FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (August 31, 2022) – The Northern Arizona volleyball team will head out on the road for the first time this season, traveling to Orem, Utah for the Utah Valley Invitational beginning Friday. The Lumberjacks (1-2) will open the tournament against California on Friday before concluding with the host on Saturday. Both matches will start at 1 p.m. MST.
Friday's match versus California will be streamed on YouTube, while Saturday's finale against Utah Valley will be streamed on ESPN+.
NAU dropped its first two matches of the season against Utah Tech and Michigan, but closed its Lumberjack Classic with its best match of the opening weekend in a sweep of Old Dominion. The Lumberjacks hit a weekend-best .222 while forcing the Monarchs into 30 hitting errors resulting in a .042 opponent hitting percentage.
NAU's defensive performance in the victory was on par with the Lumberjacks' improved defensive showing as they finished the weekend with an opponent hitting percentage of just .149. In particular, led by juniors
Millie O'Ketter and
Kate Hatch, NAU extended rallies with an effort that led to a 16.20 digs per set average – good for 42nd in the country and second in the Big Sky.
O'Ketter ranks third in the Big Sky with 4.20 digs per set, while Hatch averaged 3.60 digs per set and logged the team's only two double-doubles in her first career matches playing all six rotations. Holding the keys to the offense, Hatch also averaged 9.00 assists per set.
While NAU's defense was stout, the Lumberjacks will use this weekend in Orem to continue to build offensively around senior
Taylor Jacobsen, who had an outstanding weekend. After the first three matches of the season, Jacobsen paces the Big Sky in kills, and ranks 33rd in the country, with 4.60 kills per set and now sits just 71 kills away from 1,000 in her career.
Still, NAU hit only .173 in the opening weekend compared to .226 last season.
"We knew we weren't quite as good out of system as we'd like to be and we saw some things in film that showed us a little more than we realized," said head coach
Ken Murphy. "But the big thing for us is how we're connecting with our setters and how our tempo is working together because we're passing and playing defense at a level that is as good as we've been, so we need to focus on how we're executing on offense."
Behind Jacobsen, freshman
Kylie Moran is second on the team with 1.80 kills per set after making her collegiate debut last weekend. In the middle, senior
Neche Newton was effective, logging 17 kills at 1.70 per set and hitting a team-high .286 during NAU's home tournament.
After playing Michigan, an NCAA Tournament team, last weekend, this weekend's trip will also feature another NCAA Tournament team in Utah Valley along with a Pac-12 foe in California providing the Lumberjacks with a pair of challenges that will continue to push them.
"These two teams are similar in style so we'll get our heads wrapped around them early in the matches," Murphy said. "For us, we need to continue to play good teams like this and proving to ourselves that our systems are good and our defense is good. We want to find ways to improve offensively and any time you can step on the court like that, you're going to get better."
California posted a strong to the season, compiling a 2-1 record at the San Diego Tournament with victories over Army and the host, San Diego State. Buoyed by a pair of players who rank in the top 25 individually in total blocks, California is one of the country's top blocking teams after the first weekend of play, ranking fourth in total blocks (39.0) and ninth in blocks per set (3.25). Sophie Scott is 11th in the country with 20 total blocks and 25th with 1.67 blocks per set through the Golden Bears' first three matches. Mikayla Hayden is 24th with 18 blocks and 35th with 1.50 blocks per set. On the attack, Lydia Grote was highly effective pacing the team with 57 kills and 4.75 kills per set, which rank her 12th and 21st respectively in the country. She is also top 10 in both points per set (5.79) and points (69.5).
Utah Valley (1-3) picked up its first win of the season on Monday in its home opener versus Cal Poly in four sets following a tough weekend at the Utah Classic. Although Utah Valley, the two-time defending WAC Tournament champions, was swept in all three matches at Utah's tournament, the Wolverines faced a pair of top 25 teams in No. 23 Kansas and No. 22 Utah. Leading the team in kills is Tori Dorius, who is also hitting a team-best .227 and averaging 2.92 kills per set. Dorius is also second on the team with 11 blocks. Along with Dorius, Kazna Tanuvasa was voted to the preseason All-WAC Team. Tanuvasa, who set the program record for career kills against Kansas last Friday, is second on the team with 32 kills and 2.46 kills per set.
To stay up to date with the NAU volleyball team, follow the Lumberjacks on
Twitter and
Instagram.
