| Northern Arizona vs. Northern Colorado |
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (October 12, 2023) – For a second time in 14 days, the Blue and Gold Battle trophy will be up for grabs as the Northern Arizona volleyball team gets set to take on Northern Colorado on Saturday night at Rolle Activity Center.
Two weeks ago, Northern Colorado got the better of the Lumberjacks (5-11, 2-3) in five sets at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley.
"We have had great matches with them. It is a great rivalry for us," head coach Ken Murphy said. "Obviously, in the first match, we came up a little bit short. We think that we have made some improvements over the last couple of weeks, and we look forward to seeing what we can do on Saturday."
Recently, the home team has largely dominated the matches in the head-to-head series between the two schools, separated by 729 miles. The school hosting the match has won each of the last nine contests.
The last time that a road team prevailed in the series was Sept. 21, 2017, when Northern Colorado beat the Lumberjacks in five sets at Rolle Activity Center.
A five-set win by Northern Arizona was the outcome of the most recent matchup featuring the Bears and Lumberjacks at Rolle. NAU was one of just three teams to defeat the eventual Big Sky Champions last year in conference action.
Northern Arizona is coming off of a split in its two matches at home last week, falling to Montana State in four sets on Thursday before defeating the Montana Grizzlies on Saturday.
Sophomore Kylie Moran will be looking to continue her strong play over the last three matches, recording double-doubles in each of them. Last week against Montana State, Moran topped a new career high with 24 digs. On Sept. 30, the last time NAU and Northern Colorado took the floor, Moran equaled her career-high in kills with 17.
Hanah Stoddard earned a personal best for kills against Northern Colorado, striking 25 in the five-set affair with the Bears, hitting .365 on her 52 swings in the match.
"You can just tell that our team is developing a really strong personality," Murphy said. "Our style is very obvious when we are playing, and our players are becoming much more confident. We have a lot of players that can provide offense for us, and our defense has gotten really solid over the last couple of weeks."
Facing the same two teams as Northern Arizona last week, Northern Colorado also split their matches with Montana and Montana State. The Bears earned a four-set win over the Griz last Thursday before falling to Montana State in five on Saturday.
The match will be streamed on ESPN+, with first serve scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
To stay up to date with the NAU volleyball team, follow the Lumberjacks on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook.
