@UNCBearsVB Hits the Road Against Sourthern Utah & Northern Arizona

Thursday, October 22

Cedar City, Utah

7:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

Southern Utah

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

10/20/2015 12:55:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Northern Colorado volleyball heads south for two matches this week facing SUU and NAU

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

Match 22
Who: Southern Utah 13-8, 4-4 Big Sky
When: Thursday, October 22 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Cedar City, Utah; Centrum Arena
Gameday Central

Match 23
Who: Northern Arizona 17-4, 7-1 Big Sky
When: Saturday, October 24 at 1:00 p.m.
Where: Flagstaff, Ariz.; J.C. Rolle Activity Center
Gameday Central

Game Notes: Northern Colorado | Big Sky | Southern Utah | Northern Arizona

GREELEY, Colo. -- Northern Colorado volleyball hits the road this weekend, heading south to Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. UNC is coming on a weekend split against Sacramento State and North Dakota, which was a tale of two matches.

The Bears did not play their greatest against Sac. St. falling to the Hornets in four sets, but regrouped well and played its most complete team game against North Dakota, defeating them in a sweep.

Kendra Cunningham had herself another solid week averaging a double-double with 15.0 kills and 11.0 digs, including a team leading 17 kills hitting .500 (17-1-32) against North Dakota. She also achieved a career accomplishment becoming the 17th player in school history to record 1,000 career kills.

UNC also saw good development out of a pair of underclassmen in freshman Kortney Lockey and sophomore Michaela Nelson. Lockey had a career night against Sacramento State with 15 kills and three blocks, while Nelson was a key contributor against North Dakota with 13 digs and three kills.

Northern Colorado will have to be its best offensively this weekend when they face two of the top defensive teams in the Big Sky. SUU and NAU rank first and second in opponent hitting percentage, and blocks, respectively. Each team has individual players who rank high in multiple categories as well. Southern Utah's Ann Clappier and Taylor Heine rank first and eighth in blocks, while NAU's Payton Bock ranks second in blocks with teammates Janae Vander Ploeg and Lauren Jacobsen are second and third in serving aces.

Southern Utah enters Thursday's match with the same conference record (4-4) as the Bears setting up a key separation game. For NAU they are entering the weekend on a six match win streak and winners of 10 of their last 11 matches. The Lumberjacks most reason win came in four sets against defending Big Sky regular season champion Idaho State.

Both matches will be live streamed on Big Sky TV, along with live updates on the teams twitter account @UNCBearsVB.