FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (August 30, 2023) – After finishing the first weekend of a season over .500 for the first time since 2018, the Northern Arizona volleyball team heads back on the road for a trio of matches at the Jacksonville Invitational.
The Lumberjacks (2-1) are scheduled to play two matches on Friday against host Jacksonville at 7 a.m. and Florida A&M at 2:30 p.m. NAU closes its tournament slate versus The Citadel at 8 a.m. on Saturday.
"We have three really good challenges for us this week," head coach Ken Murphy said. "They have all looked pretty good on film and our young team is going to need all of these tests to keep building and learning moving forward."
None of NAU's matches in Jacksonville will be streamed, but fans can access the live stats for each of the three matches by clicking here.
In a similar fashion to last weekend's tournament at Tarleton State, Northern Arizona will take on a pair of opponents in Jacksonville and Florida A&M for the first time in program history. Northern Arizona all-time head-to-head is 2-0 against Saturday's opposition, The Citadel, with their last meeting being a straight-sets affair at the UNLV Invitational in 2012.
NAU will be looking for its second true road win of the season on Friday against the Dolphins, after winning the opening match in four sets against Tarleton State, which saw the Lumberjacks hit .283 as a team and saw five players: Savannah Bloom, Neche Newton, Sophia Wadsworth, Kendall Robertson and Karya Suvarioglu finished the match hitting over the .300 mark.
After a gut-wrenching five set defeat at the hands of Prairie View A&M last Saturday, Northern Arizona rebounded in their straight sets win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, going on runs of 14-0 in the second set and 10-1 in the final set to close out the Texas trip with a winning record.
Jacksonville, whose 11-17 overall line in 2022 marked the most wins in a season since finishing 20-9 following the 2017 season. The Dolphins (1-2) are coming off a cross country trip that saw them win a five-set match over California Baptist followed by dropping its final matches to the two host schools, Santa Clara and San Jose State in straight sets. Jacksonville features two players, Jenna McNamara and Anna Erickson with more than 30 kills in the first three matches of the season.
The second opponent of the weekend for the Lumberjacks was a team that qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season in Florida A&M, champions of the SWAC from a year ago. Picked to finish first in the SWAC Preseason Coaches Poll, the Rattlers (0-3) return both the SWAC Preseason Player of the Year in Brooke Lynn Watts and Brooke Hudson, the SWAC Preseason Libero of the Year. During the opening weekend, Florida A&M dropped their three matches to Austin Peay, Buffalo and UAB.
Off to an undefeated start through its first three contests of the 2023 season, The Citadel (3-0) has only dropped one of its 10 sets played. Featuring sweeps over Marshall and Bethune Cookman in Daytona Beach, The Citadel earlier this week sealed its third win of the year against the College of Charleston in four sets. Junior outside hitter Ali Ruffin, who currently is first on the team in both kills and points, was the only Citadel player named to the Southern Conference Volleyball Preseason All-Conference team.
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