The Northern Arizona volleyball team fought back from three set points in the first set and cruised to victory from there, sweeping Montana, 26-24, 25-17, 25-10, in Flagstaff on Thursday night.
The Lumberjacks improved to 13-3 overall and 4-1 in the Big Sky following their fourth sweep in six home matches this season.
"I thought once Montana got to 22 (points in the first set), we controlled that set and we just had to catch up a bit," said head coach Ken Murphy. "I thought we played the rest of the match at that level and raised our standard."
Montana led at 22-18 in the first set and had set point at 24-21, but NAU put together a late rally started by a kill from senior Taylor Stephens. Another Stephens kill tied the match at 24 and forced extra points, which NAU claimed courtesy of an ace by senior Sydney Kemper and Janae Vander Ploeg's sixth kill of the set.
The 'Jacks carried their momentum into the second set, jumping out to an 8-3 lead. Montana would get as close as 16-13, but NAU's fast start was too much for the visitors to overcome. Sophomore Jensen Barton contributed two aces down the stretch as NAU hit .387 in the second set.
The Lumberjacks got better in the third set, hitting .444. The set was tied at 6 before NAU won 19 of the final 23 points. The NAU middle of junior Payton Bock and sophomore Isabelle Gosar combined for seven of the team's 14 kills in the set.
"We played tighter defense after the opening when we figured out what they were doing," Murphy said. "We also got into a rhythm and started distributing the ball to Sydney and Payton a little more and killing the ball in transition."
The Lumberjacks finished the match hitting a season-high .343 with Barton recording 39 assists. Vander Ploeg and Kemper finished in double-figures in kills with 11 and 10, respectively. Sophomore Lauren Jacobsen and Bock added eight and seven, respectively.
Vander Ploeg led NAU with four blocks and Jacobsen added three. Kemper picked up a double-double with a match-high 13 digs; she was joined in double-digit digs by Jacobsen (12) and Vander Ploeg (11). Vander Ploeg's double-double was her team-best ninth of the 2014.
The Lumberjacks finish the weekend on Saturday against Montana State in the Rolle Activity Center at 7 p.m. The match will be the team's Think Pink game for breast cancer awareness. All fans are encouraged to wear pink, with those arriving in pink receiving a $3 ticket at the door.
