FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (August 27, 2022) – The Northern Arizona volleyball team secured their first victory of the season with an exceptional defense effort, sweeping Old Dominion 25-18, 26-24, 25-12 on Saturday in the Rolle Activity Center. Using 11.0 blocks, the Lumberjacks limited the Monarchs to .042 hitting in concluding the first weekend, and their annual Lumberjack Classic, with a 1-2 record.
"Our offense was a little more in sync today and yesterday, I thought we got better throughout the day in terms of our composure," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "But I was especially impressed with our defense and our ability to control rallies. Our blocking was really good today and we looked like we do in the practice gym."
NAU collected nine of its 11 blocks in the first two sets, and ultimately forced Old Dominion into 30 attack errors opposed to 35 kills. Junior
Jordan Elder posted a team-high six blocks, while senior
Neche Newton had four blocks. Juniors
Savannah Hasson and
Kate Hatch and senior
Taylor Jacobsen each chipped in three blocks.
Offensively, Jacobsen shouldered the load with 16 kills on a highly efficient .292 hitting percentage with Hatch recording 29 assists to go with a team-high 11 digs in her second consecutive double-double performance.
The Lumberjacks never trailed in the opening set ripping off a 5-1 advantage to start the match. NAU led by as many seven at 12-5 and despite hitting only .120 in the first set, the Lumberjacks' defense forced 11 Monarch hitting errors. Jacobsen recorded seven of her match-high 16 kills in the opening set, leading NAU to its first match lead of the season.
Like the first set, the 'Jacks never trailed and used a 5-1 run to break a 5-5 tie and take the lead for good. Still, NAU was never able to separate with Old Dominion answering every NAU run with a run of its own. Even after NAU appeared to seize control with a brief 3-0 run behind a Jacobsen kill and two blocks by Newton to open up a 22-18 advantage, Old Dominion battled back to stave off three set points and tie the score at 24-24.
Freshman
Kylie Moran gave the 'Jacks a fourth set point with a kill at 25-24 and NAU wrapped up the second set without any further harm on an Old Dominion error.
NAU played its most complete set of the young season in the third game to seal the sweep, hitting .458 without an error while forcing Old Dominion into .000 hitting. The final score may have been lopsided, but the Monarchs actually grabbed an early 5-4 lead before NAU turned on the jets.
A kill by Newton tied the score at 5-5 and started an extended 15-2 Lumberjack run, which featured multiple kills by Newton, Moran and Elder and a pair of aces by junior
Millie O'Ketter. All in all, NAU tallied four of its five aces in the match in the final set and its big offensive attack lifted the Lumberjacks' hitting percentage to .222 for the match.
The Lumberjacks held statistical advantages in every category with the exception of digs, in which the Monarchs led 56-47.
Michigan wound up as the Lumberjack Classic champions after defeating Utah Tech in four sets in the tournament finale. The Wolverines clinched an unbeaten weekend in Flagstaff with the Trailblazers suffering their only defeat.
NAU will head to Orem, Utah next weekend for the Utah Valley Invitational. The Lumberjacks will face California on Friday and the host, Utah Valley, on Saturday with both matches at 1 p.m. MST.
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