Box Score
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (November 18, 2016) - Guess Northern Arizona didn't end up needing the friendly confides of the Rolle Activity Center to get to another championship match. The No. 3 Lumberjacks fought past No. 2 Sacramento State in four sets to put the defending champions back in the title match.
The 2016 Big Sky Volleyball Championship, presented by Red Lion Hotels Corporation, got its first finalist. Lauren Jacobsen had 18 kills and 21 digs, Addy Lofstedt (11 kills, .500 hit%) and Kaylie Jorgenson (10 kills) each notched double-digit kills and senior setter Jensen Barton put together a huge match with 45 assists, nine digs, seven blocks, six kills and a pair of aces.
NAU hit .260 as a team along with a ferocious 14-3 blocking effort on the way to its fifth straight Big Sky tournament win, using a pair of strong closes in the last two sets to prevail. Brittni Dorsey headlined the defense with 10 blocks along with seven kills and two aces, while Hannah Cherry (16), Brooke Donnelly (14) and Sydney Lema (12) each had double-figure digs.
It was the Hornets grabbing an early advantage however, as Shannon Boyle had two kills to spark a 5-0 run for a 13-8 lead. Sac State maintained that cushion, and scored the final two points after NAU had pulled within three, winning 25-20 on a kill from Madeline Cannon.
That would be the only set lead the Hornets owned, as NAU bounced back hitting scorching .421 in the second set. NAU used a 6-1 run to go up 13-6 as Jorgenson had two kills and a solo block. Lofstedt, Dorsey and Jorgenson each had kills during a late 4-1 spurt to set up set point, and Jacobsen later evened the sets with a kill.
Brie Gathright earned two kills during a 4-0 surge for Sac State in the third set, grabbing a 10-5 lead that forced an NAU timeout. The ‘Jacks chipped away at that deficit to make it 15-16, only to see Sac State answer with three of the next four points. That’s where NAU hit the gas, scoring the next three to tie it and close the set on a 9-3 run overall. Seniors keyed the surge, with Barton and Jacobsen each nabbing two kills and Lofstedt finishing the set 25-22.
The teams fought back and forth before NAU got three kills from Lofstedt and Dorsey had a hand in two blocks for five straight points to go up 20-17. Sac State inched ahead late with a kill from Boyle while taking advantage of two NAU errors. Once again, NAU turned to its seniors as Barton fed Jacobsen for three straight kills to take the match 25-23.
Sac State was held to .162 hitting 23 attack errors, and couldn’t take advantage of NAU’s 18 service errors or get past their smothering blocking. Boyle led the Hornets with 15 kills and 22 digs, while seniors Cannon (11 kills on 22 swings), Courtney Dietrich (nine kills on 18 swings) and Lexie Skalbeck (match-high 36 digs) each had strong performances in their final career matches.
The semifinals served as a rubber match on a neutral court, as the south-division rivals had swept each other previously on their home courts. But for the second straight year, it was NAU knocking off the Hornets in the semifinals to prevent them from making their first title match since 2007.
NAU will play in its second straight championship match, to be contested Saturday at 7 p.m. CT. They will face the winner of the second semifinal between No. 1 North Dakota and No. 5 Idaho State, with a NCAA tournament berth on the line.