FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (September 23, 2026) - The Northern Arizona women's volleyball team will open Big Sky Conference play at home in Flagstaff, welcoming Southern Utah on Sept. 24 at 6:30 p.m. MST and Utah Tech on Sept. 26 at 1 p.m. MST. Both matches will stream on ESPN+ and live stats can be found via StatBroadcast.
On June 25, 2025, Utah Tech announced that it had accepted an invitation to join the Big Sky Conference beginning July 1, 2026. The Big Sky will have 11 members this year, with the Trailblazers joined by Southern Utah as new conference members this season. This will be Southern Utah's first match in Big Sky play in five years as the Thunderbirds rejoin the conference after a brief stint in the Western Athletic Conference.
The Lumberjacks are currently 7-5 overall and are coming off a 2-1 showing at the USF Challenge, where they defeated California Baptist 3-1 and swept Texas Southern 3-0 and fell to San Francisco 3-0.
The Lumberjacks are second in the conference in digs per set (15.49), opponent hitting percentage (.162), digs (728) NAU is third in total blocks (114.0), kills (566) and total attacks (1,654).
Redshirt senior outside hitter Hannah Stoddard is second in the conference in kills (164) and third in kills per set (3.57) and leads the Lumberjacks in total kills by a significant margin. After Stoddard, Northern Arizona has two additional players with more than 90 kills this season: Gigi Greenlee with 104 and Quincey Coyle with 93.
Northern Arizona's back-line defense is anchored by a trio of players with more than 100 digs on the season: Lilly Holmes, Stoddard and Coyle. Holmes is eighth in the Big Sky in digs per set with 3.68.
Redshirt junior middle blocker Greenlee is second in the Big Sky in hitting percentage (.387), fourth in blocks (57) and sixth in blocks per set (1.21). Six different players have at least 20 blocks this season, led by Greenlee's 57.
The 'Jacks have recorded no fewer than five total blocks and 40 total digs in any match this season.
Southern Utah stands at 1-9 overall, as the Thunderbirds wrapped up their non-conference schedule last week by hosting two matches in Cedar City. SUU claimed its first win of 2026 by defeating Chicago State on Friday before dropping a hard-fought match against UC Riverside.
The Thunderbirds' sophomore transfer Maya Banks has shown herself to be a difference-maker, leading SUU with 77 kills and ranking second with 24 total blocks. Natalie Moore leads the team in total blocks with 31 and recorded a season-high 11 kills in the team's win against Chicago State last week.
After finishing second on the team in kills as a freshman, Kaitlyn Hoelker went on a streak of five straight matches with at least five kills that ended against UC Riverside. Meanwhile, Ryen Smith has recorded 28 kills during her last four matches, including a team-high 17 kills last week. She has hit below .300 in just one match during that span.
On the back line, Zorana Stankoksva leads the team with 74 digs for the season, including 47 during her last five matches. Kaitlyn Barnes has recorded at least six digs in three of her last four outings.
Uruena Jensen leads the team with more than four assists per set, while Talea Berry isn't far behind at nearly 3.75 assists per set. Berry also leads the team with 13 service aces.
The last time the two teams met was during Northern Arizona's Lumberjack Classic in 2025, when NAU took a 3-0 win. In the all-time series, NAU leads the Thunderbirds 32-5, dating back to 1981.
Southern Utah is led by Danielle Jensen, who was named head volleyball coach at SUU in 2025. Prior to joining SUU, Jensen spent 10 seasons at Utah State University Eastern, where she transformed the program into a national powerhouse. During her tenure, she amassed a 190-88 overall record, guided the Eagles to three NJCAA National Tournament appearances, including back-to-back showings in 2022 and 2024, and consistently maintained a top-10 national ranking.
The Trailblazers opened their home slate last weekend at the Utah Tech Tournament, sweeping both UC Riverside and Chicago State at Burns Arena.
Utah Tech topped UCR after coming back to win the first set, 27-25, before taking sets two and three, 25-17 and 25-20.
A day later, the Trailblazers hit a season-high .435 as a team, the fourth-highest hitting percentage in a match in program history, and won 25-11, 25-13, 25-13.
As a team, the Trailblazers lead the Big Sky in assists per set (12.29) and kills per set (13.50), rank second in attacks per set (36.79, 19th in the nation) and are third in hitting percentage (.235), blocks per set (2.45) and digs per set (14.97).
Tessa Treanor leads the Big Sky in service aces per set (0.53) and is second in service aces (18). Nana Asiata ranks fourth in the conference in kills per set (3.32), while Lusia Langi is fifth in blocks per set (1.24). Laufiso is tied for eighth in the Big Sky in digs (120) and ninth in digs per set (3.53).
Shaylee Dahle leads the Big Sky in hitting percentage (.481). The junior middle blocker notched a pair of 10-kill performances in the Utah Tech Tournament in sweeps over UC Riverside and Chicago State. The Salt Lake Community College transfer hit .909 on Friday against the Highlanders and added five blocks with two solo, two digs and a service ace in the tournament.
Asiata matched Dahle with 10 kills in each of the two matches and added four digs, a solo block and an assist in the tournament.
Finally, Marley Roe totaled 39 assists in the two contests, tallying 18 assists against UC Riverside and leading the Trailblazers on Saturday with 21 assists against the Cougars.
Utah Tech is led by Camilla Hafoka, who, after two seasons serving as an assistant coach, enters her sixth season as head coach of the Utah Tech volleyball program in 2026. During her time on the Trailblazer sidelines, Hafoka has led the Trailblazers to a 92-78 overall record, including a 63-62 mark as head coach over five seasons. Hafoka earned 2025 WAC Coach of the Year honors after helping lead the Trailblazers to a 21-6 overall record and a share of the WAC regular-season title alongside Utah Valley, with a 10-2 mark in conference action.
NAU leads Utah Tech 2-1 in the all-time series, as the two teams met twice in 2024 meeting once in St. George and once in Flagstaff with the Lumberjacks taking the victory in both.
Looking ahead, Northern Arizona will hit the road to open the month of October, visiting Idaho State on Oct. 1 and Weber State on Oct. 3.
Stay up to date with the Northern Arizona women's volleyball team by following the 'Jacks on Instagram and X.
