior
Savannah Hasson. The Lumberjacks managed just one more point the rest of the way though, also coming via a Hasson kill, as the Wolverines rallied back.
The Lumberjacks hit just .068 in the first set and offense was harder to come by in the second set as NAU hit -.032 in the most lopsided game of the evening. Despite the final margin, NAU was again the team who struck first getting out to a 7-5 advantage until Michigan stole the momentum with a massive 10-1 run.
The two teams went toe-to-toe in the third set with Michigan having eyes on a sweep while NAU was feeding off a crowd of an energetic home crowd to avoid the sweep. With 13 ties and four lead changes, the teams wrestled for control throughout the first half of the game until NAU moved ahead, 20-15, behind a 5-0 run fueled by the serving from junior
Millie O'Ketter.
O'Ketter, who tallied a career-high five aces in the Friday's season opener, pressured the Wolverines from the line and forced a trio of Michigan errors. The five-point advantage held to 22-17 and the Lumberjack lead was still 23-20 before Michigan tied it at 23-23. Senior
Taylor Jacobsen, who led NAU with nine kills, gave the home team set point with a kill, but Michigan answered with a pair of kills to reach match point.
NAU staved off two match points at 25-24 and 26-25, but would not get another opportunity at set point with Michigan finishing off the sweep with two kills.
While NAU struggled to score points against a tough Michigan defense that recorded 66 digs to NAU's 46, the Lumberjacks did record more aces than their opponent for the second straight match, 7-4.
"Our strengths of our team are still intact," Murphy said. "This morning we were a little tentative, but we still played good defense. Even tonight, I thought we did a ton of good things defensively and our block was really solid. We need to score a little more and get a few things ironed out in our offense. Today was a little bit of a stumbling block in some ways, but at the same time I saw growth as the day went on and we know this is the type of team that is going to be better in a few months than we are now."
Junior
Kate Hatch notched the team's first double-double of the season with 21 assists and a career-high 16 digs with O'Ketter matching her 16 digs. In addition to a team-high nine kills, Jacobsen registered three of NAU's seven aces, while junior
Jordan Elder paced the team with three blocks.
The Lumberjacks close out the first weekend of the season against Old Dominion at 2 p.m. in the Rolle Activity Center on Saturday.
To stay up to date with the NAU volleyball team, follow the Lumberjacks on
Twitter and
Instagram.
