FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (August 29, 2024) – The Northern Arizona University volleyball team looks to kick off its season at the UC San Diego Tournament in La Jolla, Calif., this week. The Lumberjacks will take on Southern Utah, UC San Diego and Gonzaga. Live stats for all three matches can be found here. The match between NAU and UC San Diego will be available to stream on ESPN+.
"Returning as many players as we did, we felt like we were pretty far ahead right from the beginning. The girls worked really hard not only on volleyball but they were also very diligent about their team chemistry and how they are working together to get our flow right," head coach Ken Murphy said. "We were able to practice with our full team for most of the preseason so I feel like we got through it the way we wanted to."
The first match will take place at 10 a.m. Mountain Standard time on Aug. 30 against former Big Sky Conference foes, Southern Utah. NAU has won 16-straight matches over the Thunderbirds and leads the all-time series, 29-5. SUU went 6-20 overall in 2023 and 2-14 in the Western Athletic Conference. This will be the first matchup between the two teams since Nov. 2021. The Thunderbirds will be entering the 2024 season with two new additions to their coaching staff. Associate head coach Tyler Strickland and assistant coach Taylor Pribyl will join head coach Kacey Nady, who has been with the Thunderbirds since the 2021-2022 season.
The evening match will be at 6 p.m. MST against the hosts, UC San Diego, who will be meeting the Lumberjacks for the first time since 1983. The Tritons were 17-13 overall in their 2023 season and 9-9 in the Big West Conference. UC San Diego women's volleyball will add 10 newcomers to its roster in advance of the 2024 season, including seven first-year student-athletes and three transfers.
The tournament will conclude with a match against Gonzaga on Aug. 31 at 1 p.m. MST. The Lumberjacks lead the Bulldogs 2-1 in the all-time series. The Zags' overall record during 2023 was 3-24 and 0-16 in the West Coast Conference.
"We treat all weekends the same. The season is a process and our job is to get better from the beginning to the end," Murphy said. "We look at this weekend as three opportunities to win matches and be successful."
After the Lumberjacks trip to California, they will begin to prepare to hit the road again for the Red Raider Classic in Lubbock, Texas. From Sept. 5-7, Northern Arizona will play the host Texas Tech, Green Bay and Florida Atlantic.
NAU will have 13 returners and three incoming freshmen - Peyton Devlin (Queen Creek, Ariz. / ALA Queen Creek), Lilly Holmes (Parker, Colo. / Legend HS), and Masina Perez (Lindon, Utah / Lone Peak HS) on the 2024 roster under coach Ken Murphy, who will begin his 12th season with the 'Jacks. All five starters - Keira Hall, Kylie Moran, Kendall Robertson, Hanah Stoddard, Sophia Wadsworth and libero, Millie O'Ketter, will be returning to Flagstaff. O'Ketter, a graduate student, will enter the 2024 season 70 digs away from 1,500 total in her career. Taylor Jacobsen, fellow graduate student, will enter her last season with NAU already in the 1,000 kills club, with 1,066 in her career.
"I'm looking forward to watching this team compete, we feel really good about all of our skill positions. We're seeing this team just relax again, be themselves and just kinda go for it," Murphy said. "I am especially looking forward to our older players having a year where they just compete and not worry about outside factors such as injuries affecting us."
With an overall record of 7-20 and 4-12 in the Big Sky Conference during 2023, the Lumberjacks are looking to have a competitive preseason before entering conference play and giving themselves a chance at the Big Sky Conference tournament. The 2024 Big Sky Volleyball Championship will be hosted on Nov. 27-29 on the campus of Sacramento State in Sacramento, Calif., with the top eight teams in the conference regular season standings advancing to the championship. The winner of the championship receives the Big Sky's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
Northern Arizona will launch its home opener at the Lumberjack Classic from Sept. 12-14 with matches against Tarleton State and New Mexico. Questions regarding tickets can be directed to LumberjackTicketOffice@nau.edu.
