Volleyball Takes Match From Lumberjacks in Four.

Saturday, October 25

Greeley, Colo.

7 pm

University of Northern Colorado

14-8, 7-3

Northern Arizona

16-5, 7-3

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
NAU	22	25	27	23	1
Northern Colorado	25	13	29	25	3

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

10/25/2014 11:12:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

The Bears rallied in set three coming back from a ten point deficit to take the game and eventually the match, 3-1

By: UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. — Northern Colorado Volleyball picked up its fourth win in a row by defeating one of the Big Sky's top teams Saturday evening, taking down Northern Arizona in four sets.

After winning the first set 25-22, the Bears (14-8, 7-3 Big Sky) let the Lumberjacks build a 6-0 lead out of the gates, forcing a UNC timeout. Northern Colorado had eight kills and nine attack errors in the set, recording a -.034 hitting percentage as NAU went on to win 25-13.

Northern Colorado came out sluggish in the third set, as well, trailing 11-1, forcing head coach Lyndsey Oates to call timeouts after again trailing 6-0 and then 11-1.

"At the first timeout, we were calm and positive," Oates said. "The second timeout, we were getting after them a little bit. We weren't playing with heart at that point. We were going through the motions. There's no excuse for that coming out of the break after getting whooped in game two."

Message received.

The Bears went on a 6-1 run to close the gap to 12-7. UNC continued to chip away at the lead, finally taking the lead at 28-27. UNC would win the set, 29-27 before winning the fourth set 25-23.

Outside hitter Kendra Cunningham led all Bears with 13 kills and was backed up by Andrea Spaustat, Timarie Nymeyer and Brianna Strong with 12, 10 and nine, respectively.

"I think there's a big three on each side," Oates said. "NAU has Payton Bock, Janae Vander Ploeg and Sydney Kemper and on our side, it's Kendra, Bri and Andrea, so who's going to be the X-factor? And tonight I thought that was Timarie. Our three scored, and Timarie came up big with 10 kills."

Northern Colorado had a season-high 90 digs, led by Meagan Garcia and Makenna Meier with 22 and 21, respectively. The Bears also had 12 blocks in the match, led by Spaustat's seven block assists.

The Bears handed NAU just its fifth loss of the season, and only the third in the Big Sky. Up next, UNC takes to the road to play at Portland State at 8:00 p.m. Thursday and at North Dakota at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, an odd scheduling happenstance where the Bears play in the Pacific time zone and then the Central time zone within about a day and a half.

"It's going to be a tough road trip," Oates said. "I think our team is mature enough to handle that and be able to focus on the match. Portland State has been our rival in the conference with both of us near the top of the conference, and they're always tough on their home court. And playing North Dakota will be a crucial match in the standings. It's been such a short time since we played them, it'll be a very tactical match to see who's adjusting since the match only a week and a half ago."