@UNCBearsVB Heads Back to Grand Forks for 2016 Big Sky Tournament

Thursday, November 17

Grand Forks, N.D.

3:30 pm

University of Northern Colorado

Idaho State

11/15/2016 3:09:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

UNC faces Idaho State in Grand Forks, N.D. in round one of the Big Sky Tournament

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. – It will have been five days since the Bears had just played in Grand Forks, N.D. when they take the court Thursday afternoon to face Idaho State to begin the 2016 Big Sky Conference Tournament. Northern Colorado enters the this year's tournament at the No. 4 seed out of eight teams.

Idaho State Gameday Central | Big Sky Tournament Central

Game Notes: Northern Colorado | Big Sky

Quick Sets
• Northern Colorado enters its 11th straight Big Sky Tournament this week. The Bears have won the tournament four times in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2014.

• Overall in Big Sky tournament matches UNC is 13-6.

• Last week, Northern Colorado went 1-1, sweeping Southern Utah, before being swept by North Dakota. Against SUU, the Bears used a strong attack and serving to earn the win. UNC hit .356 as a team and had four service aces, while also holding the T-Birds to .126 hitting.

• Kortney Lockey is known for her big kills, but last week it was about her defensive efforts. She led the team with 4.67 digs per set to go with her 2.00 kills. She also had a pair of aces. Against SUU she led the team with 16 digs and added in another 12 versus North Dakota.

• Northern Colorado is facing Idaho State in the Big Sky Tournament for the fifth time. The Bears hold a 3-1 record overall in the previous four matches.

Scouting the Bears
Northern Colorado comes into the Big Sky Tournament after an up and down week. UNC played very well against Southern Utah, while not playing up to their level of play against North Dakota.

In the match against SUU, the Bears had an efficient attack and tough serving to sweep the Thunderbirds. UNC hit .356 in the match, led by the duo of Timarie Nymeyer and Kim Weissmann. Nyemyer led the team with a .583 attack percentage to go with her eight kills, while Weissmann led the team in kills with 10 on .375 hitting.

The stats may only show only four service aces for that match, but the tough serving also helped lead to Southern Utah hitting only .126 for the match.

Against UND though, it was a different story, The Bears struggled to find any momentum early on hitting .022 in the first set including eight attack errors, while UND ended up hitting over .400 in two of the three sets.

Timarie Nymeyer found her groove late on attack finishing with 11 kills. UNC's middles of Emily O'Neil and Alex Kloehn each had seven kills as well. Kloehn also added in four total blocks.

While her offense struggled last week, Kortney Lockey's defense came through for the Bears. She led the team with 4.67 digs per set last week including a team leading 16 vs Southern Utah. She also had two aces against the Thunderbirds.

Last Time Vs
Idaho State
Idaho State and Northern Colorado met during the regular season in Pocatello with ISU holding off the Bears in a five set match. The Bengals rode the arm of Chole Hirst and her 28 kills out to a quick 2-0 lead. UNC would battle back though, grabbing the momentum in the third set and for most of the fourth to force a final set. In the fifth ISU used a pair of 3-0 runs to gain an advantage on Northern Colorado, along with another to close out the match 15-12.

On the Date
November 17
The past six times UNC has played on November 17 it has been away from Greeley, and the Bears have split those matches. Overall on the date Northern Colorado is 6-6 including 1-1 in neutral site matches.

November 18
Nine of the team's 10 matches on the 18th day of November have come at a neutral site. In those matches UNC is 4-5, and 4-6 overall. The last time the Bears played on the date was back in 1995 when they fell to St. Cloud State in the NCC Tournament.

November 19
Last season the Bears opened the Big Sky Tournament on this date, falling to Sacramento State in four, ending a five match win streak on the date. In neutral site matches on the date, UNC is 3-1, overall they are 5-2.

Time to Shine
If there is one week that you need to be at your best, it's this week for the Big Sky Tournament, and Northern Colorado has historically shown they can do that. In the previous 10 Big Sky Tournament trips, UNC has won it four times (2009, 2011, 2012, 2014), made the championship or semifinals match three other times.

Road Warriors
UNC has been road warriors all season long going 8-3 in true road matches. In Big Sky matches the team dropped a pair of road match, against Idaho State in a hard fought five setter and being swept by North Dakota. The only other loss came against Pacific, also in five sets.

RPI Report
Northern Colorado moved to fourth in the Big Sky for RPI this week at 131. Sacramento State (106), Northern Arizona (108) and North Dakota (112), are all ahead of the Bears.

Leading the Sky
The Big Sky regular season ended on Saturday and Northern Colorado's attack passed the test with flying colors. The team led the conference in kills (14.53), attack percentage (.256) and assists (13.64). Senior setter Ashley Guthrie leads the conference with 11.79 assists per set, and Timarie Nymyer and Emily O'Neil were all in the Top 10 in attack percentage at .369, and .322.

Serves Up!
At the beginning of the season, Northern Colorado talked about and worked on becoming a tougher serving team. That hard work has paid off, as the team has recorded 121 service aces this season, ranking seventh in the program's DI history. The team's 1.17 aces per set ranks them fifth overall in the Big Sky.

