Boasting an 8-2 record through the first half of Big Sky conference play and winners of five consecutive matches, Northern Arizona (16-3, 8-2 Big Sky Conference) opens a stretch of five of the its next six matches at home at 7 p.m. Thursday vs. Weber State (8-13, 2-8) in Rolle Activity Center. The Lumberjacks are alone in third place in the Big Sky and are just one win behind the conference leaders with seven of their final 10 regular season matches to be played in Flagstaff.
Thursday’s match will be televised live on Fox Sports Arizona Plus, with Mitch Strohman, Sharon Falor, and Heather Hodgeson on the call. Fox Sports Arizona Plus is available on local cable as well as DirecTV (695/695-1 HD) and Dish (442/9580 HD).
“Coaches always but together worse-case scenarios, and we’re way ahead of that target, so we have to figure out a way to just suck it up and do it again,” said NAU head coach Craig Choate about starting the second half of conference play. “The girls are really excited to go to school and sleep in and do those kinds of things after being on the road so much.”
The team has also built its 16-3 record with just three home matches so far this season - matches in which NAU has been utterly dominant in winning nine of 10 sets.
Lumberjacks sophomore setter Kalee Kirby was named Big Sky Player of the Week for her efforts in helping NAU to road wins over Northern Colorado and North Dakota.
Kirby averaged 11.29 assists and 3.14 digs per set while adding five blocks, four kills, and two service aces for the week as NAU extended its winning streak to five consecutive matches. On Thursday at defending Big Sky champion Northern Colorado, Kirby totaled 49 assists, 10 digs, three kills and three blocks to lead NAU to its first win over Northern Colorado since 2008. At North Dakota on Saturday Kirby posted 30 assists and 12 digs along with two blocks, a kill, and an ace for NAU's seventh sweep of the season.
For the year Kirby is second in the Big Sky with 11.15 assists to go along with 2.51 digs and 0.51 blocks per set.
