WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The Northern Arizona volleyball team opened its 2013 season with a 25-19, 25-12, 25-22 sweep of Campbell in the opening match of the Tribe Invitational. The Lumberjacks hit .390 for the match.
“There were parts where we were a little jittery, but once we got into rhythm, our offense was really outstanding,” said head coach Ken Murphy. “We were fast and really efficient and we got contributions from everyone on the court. When we controlled the ball well Jensen (Barton) had a lot of options and she did a good job of understanding the priorities in different situations.”
Sophomore Janae Vander Ploeg totaled six of her match-high 13 kills in the first set and hit .500 in the process to lead NAU to the 1-0 lead.
The second set started similarly with both teams playing it close before NAU blew it open, pushing a 7-5 advantage out to 18-5 by rattling off 11 straight points. Six Campbell errors aided NAU’s set-altering run, but freshman Addy Lofstedt put away three kills to lead the Lumberjacks’ effort.
“We got really good service pressure and both Janae and Addy did a really good job of killing the ball in the middle of rallies,” Murphy said of his team’s second-set run. “We were digging good balls and getting good opportunities and we just made a ton of good volleyball plays during that stretch.”
In the final set, neither team led by more than two points until juniors Sydney Kemper and Taylor Stephens blocked Alexis Hein’s final swing to end the match.
Lofstedt had a solid debut notching 10 kills – six coming in the second set. Barton also had an impressive first match with 33 assists, while sophomore Trianna Henry posted a match-high 16 digs in her first career start at libero.
The Lumberjacks wrap up play at the Tribe Invitational with Saturday matches against San Jose State and host William & Mary.
