@UNCBearsVB Records Sixth Straight Win On Senior Day

Saturday, November 14

Greeley, Colo.

Noon

University of Northern Colorado

14-15 10-6Big Sky

Idaho

13-15, 10-6Big Sky

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Idaho	22	25	23	25	1
Northern Colorado	25	18	25	27	3

Photo by: Barry Lapoint

11/14/2015 4:41:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

UNC volleyball won it's sixth straight match in the last regular season match of the year

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo.—Three weeks ago the Northern Colorado (14-15, 10-6 Big Sky) volleyball team set a goal of finishing the regular season winning its last six matches, they accomplished that goal Saturday afternoon with a four set victory over Idaho inside Bank of Colorado Arena.

"I thought we played well overall in this match. I liked our energy and the way we played with a sense of urgency," head coach Lyndsey Oates said. "We could have served better tonight to get them out of system more since they are a hard team to defend in system. I think it was good to see us continuing to playing aggressive and playing with confidence in those tough, close matches."

UNC's senior's played a big role in the victory on Senior Day. Kendra Cunningham finished the match with her 14th double-double of the season, leading the team with 16 kills and a total of 14 digs. Meagan Garcia led the team with 24 digs and added in four assists. Katie Champion saw limited action on her senior day still nursing an injury, but did record two kills and an assist while on the court

"All three seniors have had a tremendous career. Katie had to still play limited times tonight since she is still working back from an injury and I wish she could of played more for us today and through her career, but when we have had her she has been a key factor for us," Oates said of the seniors. "Kendra and Meagan have been on the floor for us a lot during their careers and their stats show it. They have both brought a hard working, positive work ethic to this program."

Idaho had UNC on the ropes in the first set, but the Bears didn't give in, closing on an 8-0 run to take the set 25-22. The run was sparked by Cunningham's tough serving and some good plays from Emily O'Neil. She came up with two big kills and a block assist with Kortney Lockey.

For the match, both O'Neil and Lockey played big roles for the team. O'Neil had nine kills and two total blocks, while Lockey had 12 kills and 10 digs. It was the second double-double of Lockey's career.

Idaho took advantage of poor UNC hitting (-.044%) in the second set to even the match up at one going to the break.

In the third set Idaho once again had a late lead, up 20-16, when the Bears would close strong. The strong finish started with a 4-1 run to cut the lead to 21-20, following a UNC timeout. The Vandals went up 23-21, before Northern Colorado finished the set on a 4-0 run led by Alex Kloehn's two kills.

Kloehn added on another 11 kills to those two to finish with 13 overall in the match and hit a team leading .550. Her and O'Neil helped UNC stick to its game plan of getting UI's block to move to the middle finishing with a combined 22 kills.

"Idaho had huge right side blockers and that middle third we had to score on against them," Kloehn said."Not only Emily and I were working it, but we brought Kendra in there as well."

Setter Ashley Guthrie once again did an efficient job of spreading out the team's offense, finishing with 50 assists. She had her seventh double-double in eight matches adding on another 14 digs today.

"As a setter it should be the other team's game plan trying to take you out with that first touch, and I just take pride in my defense and knowing that teams are going to try and do that to me," Guthrie said of her defense.

In the fourth and final set of the match, neither team could gain an advantage, as it featured 18 ties and seven lead changes. UNC looked to be in slight control of the set at 18-15, but Idaho came right back with a 4-0 run of its own to go up 19-18. Neither team had much of a cushion after that, until UNC strung together a 2-0 run at the end to claim the set 26-24 and match 3-1.

Northern Colorado now turns its focus to the Big Sky Tournament game that begins next Thursday (Nov. 19) in Flagstaff, Ariz. The Bears will be the five seed in the tournament and play either Idaho State or Sacramento State at 4:30 p.m. mountain time.

"We are going to have to win three tough matches next week to earn the championship," said Oates. "I like that we are coming in on a six game win streak and have confidence in the close matches we have been playing these past few weeks."