@UNCBearsVB Falls to Sacramento State at the Big Sky Tournament

Thursday, November 19

Flagstaff, Ariz.

4:30 pm

University of Northern Colorado

14-16

Sacramento State

26-6

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Northern Colorado	23	25	15	21	1
Sacramento State	25	21	25	25	3

Photo by: Nick Canaday

11/19/2015 8:15:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Northern Colorado volleyball fell 3-1 to Sacramento State Thursday night

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Northern Colorado volleyball faced Sacramento State Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Tournament, falling to the Hornets 3-1.

UNC struggled passing and had 29 attack errors in the match that aided in the loss.

"I thought It was the defensive match we needed, we were just too high error," head coach Lyndsey Oates said.
"I think it started with passing, we just weren't in system enough to create the offense we wanted tonight. It was one of those tough loses and a tough match up."

While the Bears struggled on the attack hitting .135, they did hold Sacramento State under .200 hitting at .183.

In the first set UNC was limited hitting .029, but battled, falling 25-23. The team rebounded in the second set with its best offensive performance of the match hitting .394, while accumulating 17 kills to tie up the match at one going to the break.

The third set proved to be the breaking point for Northern Colorado. Sacramento State took advantage of the Bears poor passing to get out to a 12-2 lead and never looked back taking it, 25-15.

"I thought our passing broke down a bit after the break and we ended up too high error after that," Oates said. "We had to go with a line up we weren't use to with Michaela (Nelson) and Emily (O'Neil) out due to injury so that was tough for us tonight even with our depth."

Nelson went out in the first set, while O'Neil midway through the third.

With Nelson and O'Neil out and struggles from some of the attacks, Timarie Nymeyer and Alex Kloehn stepped up for UNC, finishing with 13 and nine kills, respectively. Not only did they put up those big kills numbers, but also did so efficiently with Nymeyer hitting .455 and Kloehn going .389.

"Both Alex and Timarie were really good for us tonight and helped carry us on the attack," Oates said of the pair of sophomores. "With a little better serve receive tonight and passing we could of got them a few more balls and they could have had an even greater impact for us tonight. Both have developed a lot over the season and will be big players for us moving forward."

With the loss, UNC will say goodbye to three key seniors in Kendra Cunningham, Katie Champion and Meagan Garcia. In their final match as Bears, the three combined for nine kills and 33 digs.

"It feels a lot like our 2013 season. The talk with our team after the match really fueled them for the 2014 season and that is what this talk afterwards felt like too," said Oates of the season ending. "Just like that season I feel like this talk and loss can push us to a run in the 2016 season. With that said, the three seniors we lose after tonight will certainly be missed."

Northern Colorado closed out the season with a record of 14-16, including tying for first place in the Big Sky North Division with a record of 10-6.