Volleyball Sweeps Hornets for Conference Win

Thursday, October 16

Greeley, Colo.

7 pm

University of Northern Colorado

11-8, 4-3Big Sky

Sacramento State

5-16, 0-7Big Sky

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Sacramento State	21	8	25	0
Northern Colorado	25	25	27	3

10/16/2014 10:08:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Northern Colorado volleyball swept Sacramento State Thursday night for first home conference victory

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY—Northern Colorado volleyball earned its first home conference victory of the year sweeping Sacramento State (25-21, 25-8, 27-25) Thursday evening. The win improves the Bears' record to 11-8 overall, 4-3 in the Big Sky.

For the third consecutive match, UNC held its opponent under .200 hitting for the match, as the Hornets (5-16, 0-7) hit .125. After putting up .300 in the first set, Sac State was held to -.115 in the second set and .143 in the third.

Freshman outside hitter Michaela Nelson helped lead the Bears with a career-high 10 digs. Nelson was joined by junior defensive specialist Meagan Garcia with double-digit digs at 13.

"Our freshmen overall have really stepped up for us this season," head coach Lyndsey Oates said. "I thought that was Michaela's best match of the season. She played very well."

The first featured eight ties and five lead changes early in the set, before a 5-1 run led by Makena Meier stretched the team's lead from 12-11 to 17-12. The Bears were able to take advantage of six service errors by the Hornets to keep the lead and take the set.

While Sacramento State struggled serving, the Bears were able to put up six service aces in the match.

"The serve and pass game was important tonight, and we knew if we were going to win this match we had to perform well from the line," said Oates.

In the second set, Kim Weissmann got Northern Colorado out to a quick start, leading 4-0 before Sac State took a timeout. Even with the timeout, the Bears could not be slowed down on both offense and defense. Senior Andrea Spaustat and junior Kendra Cunningham led the team with four kills each in the set, and also led the team overall in the match with 11 each.

After the intermission, the teams once again combined for a tight set with 10 tie scores, plus each team hitting an identical .143. Cunningham was able to put the cap on the sweep with a perfectly placed kill in the back left corner.

"Our block is going to have to continue to improve going into Saturday night. North Dakota is a very good team," Oates said.

The Bears will continue their four match home stand at 2 p.m. Saturday against the Big Sky's North Division leader North Dakota (18-6, 6-1 Big Sky). UND defeated Portland State in five sets Thursday night.