| Northern Arizona at Montana | at Montana State |
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (October 31, 2023) – Kicking off four consecutive matches away from Flagstaff, the Northern Arizona volleyball team (5-16, 2-8) will be looking for its first conference road win as they will face off with Montana (8-14, 4-6) on Thursday night in Missoula before traveling east to Bozeman to take on Montana State (14-6, 7-3) Saturday night.
"I think we can see the improvement in our team," head coach Ken Murphy said. "We thought that we had a really good weekend last weekend, but obviously, we need to start getting some results. The next two weeks are a good opportunity for us to get out there and get a little bit better, which will lead to better results."
NAU is coming off a weekend that featured matches against two teams that are in the top half of the Big Sky Volleyball standings: Portland State and Sacramento State. The Lumberjacks fell in four sets to the Vikings on Thursday and were swept by the Hornets Saturday night.
Redshirt sophomore Jordan Cherniss put forth the best offensive performance of her career against PSU, striking a personal-best 20 kills, which was 12 more than her previous best of eight. It was the first time that the Colton, California native had double-digit kills in her time at NAU.
It was also a big weekend series for fifth-year middle blocker Neche Newton, who, for the first time in 2023, hit over the .300 mark in back-to-back matches. In the match against Portland State, Newton joined Cherniss in the double-digit kill club with 10, tying a career-high, and had three block assists patrolling the net.
After having six matches with one solo block, Newton broke out with two solo blocks last Saturday versus Sacramento State in addition to her eight kills in the defeat to the Hornets.
For the third time this season, senior Millie O'Ketter put up at least 25 digs and featured a combined 34 over the two contests last weekend.
The weekend series will be the second time that Northern Arizona has gone up against the Grizzlies and Bobcats.
At Rolle Activity Center in early October, Montana State was able to rebound from dropping the first set before taking the next three to earn a four-set win. While NAU and Montana went the distance with the hometown Lumberjacks prevailing in a fifth set overtime 16-14.
Only playing one match last week, Montana comes into the week on a three-match losing streak, with its most recent defeat coming at the hands of their in-state rivals. Montana's last win came on Oct. 14 in the form of a four-set win over Eastern Washington. Setter Carly Anderson is currently second in the Big Sky with 788 assists and 36 service aces.
Montana State has won seven of its first 10 Big Sky matchups, including the win last Friday over Montana. Earlier this season, the Bobcats got off to a 7-1 start in the non-conference slate, including a five-set victory over Oregon State. Montana State has yet to lose a match at Shroyer Gymnasium this conference season and is 9-0 overall on its home court.
The two matches will be streamed live on ESPN+, with both contests kicking off at 6 p.m. on Thursday and Saturday night.
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