@UNCBearsVB Picks Up Important Big Sky Win Thursday

Thursday, October 29

Greeley, Colo.

7:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

9-15, 5-6Big Sky

Portland State

7-16, 3-8Big Sky

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Portland State	22	19	18	0
Northern Colorado	25	25	25	3

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

10/29/2015 10:31:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Northern Colorado volleyball defeated Portland State in straight sets picking up an important win

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo – Northern Colorado (9-15, 5-6 Big Sky) volleyball returned to their home court Thursday night, and swept the visiting Portland State Vikings (25-22, 25-19, 25-18) in a key Big Sky Conference match. The Bears turned in one of their best defensive performances of the year, holding PSU to just .084 hitting. It is the first time this season UNC has held an opponent under .100 hitting.

"There is definitely a sense of urgency to make a push in the tournament. This team isn't used to thinking we hope we make the tournament," head coach Lyndsey Oates said. "We feel like we have the talent to make the tournament we just need to keep working on improving and peaking at tournament time. I think we are in the right progression to do that."

Both Ashley Guthrie and Kendra Cunningham added another double-double to their season totals. For Guthrie it is the third straight match she recorded one, gaining it with 40 assists and 13 digs. Cunningham led the team in kills with 12, while adding in 10 digs for her 11th double-double of the season.

"Portland State is well coached. I knew coming in they would be tactically prepared to attack our weaknesses and they did a good job of attacking our setter getting us out of system," Oates said. "They did that early on and I thought that was effective for them. They also served us aggressive. I thought in the first set we weren't as aggressive attacking from 15 feet off the net, but after that we took the challenge and passed much better."

Both teams were tested at times during the match that featured 31 ties and 15 lead changes. The difference in the match, was UNC's ability to close out sets.
The Bears finished sets on a 5-2, 10-5, and a 9-2 run, respectively.

"I liked our match-ups tonight when we got around that 18 point mark, giving us a chance to make the pushes we did tonight and having the rotations we wanted at those times," said Oates.

Northern Colorado's defense also played a big role in the win, holding the Vikings under .100 hitting in two of the three sets. Along with Guthrie and Cunningham finishing with double figure digs, senior Meagan Garcia also recorded 11. Portland State did not have a player finish with double-figure kills.

"This win didn't come easy for us tonight. It started on Monday in practice and we put in the time and grinded out some tough practices this week to set ourselves up for the win tonight," said O'Neil. "We all had the mentality of, okay we know we can beat this team, and know what it is going to take to do it, so now we just need to do it."

At the net Cunningham and Emily O'Neil paced the team with four total blocks each. O'Neil also chipped in on the offensive side with seven kills and a .556 attack percentage.

"I trust Ashley to get the ball to me no matter where I am. She can be 10-15 feet away from me sometimes and she just shoots that ball to me and it's right there in my hand like money," O'Neil said about her offensive performance. "I have so much trust in her to get me the set, I'm more worried about what I am going to do when I get the ball in my hand."

Fellow middle blocker Alex Kloehn was one of two players to finish with double-digit kills (11). She also added in two total blocks.

With Katie Champion out due to an injury, Timarie Nymeyer stepped right in for the team, finishing with eight kills, third most on the night for UNC.

Northern Colorado will now look to take the positive momentum from this match on the road when they face North Dakota in their next match on Saturday. First serve is scheduled for 10 a.m. mountain time.

"North Dakota will be good. We only played them two weeks ago and they will make adjustments from the first time around," Oates said. "They are heathier than the last time we saw them and will be playing at a higher level as well."