| Northern Arizona at Eastern Washington | at Idaho |
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 8, 2023) – Northern Arizona Volleyball (5-18, 2-10) will be trying to stay in the race for one of the final spots at the 2023 Big Sky Volleyball Championships this week as they play two pivotal matches at Eastern Washington on Thursday followed by a Saturday matinee with the Idaho Vandals.
In order to remain in the mix for the conference tournament, NAU has to defeat Eastern Washington on Thursday. A loss to the Eagles on Thursday eliminates the Lumberjacks from qualification, regardless of what happens in the final three matches after that.
"It is obvious what is at stake this weekend," head coach Ken Murphy said. "It is important that we focus on ourselves and play two matches that are at our standard and continue on the path that we've been on the whole year."
To clinch a spot in the 2023 Big Sky Volleyball Championships, Northern Arizona has a couple of different scenarios that would clinch them a spot. One way is if NAU earns four wins, that will give them a 6-10 conference record and finish above Idaho State, Montana or Eastern Washington.
The Lumberjacks could also get in with three wins over the next four, with one of those needing to come at Eastern Washington on Thursday. In this scenario, if EWU and NAU finish with the same 5-11 mark in the conference, Northern Arizona would head to Greeley in two weeks.
NAU will start the final road matches of the 2023 season, having dropped seven straight, including both contests in four sets last week to Montana and Montana State.
Senior Millie O'Ketter had 37 digs over the weekend, including a 20-dig outing in Bozeman last Saturday. Another Lumberjack that had a 37 in her stat line was redshirt freshman Hanah Stoddard, who put up 22 kills at Montana State, the third time this season that the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho native has hit more than 20 kills in a match.
After splitting the two matches last season, this will be the first and only meeting between the Eagles and Lumberjacks, with the home team coming out on top on each occasion in 2022. Last season, EWU and NAU met at Reese Court with a spot in the conference tournament on the line, Eastern Washington swept Northern Arizona to eliminate the 'Jacks from tournament contention.
Eastern Washington is also on a bit of a dry spell, having lost each of its last three matches. Last weekend, the Eagles dropped six of the seven sets to Portland State and first-place Sacramento State on the road. Under head coach Jon Haruguchi, EWU is second in the conference in total blocks with 216 over 91 sets. Leading the charge in blocks for the Eags is Bri Gunderson with 103.
NAU will be going head-to-head with Idaho for a second time this year, with the Lumberjacks sweeping the Vandals on Sept. 23. In that match, Northern Arizona put up their best offensive performance of the year, hitting a season-high .324, which is the only time this year that they have cracked .300 over the course of a match.
It has been rough sledding for Idaho, who enters the second to last weekend of the season on a 22-match losing skid and has not won a match since August. Idaho libero Aine Doty has been one of the bright spots for the Vandals, as she currently ranks second in the Big Sky with 380 digs, and her 4.69 digs per set are the highest total in the Big Sky.
Both the Eastern Washington match and the Idaho match will be streamed live on ESPN+, with the first match from Cheney getting underway at 7 p.m. while first ball Saturday afternoon is set for 1 p.m.
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