Coconino News

A week after suffering a reverse sweep on their home floor, the Northern Arizona volleyball team nearly pulled off the feat themselves. NAU (1-9, 0-3 Big Sky) bounced back from an uneven first two sets to force a fifth before Sacramento State (7-8, 3-0 Big Sky) held on for a 25-18, 25-13, 24-26, 22-25, 15-12 victory in the Rolle Activity Center on Thursday.

"It's an inexperienced group that we have out there and they need to keep getting into these situations and learning from them," said head coach Ken Murphy. "I thought the first two sets, we were really flat and maybe intimidated by the situation and after that we did a really great job of rebounding from that. We just need to keep building on that and gaining experience."

It was the Lumberjacks' third consecutive five-set loss at home over the last three weeks. It is the first time since 2017 that NAU has dropped at least three five-set matches in Rolle.

Sacramento State won the first two sets easily with an efficient offensive attack that compiled 30 kills on .297 hitting. The Hornets, who sit alone at the top of the Big Sky currently at 3-0 in league play, trailed just twice in building a two-set lead at 1-0 and 2-1 to start the night.

Trailing 2-0, NAU dug in and its defense – led by junior Millie O'Ketter's season-high 32 digs – helped the 'Jacks crawl their way back. Sacramento State hit just .179 the rest of the evening as NAU mounted its comeback. The rally began in the third set where NAU jumped out to a 5-2 lead.

Sacramento State eventually tied it at 7-7 before taking a lead midway through the game. The Hornets held a 22-20 lead late before an attack error pulled the Lumberjacks within one. O'Ketter followed with an ace to tie it and redshirt freshman Kacee Moore put NAU in front 23-22 with a kill. After the Hornets tied it, Moore put down another kill, which gave NAU set point.

The Hornets staved off set point, but Moore recorded a third straight kill to give NAU another opportunity at closing it out. This time, freshman Kylie Moran answered the call with a kill to send the match to a fourth set. Moore and Moran both recorded six kills apiece in the third set victory.

NAU battled back from an early fourth set deficit and took control with a 6-2 run that snapped a 9-9 tie. The four-point Lumberjack lead held as late as 20-16, only for the Hornets to climb back within one at 22-21. Junior Jordan Elder helped put the Hornets away though with a pair of kills before senior Neche Newton and Moore turned back a Sacramento State swing on set point.

The momentum appeared to be squarely on the home team's side as an emphatic combo block by Elder and junior Savannah Hasson forced a Sacramento State timeout with NAU racing out to a 4-0 fifth set lead. The advantage did not hold for long though as the Hornets managed to tie the score at 5-5.

The two teams jostled for momentum in the race to 15 and a kill by Moore brought the score even at 10-10. Two straight Hornet points then broke the tie, and proved to be the difference, with Sacramento State taking the lead for good.

A pair of kills by Hasson kept NAU within striking range at both 12-11 and 13-12, but Sacramento State secured the win with two points following Hasson's final kill.

"At the end of the fifth set, I thought we made some really good aggressive plays," Murphy said. "Savannah made a great play and Kylie made a great dig. We just let down a little on defense and gave away a couple of points we didn't need to. I was really proud of how we closed out the other two sets and this team is going to learn a lot from experiences like this."

O'Ketter's 32 digs, which was one shy of her career-high, helped NAU to a season-high team total of 82. The Lumberjacks narrowly lost the dig column, 83-82, despite the Hornets totaling 16 more kills. Sacramento State hit .226, compared to NAU's .103, and outblocked the 'Jacks by a 15.0-4.0 margin.

Moran set a season-high with 16 kills – her first double-digit kill match – and added 15 digs in her first career double-double performance. Elder hit a team-high .303 and notched a dozen kills, while Moore posted 11 kills. Junior Kate Hatch led the team with 43 assists.

The Lumberjacks will host Portland State next on Saturday at 12 p.m. in the Rolle Activity Center.

Original source can be found here.