@UNCBearsVB Picks Up Another Five Set Victory Thursday Night

Thursday, November 12

Greeley, Colo.

7:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

13-15, 9-6Big Sky

Eastern Washington

14-12, 9-6Big Sky

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Eastern Washington	25	23	25	22	14	2
Northern Colorado	23	25	22	25	16	3

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

11/12/2015 11:43:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Northern Colorado volleyball won its fourth straight five set match Thursday night

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo.—The Northern Colorado (13-15, 9-6 Big Sky) volleyball team continued to be fifth set warriors on Thursday night, winning their fourth straight match in five sets, and fifth straight overall. UNC battled back to defeat Eastern Washington (14-12, 9-6 Big Sky) 23-25, 25-23, 22-25, 25-22, 16-14.

"We keep on finding a way and our team is confident in these fifth sets," head coach Lyndsey Oates said. "If we keep on finding our way to these fifth sets I like our chances. We have been a little more in control in our other fifth set wins, but I liked the way we kept attacking tonight."

The win put the Bears in a tie for second in the North Division with the Eagles and one game behind first place Idaho.

"After our Northern Arizona loss our team recommitted and said we have to go 6-0 and put ourselves in a good spot going into the conference tournament," Oates added about the team's recent surge in the standings. "Although we haven't played our best in these five set victories it's good to see us putting out that energy to get the win."

There were a few key moments in the match for UNC, with the first one coming in the second set when they closed out on a 6-3 run to even up the set at one apiece.

The next key moment for Northern Colorado came in the fourth set with the two teams tied at 15. The Bears proceeded to go on an 8-2 run, including back-to-back kills from senior Katie Champion, her only two of the night as she saw spotted play while still nursing an injury. That run helped the Bears force the decisive fifth set.

Just like the rest of the match that featured 42 ties and 15 lead changes, the fifth set featured 10 of those ties and four of the lead changes.

After UNC got out to a quick 3-1 lead, EWU climbed back into the set and tied it up. The Bears leaned on the Eaton duo of Kortney Lockey and Kendra Cunningham the rest of the way, as they recorded three of the team's last five points in the 16-14 win to secure the match.

"I took it (the fifth set) as more as my opportunity," Lockey said. "I had been struggling with my shot at times during the match, so I was just really excited to get a chance to make a difference for the team."

"We have all the trust in the world in Kortney. She has proven to us that she can score and that a huge double block isn't going to scare her away," Cunningham added about the freshmen. "We know she is going to be aggressive and take that big swing."

The two combined for nine of the team's 12 kills in the set. The two finished the set tied for the team lead with 16 kills each. Cunningham also added in 15 digs for her 13th double-double of the season.

Ashley Guthrie also recorded a double-double in the match, her ninth of the season and sixth in seven matches. She set a new career-high with 22 digs, breaking her previous high of 20 she set her freshman season against South Florida. She added in 56 assists and three kills in the match.

"Teams are going to attack Ashley defensively, because she is such a tremendous setter. Teams are going to want to make her take that first touch so she can't set that ball," Oates said. "Her first two years of her career she wouldn't have had those 22 kills, but she has really done a good job and been a great defender for us this past month. Then you add in Meagan doing a good job with that second ball, and our pins and back row attack are controlling the ball well in their attacks when we are out of system."

Twenty-two of those assists went towards kills from Northern Colorado's middle blockers Emily O'Neil and Alex Kloehn who had 11 kills each. O'Neil hit a team leading .409 in the match while tying her career high in kills.

Both Meagan Garcia and Audrey Landry added in 18 and 11 digs, respectively.

UNC will close out its regular season on Saturday with a shot at the Big Sky North Division title when they host Idaho at noon.

"Idaho has big right sides that will give our left side attack some troubles. We will have to work on moving their blocks inside with plays up the middle," said Oates. "Idaho is one of the bigger teams in our conference and a good blocking team."

The Bears can win the North Division title with a sweep of Idaho and Eastern Washington lose at North Dakota on Saturday.

To stay up to date on all things Northern Colorado volleyball, follow the team on Twitter at @UNCBearsVB and check out uncbears.com