FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 16, 2023) – The Northern Arizona volleyball team (6-20, 3-12) continued its recent struggles with Weber State, dropping an eighth consecutive battle with the Wildcats in four sets, 17-25, 26-24, 21-25, 22-25 at Rolle Activity Center on Thursday night.
"I thought we started out real slow," head coach Ken Murphy said. "We played so hard in that second set, and I thought we had chances in the third and took a little bit off the gas pedal. We probably let them back in at a time when we could have pulled ahead. I think that is the only thing we are going to look back on and regret. I loved how we competed and the level we had on defense tonight."
Leading up to the match, senior Millie O'Ketter was honored for becoming the 17th Lumberjack in program history to eclipse the 1,000 career dig mark, which she did in the final week of 2022.
This season, O'Ketter has continued to anchor the NAU defensive front, hitting over 400 digs in a season for the first time in her four years at Northern Arizona. Earlier this season, the Durango, Colorado native became just the fifth NAU Volleyball player with at least 1,300 digs and is now in the top five all-time in career digs.
It was another big night in the category for O'Ketter, who led the team with 25 digs but was not the only Lumberjack to have at least 20, with sophomore Kylie Moran adding 20 of her own in addition to a team-lead 14 kills.
Right from the first whistle, Weber State was off and running, starting with a 9-2 lead and forcing Northern Arizona to call its first time out. The Wildcats eventually grew their advantage to ten, which the Lumberjacks would slowly but surely cut in half.
But it was too late in the first set for Northern Arizona to try and make a serious run at the first set, with Weber State out-hitting the Lumberjacks .256 to .095 and in kills 14 to 10.
Junior Kendall Robertson was a bright spot for NAU in set one, striking four kills on eight swings and a block assist on the defensive end.
After playing an even first half of the second set with the score tied at 11, Northern Arizona would start to find its groove, going on a 4-0 run to go up 15-11 at the media timeout thanks to kills from seniors Savannah Bloom and Taylor Jacobsen and two Weber State attack errors.
Bloom was one of three Northern Arizona student-athletes with at least 10 kills, hitting 11 of them on 28 attacks. Jacobsen was six of 19 on the night.
Weber would come back and tie the match back up at 17 and went on an 8-0 run during that time frame to lead by four at 21-17.
Northern Arizona would have more in the tank, immediately winning three consecutive points to get back to within one at 21-20. Weber State was within two points of a two-set lead, but four Lumberjack kills, and blocks from Bloom and Robertson would create an NAU set point that they would take advantage of to even up the match at the break.
Inversely, the third set saw the two teams start out tight before the visiting Wildcats would get going on an 11-1 stretch to make the set three score 17-9. And again, the Lumberjacks tried to claw back, forcing Weber State to use a timeout with them up 23-20. Despite both teams struggling on attack in set three, it was WSU who would end up prevailing 25-21.
A similar story would play out in the fourth set, but Weber State's match-high .261 hitting percentage would prove to be too much for the Lumberjacks.
One more match remains for NAU on Saturday afternoon when they go head-to-head with the Idaho State Bengals on senior day, where Bloom and Neche Newton will be honored before the match. First serve will follow at 12 p.m. on ESPN+.
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