| Northern Arizona at Northern Colorado |
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (September 28, 2023) – After splitting its first two Big Sky matches last week, Northern Arizona Volleyball is set to head out on the road again to face off with Big Sky preseason favorite Northern Colorado Saturday night at the Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley.
Playing its 15th match of the 2023 season on Saturday night, the tussle between the Lumberjacks and the Bears will be NAU's (4-9) 10th match away from Flagstaff this season.
"UNC is well coached, they have really good players, and we have a lot of respect for their program," head coach Ken Murphy said. "They typically always play well, especially at home every year. We know that we have our work cut out for us, but we are excited for the challenge."
The two teams split the meetings from a year ago, with NAU being one of three Big Sky teams to defeat Northern Colorado in conference play last season. It was the Lumberjacks getting the better of the Bears in five sets at Rolle Activity Center on Oct. 8, 2022.
UNC would get its revenge on Nov. 5, 2022, in Greeley, which was part of Northern Colorado's 14-match winning streak that would take them all the way to a Big Sky Volleyball Championship and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Bears saw their streak end after being defeated by No. 3 San Diego in four sets.
Northern Arizona will go into Greeley feeling good after recording one of its best offensive performances in recent memory last Saturday versus Idaho at home.
Entering the Idaho match on a nine-set skid, the Lumberjacks hit .324, which was NAU's highest hitting percentage as a team since they finished with a mark of .327 against Eastern Washington on Sept. 25, 2021, one of four times in 2021 where Northern Arizona struck better than .300.
Individually, Kylie Moran would close out the three-set affair with 10 kills on 17 swings with no errors, a career-best .588 for the sophomore. Hanah Stoddard led the charge, tallying 15 kills in the sweep of the Vandals.
Picked to once again finish first in the Big Sky Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll, Northern Colorado (6-7) has had a very strong schedule to start another title defense, with its first two matches coming against No. 3 Stanford and No. 10 Kentucky. After losing three of their first four, the Bears have started to get it going again, winning three of their last five to get to one game under .500.
Northern Colorado features the player with the second-highest hitting percentage in the Big Sky, Isabel Bennett, who is attacking at a .372 clip. The tournament MVP at the Big Sky Volleyball Championships, Makenzie Harris, is eighth in kills in the conference, just six kills behind Stoddard in seventh. Syd Cole's 460 assists through 48 sets is good enough for third.
The match from Greeley will get underway at 6 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+. Fans can follow along with live stats that can be found here.
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