FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Faced with a quick turnaround after a draining two-match day, the Northern Arizona volleyball team turned in a complete effort in sweeping Albany, 25-19, 25-17, 25-9, on their way to clinching the Lumberjack Classic tournament title on Saturday.
The win sealed up a third consecutive perfect weekend to begin the season, and only the program's third 9-0 start in school history. NAU remains the lone unbeaten in the Big Sky Conference and joins the 1991 and 2011 teams to win at least its first nine matches.
"We liked the fact that we could focus on one match today and put all of our energy into it," said head coach Ken Murphy. "These are the type of things we are capable of when we have this type of energy level and attention to a single opponent."
The Lumberjacks controlled every facet of the match versus the Great Danes, outhitting (.337-.094) and holding advantages in kills (43-31), aces (6-3), digs (68-50) and blocks (6.0-2.0) to pick up their fourth three-set sweep of the season.
NAU controlled each of the three sets from the beginning and trailed just once the entire match -- on the match's opening point, 1-0. After Albany scored the initial point, it was all Lumberjacks as their trio of hitters -- senior Sydney Kemper, junior Janae Vander Ploeg and sophomore Lauren Jacobsen -- spearheaded an NAU 12-5 advantage with nine kills between them. The 'Jacks led throughout from there and the trio combined for 17 first set kills led by Kemper's seven.
The Lumberjacks similarly jumped out to a 14-5 lead in the second by scoring 12 of 15 points following a 2-2 tie. Three straight points by the Great Danes cut NAU's lead to 22-17 late in the set, but three consecutive kills by junior Payton Bock, Jacobsen and Kemper nailed down a 2-0 lead for NAU.
NAU's domination was on full display in the final set, holding Albany to the fewest points by any opponent in a set this season. Already ahead 11-7, NAU strung together six straight points to take a double-digit lead and finished the match with the final seven points with Kemper at the service line. Kemper contributed two aces during that last stretch and senior Taylor Stephens and sophomore Jensen Barton capped the match with a block.
"It feels really good to know that we can bounce back as a team," Vander Ploeg said. "Both of our games yesterday were great learning experiences -- all of our games are learning experiences -- and now put everything we've worked on and learned in a match today and it showed out there."
Kemper posted another all-around match with 11 kills, 14 digs, three blocks, two service aces all while hitting .529. She was named the Tournament MVP averaging 3.60 kills, 3.00 digs and 1.40 blocks per set on a .315 hitting percentage. She led the team in kills and blocks during the weekend and was third on the team in digs.
The NAU middle blockers -- Bock and Stephens -- joined Kemper on the All-Tournament Team. Stephens hit .300 and averaged 1.80 kills and 1.00 blocks per set. She was tied for the team-lead with three solo blocks. Bock averaged 1.71 kills and 1.14 blocks and hit a team-best .400 this weekend.
Vander Ploeg (10 kills and 12 digs) recorded her sixth double-double of the season and Jacobsen added nine kills and nine digs. Barton ran the NAU offense with high efficiency finishing 38 assists and two aces along with nine digs while redshirt junior Stacia Williams led a stellar team defensive effort with a team-best 18 digs.
"We got better throughout the weekend," Murphy said. "I thought we were a little nervous at first but by today, we could feel the support of the crowd and we were drawing a lot of energy. In the last set, we scored a lot of points in a row and it was all high effort, high energy plays. We were feeding off the crowd and the crowd was feeding off of us and it was a great feeling today."
