| Northern Arizona at Tarleton State | vs. Prairie View A&M | vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff |
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (August 23, 2023) – The Northern Arizona volleyball team will officially make their return to the court this week at the Texan Invitational hosted by Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas.
The Lumberjacks will begin play on Friday, taking on the host Tarleton State, and will follow that up with a pair of matches on Saturday against a pair of teams from the SWAC in Prairie View A&M and Arkansas Pine-Bluff.
Friday's match will get underway at 5:30 p.m. MST and will be streamed here on ESPN+. Saturday's matches with Prairie View A&M and Arkansas-Pine Bluff are scheduled for 7:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. MST respectively. Both matches on Saturday will be streamed on WAC International.
After starting the 2022 season with the Lumberjack Classic at home, NAU is kicking off the 2023 season in familiar territory by being on the road. Excluding the Spring 2021 season, Northern Arizona has opened its season away from Flagstaff in 12 of the last 13 seasons, going 22-14 during that span.
"Everybody is excited to play their first matches," Murphy said. "For our team especially, being a little young and having some new faces out there, it is a way to see how much we look like the way we practice. Right now, we are seeing a very good level of volleyball in practice, and I think that this first weekend will be a lot of getting the jitters out and making sure that we relax when we get out there."
Each of the three matches in Stephenville this week will see the Lumberjacks play their opponent for the first time in program history. During his time as the head coach at UTEP, Murphy's teams went 3-0 combined against Prairie View A&M and Arkansas-Pine Bluff, not dropping a set in any of the three matches. Friday will be the first time that Murphy will be on the sidelines for a match versus Tarleton State.
Five starters return for Northern Arizona in 2023 after closing the 2022 season 5-18 with a 4-12 mark in Big Sky play. NAU was predicted to place seventh in the 2023 Big Sky Preseason Coaches Poll. The top eight teams will qualify for the Big Sky Championship hosted by Northern Colorado from Nov. 22-25.
Tarleton State, now in its fourth season at the Division I level, finished over .500 in each of its first two seasons in Division I before the 2022 season saw the Texans fall to 12-17, its fifth under .500 campaign in head coach Mary Schindler's 18 seasons leading the Tarleton State program. Middle blocker Allie Hair, who was named to the WAC-All Freshman Team a year ago, returns after finishing third in the WAC with a .346 hitting percentage.
The first of two SWAC opponents in Texas this weekend, Prairie View A&M features new leadership with new head coach Cheri Lindsay taking the reins of the program that she played for from 2008-2011. The Panthers bring back the SWAC Freshman of the Year in Kylee Owens, who was fifth in the conference with 360 kills and led the WAC, hitting 0.46 aces per set. Owens was named to the Preseason All-SWAC First Team, one of two Panthers to receive All-SWAC Team honors, along with right-side hitter Leila Smalls who was named to the second team.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff, after completing the 2022 season with a 9-21 overall record, features 13 new players to go alongside the four returners from a season ago. Among those coming back to the Golden Lions in 2023 is middle blocker Laila Fortson, who was featured on the All-SWAC Second Team. Fortson led the team with 58 blocks, and her .239 hitting percentage in 2022 was the eighth-highest in the SWAC. In the preseason poll conducted by the SWAC, Arkansas-Pine Bluff was voted to finish tenth.
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