Volleyball Starts Road Trip With A Win

Thursday, November 13

Cheney, Wash.

7:30 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

18-9 (11-4BSC)

Eastern Washington

9-19 (5-10BSC)

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Northern Colorado	25	25	27	25	3
Eastern Washington	23	18	29	23	1

11/13/2014 10:45:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Northern Colorado volleyball defeated Eastern Washington Thursday night 3-1

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

CHENEY, Wash. – After battling the weather and frigid temperatures to get out of town, the Northern Colorado volleyball (18-9, 11-4 Big Sky) team defeated Eastern Washington Thursday night in four sets (25-23, 25-18, 27-29, 25-23).

The match was very closely contested, featuring 39 ties and 17 lead changes.

The key number in the match was .250, referring to .250 hitting percentage. In each set that the Bears won they hit at .250 or better. Their best set was the second, when they managed to hit .343.

UNC once again showed a balanced offensive attack with five different players recording at least eight kills. Two Bears finished with double-digit kills, Kendra Cunningham (16) and Katie Champion (15).

Champion's 15 kills are a career-high. She added in a service ace and three digs in the match.

"Katie played great offensively for us tonight. She was very effective for us and what we need from the rest of our team," said head coach Lyndsey Oates.

Northern Colorado was able to improve its record to 9-0 this season when going into intermission up two sets to none.

In both the first and second, set it took strong finishes to win. After trailing 22-20 in the first set, UNC went on a 5-1 run to close it out.

The second set was just as close as the first when strong serving from Ashley Guthrie and a block party from the front line led to a 10-2 run to close it out.

Guthrie finished the match with 50 assists, three short of her season high.

Coming out of the locker room, both teams once again were caught up in a close set. Northern Colorado was able to fight back from an 18-15 deficit to take the lead 20-19, but unfortunately the lead didn't last. The teams traded points before Eastern Washington (9-19, 5-10 Big Sky) was finally able to force a fourth set with the 29-27 win.

The fourth set followed the theme of the night being a highly contested set. UNC was able to use a 7-3 run in the middle of the set to go from tied at nine to up 16-12 and not looking back. The Eagles would not go away easy though, winning three straight points before the Bears were able to slam the door shut on the match.

Champion was not the only one to have a career night in the match, as Meagan Garcia tied her career-best for digs at 26. Garcia has now recorded double-figure digs in her past 17 matches.

Cunningham recorded her 14th double-double of the season, stuffing the stat sheet with 15 digs, five total blocks, three assists and a service ace.

The three other Bears with at least eight kills were Timarie Nymeyer (nine), Brianna Strong (eight) and Andrea Spaustat (eight).

Spaustat passed Danelle Angus for most career aces in the programs Division I history with her two tonight to push her to 97.

"We have to play sharper on Saturday against Idaho and be feistier on defense to come out with a win," Oates said.

Northern Colorado will close out Big Sky play Saturday night in Moscow, Idaho at the University of Idaho at 8:00 p.m. Mountain time. The Vandals and Bears enter the match with identical 11-4 Big Sky records. The winner of the match will receive the third seed in the Big Sky Tournament, being held in Pocatello, Idaho.