University of Northern Colorado Athletics
@UNCBearsVB Returns Home, Sweeps Utah State
9/18/2015 10:07:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Northern Colorado snapped a five match losing streak sweeping Utah State
GREELEY, Colo.—Northern Colorado volleyball enjoyed being back home in Bank of Colorado Arena Friday night, sweeping past Utah State (25-22, 25-15, 25-23). The victory snapped a five match losing streak for UNC. The Bears used timely blocking and a balanced attack to sweep USU.
"I thought a couple key points to the match tonight were our blocking and staying balanced offensively, which we did well in both areas," head coach Lyndsey Oates said.
Northern Colorado (3-7) showed their best offensive performance of the season hitting .248 as a team. Individually three players hit above .300 for the match. Freshman Kortney Lockey led UNC both in hitting and kills posting a .450 attack percentage to go with her 10 kills. Timarie Nymeyer wasn't far behind Lockey with eight kills and hitting .444.
"Our right sides scored well tonight. We felt like we could take advantage of that and it turned out to be true," Oates said about her young hitters. "When that's the case our right sides need to play like they did tonight to open up the rest of our offense."
Emily O'Neil was the other Bear to hit above .300 putting down a line of seven kills on 16 attacks with only two errors (.312).
It wasn't just the offense that performed well tonight, but also the defense. UNC out blocked USU (3-9) nine to five and out dug the Aggies 38-35. Megan Garcia returned to the court after missing last week due to injury with a team and game high 16 digs.
"Megan played really well tonight. She ate up those cross court shots from them and kept us going. She really brought that senior leadership to the back line that we were missing a little of last week," Oates said.
With Garcia patrolling the back line, that opened up the opportunities for the front line blocking. Alex Kloehn led UNC with three solo blocks and three block assists. Lockey added in four block assists and O'Neil had two block assists and a solo block.
"Alex and Emily did a really good job playing pin to pin tonight," Lockey said. "We did a different style of blocking tonight against Utah State based on their play and it worked well for us."
UNC showed improvement in the 6-2 rotation after using it against Wyoming last Saturday. Setters Ashley Guthrie (16) and Ryleigh Haynes (14) combined for 30 of the teams 38 assists.
"I thought it went really well for us tonight in the 6-2 rotation," Haynes said. "My job while I am out there is to give our hitters good balls and the opportunities to score."
The Hampton Inn and Suites Northern Colorado Classic will continue tomorrow morning inside Bank of Colorado Arena with Utah State and Indiana starting at 10 am, before the Bears play their first of two matches on the day against Eastern Kentucky at 12 pm. UNC and Indiana close out the tournament at 8 pm.
"I thought a couple key points to the match tonight were our blocking and staying balanced offensively, which we did well in both areas," head coach Lyndsey Oates said.
Northern Colorado (3-7) showed their best offensive performance of the season hitting .248 as a team. Individually three players hit above .300 for the match. Freshman Kortney Lockey led UNC both in hitting and kills posting a .450 attack percentage to go with her 10 kills. Timarie Nymeyer wasn't far behind Lockey with eight kills and hitting .444.
"Our right sides scored well tonight. We felt like we could take advantage of that and it turned out to be true," Oates said about her young hitters. "When that's the case our right sides need to play like they did tonight to open up the rest of our offense."
Emily O'Neil was the other Bear to hit above .300 putting down a line of seven kills on 16 attacks with only two errors (.312).
It wasn't just the offense that performed well tonight, but also the defense. UNC out blocked USU (3-9) nine to five and out dug the Aggies 38-35. Megan Garcia returned to the court after missing last week due to injury with a team and game high 16 digs.
"Megan played really well tonight. She ate up those cross court shots from them and kept us going. She really brought that senior leadership to the back line that we were missing a little of last week," Oates said.
With Garcia patrolling the back line, that opened up the opportunities for the front line blocking. Alex Kloehn led UNC with three solo blocks and three block assists. Lockey added in four block assists and O'Neil had two block assists and a solo block.
"Alex and Emily did a really good job playing pin to pin tonight," Lockey said. "We did a different style of blocking tonight against Utah State based on their play and it worked well for us."
UNC showed improvement in the 6-2 rotation after using it against Wyoming last Saturday. Setters Ashley Guthrie (16) and Ryleigh Haynes (14) combined for 30 of the teams 38 assists.
"I thought it went really well for us tonight in the 6-2 rotation," Haynes said. "My job while I am out there is to give our hitters good balls and the opportunities to score."
The Hampton Inn and Suites Northern Colorado Classic will continue tomorrow morning inside Bank of Colorado Arena with Utah State and Indiana starting at 10 am, before the Bears play their first of two matches on the day against Eastern Kentucky at 12 pm. UNC and Indiana close out the tournament at 8 pm.
Team Stats
USU
NC
Kills
33
43
Errors
20
17
Attempts
98
105
Hitting %
.133
.248
Points
41.0
56.0
Assists
32
38
Aces
3
4
Blocks
5.0
9.0
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
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