FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (September 6, 2023) – After two road trips to Texas and Florida to start the season, the Northern Arizona volleyball team returns home to the Rolle Activity Center to host the 2023 Lumberjack Classic.
The classic will see the Lumberjacks (2-4) play three matches over the span of three consecutive days, kicking off the action on Thursday with a match against the Arizona State Sun Devils. Friday night, NAU will take on Stephen F. Austin, a team that qualified for the NCAA Tournament a season ago. Northern Arizona will wrap up its Lumberjack Classic slate Saturday afternoon versus Boise State.
"What a great field we have," head coach Ken Murphy said. "Really good accomplished teams, all of which are going to be competing for the postseason this year, and we are obviously excited about the challenge at home."
Each of the three NAU matches will be streamed on ESPN+, with live stats also available at nauathletics.com/livestats.
Northern Arizona is looking to rebound at home after dropping all three of its matches to Jacksonville, Florida A&M and The Citadel at the Jacksonville Invitational last weekend.
Senior Millie O'Ketter was named to the Jacksonville Invitational All-Tournament Team after finishing the three-match set with 44 digs, 10 assists and seven service aces. It is O'Ketter's second all-tournament team appearance in her time as a Lumberjack, with the other coming last season at the Utah Valley Invitational.
A number of new career highs were set during the Northern Arizona match against Florida A&M. Hanah Stoddard set a career-best with 20 digs, while sophomore Kylie Moran topped her previous best by striking 17 kills and 18 digs versus the Rattlers.
All told, last weekend saw the Lumberjacks put up four double-doubles, including two by Stoddard, one by Moran and the other by junior Karya Suvarioglu who finished with 26 assists and 11 digs.
The Lumberjack Classic has provided a strong home-court advantage over the years for NAU, with the Lumberjacks compiling a record of 14-7 since the first edition of the tournament in 2014.
Arizona State will be making a return to Flagstaff to participate in the Lumberjack Classic for a third time, with the Sun Devils having yet to drop a match at the NAU tournament, going a perfect 6-0 in its first two appearances. Coincidentally, ASU is 6-0 through its first six matches of the 2023 season under new head coach JJ Van Niel after being picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12 Women's Volleyball Preseason Coaches Poll.
The other two Northern Arizona opponents, Stephen F. Austin and Boise State will be making their Lumberjack Classic debuts this weekend in Flagstaff.
Stephen F. Austin, which was favored to win the WAC this season, features both the WAC Preseason Player of the Year in Ielan Bradley and the WAC Preseason Libero of the Year in Haley Hoang. History is potentially on the line for Stephen F. Austin head coach Debbie Humphreys, who could possibly become the fourth active head coach with 800 career wins. Head-to-head, Northern Arizona and Stephen F. Austin have each recorded a win against one another in two previous meetings separated by 30 years.
Boise State enters the Lumberjack Classic at an even 2-2. Both of Boise State's victories came against Idaho State before dropping a pair of matches at the Asics Invitational in Corvallis, Oregon, to Oklahoma and Oregon State. The Broncos were picked to finish sixth in the Mountain West and have not had a losing season since 2013. Statistically, Boise State is led by Paige Bartsch, with 75 kills and nine service aces. Prior to the season, Bartsch was named to the Preseason All-Mountain West Team.
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