Box Score
Big Sky Tournament Central
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 20, 2015) – A rowdy home crowd, lights-out hitting and strong blocking. That was once again the recipe for Northern Arizona as they advanced to the Big Sky Volleyball Championship match with a 3-0 win over Sacramento State Friday night in the semifinals.
For the second-straight night, the Lumberjacks hit over .400 en route to their 16th-straight win and 27th overall this season, both school records. Northern Arizona is back in the championship match for the first time since 1999, when the ‘Jacks claimed their first Big Sky title over Cal State Northridge.
Top-seeded NAU (27-4) has put together the top-two hitting performances in Big Sky Championship single match history in consecutive nights. After setting a new record with a .448 clip against Southern Utah Thursday, the Lumberjacks nearly replicated that effort hitting .443 against the Hornets.
Janae Vander Ploeg had 15 kills and 12 digs, while Lauren Jacobsen added 12 kills and 15 digs. Vander Ploeg was error free on 29 swings for a .517 hitting percentage, while Jensen Barton directed the attack with 33 assists, five kills and five digs.
NAU had a 9-2 blocking advantage as well, with Addy Lofstedt and Brittni Dorsey each providing a pair of solo blocks. The ‘Jacks totaled 41 kills and just two errors on 88 attacks.
Starting the match with a .472 hitting percentage, NAU built an early five-point lead and never trailed, pulling away with a late 4-0 run and ultimately winning 25-17.
NAU put together a 10-2 run to surge away in the second set, turning a 7-6 lead into a 17-8 advantage and rolling to a 25-14 win for a 2-0 advantage.
Sac State took a 13-12 lead in the third set after an ace from Kennedy Kurtz, but NAU once again put together another big scoring run. Three kills from Vander Ploeg sparked a 12-1 run that set up match point. NAU claimed the set 25-15 and the match.
The No. 4 Hornets (26-7) saw their huge turnaround season come to an end in the semifinals. Sac State was held to .089 hitting with 31 kills and 21 attack errors. Sloan Lovett and Lauren Kissell capped strong senior seasons for the Hornets combining for 20 kills.
Northern Arizona will host No. 3 Idaho State in the conference championship match Saturday at 7 p.m. ISU reached its fourth-straight championship match after defeating Idaho in the first semifinal match Friday. NAU handed ISU two of its three conference losses this season, beating them 3-1 in Flagstaff and 3-0 in Pocatello.