Blockin' Solo
Alex Kloehn is no stranger to making the big block for UNC, and 47 times in her career she has done so all by herself. Her four solo blocks last weekend puts her four behind Brianna Strong's 51, for the program's DI record. She currently has 21 solo blocks this season, a new career high for a season, breaking her previous best of 18 that she set last year, and two off the programs DI best 23 set by Brianna Strong in 2013.

Setting the Way
Senior setter Ashley Guthrie has been setting the way for the Bears for the past four years, and the numbers are starting to add up. On September 24th she recorded her 4,000th career assist, becoming just the sixth player in program history to do so. She currently sits at 4,636 assists, with her sights set on Tatjana Smith's mark of 4,747 to crack the Top 5. Guthrie is now in the Top 10 all-time in the Big Sky conference for assists, passing Garyn Schlatter (2010-13) of Portland State.

Guthrie is averaging 11.04 assists per set this season to rank second in the Big Sky only behind Sacramento State's Kennedy Kurtz 11.33. She also ranks 25th in the NCAA in sets per set.

1-2 Punch
The duo of Kortney Lockey and Kim Weissmann provide Northern Colorado with a tough 1-2 punch on the pins. Lockey leads the team with 3.10 kills per set, while also adding in 3.07 digs a set. Her right arm was leaned on heavily to begin the season, and the numbers proved it. Against North Dakota State during the first weekend Lockey set a career high with 27 kills in the five set victory. She also has set a new career high in digs this season, with 22 against Idaho State.

Weissman had to work her way back from an offseason knee injury during non-conference play, but has come on strong during Big Sky play. She is averaged 2.84 kills per set in the sixteen conference matches, and has added in 16 total blocks over them.

Digging Bones
UNC had been digging up a lot of balls this season, ranking fifth in the Big Sky in digs per set at a rate of 16.17. That places the team 59th in the nation. Makenna Meier leads the team with 4.37 digs per set, ranking her seventh overall in the Big Sky, and 123rd in the NCAA. She turned in a career-high 31 dig effort against Northern Arizona on September 22, and ended up winning the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week. That mark is the most by any UNC player in the DI era for a four set match. After Meier, four other Bears are getting over 2.00 digs a set, including Kortney Lockey who is averaging over 3.00 at 3.07

Double Trouble
The Bears have a double trouble duo up the middle with Alex Kloehn and Emily O'Neil. Kloehn leads the way for the two with 2.65 kills a set and 0.83 blocks a set. She is second on the team with a .291 hitting percentage. O'Neil is not far behind Kloehn with 1.87 kills and 0.49 blocks a set, while hitting .318 for the year.

Triple-Double
For the second time in her career, Ashley Guthrie recorded her second ever triple-double. Against Weber State last Friday night, Guthrie had 60 assists, 14 digs and 10 kills. It was the first triple-double at UNC since Guthrie had her first in 2013 also against Weber State. In that triple-double she had 50 assists, 10 kills and 10 digs. She is one of 33 players to have a triple-double this season in the NCAA.

Everybody Digging In
In the match against Idaho State, everyone was contributing on the defensive end by grabbing a dig. The team finished with 102 digs for the match, and had three players with 20+. Makenna Meier led the team with 24, while teammates Kortney Lockey (22) and Ashley Guthrie (21) weren't far behind. Kayla Uyemura also added in 15 digs, while Taylor Els just missed out on double figures as well with nine.

Adding to A Legacy
Entering her 12th year as the head coach at Northern Colorado, Lyndsey Oates has made a name for herself. During her time at the helm she has led the program into the Division I era and seen plenty of success. She has led four teams to NCAA Tournament appearances and five to Big Sky championships. Along with those accomplishments, Oates has also been a three time recipient of the Big Sky Coach of the Year honor (2009, 2011, 2014). She added to that legacy on September 15 in the victory over Air Force by accomplishing win No. 200 for her career.

Marathon Set
Northern Colorado and Houston Baptist played in one of the longest sets in NCAA history on September 3rd. UNC and HBU ended up playing in a set that had the final score of 45-43 in favor of the Huskies. That tied the record set by Manhattan and Rider in 2010.

In the set, Kortney Lockey reached double figures in kills with 11, while teammate Kayla Uyemura had 11 digs.

Veteran Leadership
Head coach Lyndsey Oates has a plethora of veterans to lean on this season with 12 returns on the team. Of those 12 players, 10 are letter winners.

Preseason Expectations
Preseason expectations are nothing new to the Northern Colorado volleyball program. This season the Bears are once again expected to compete for the Big Sky title, being picked second in the preseason poll. UNC is also seeing national attention, receiving votes in the VolleyballMag.com preseason Top 25.

Freshman Five
UNC brought in five new faces for the 2016 season in freshmen Anna Graham, Taylor Els, Alyssa Chisholm, Sarah Wyland and Kaitlyn Detlefsen. Even with the 12 returners on the team, don't be surprised to see the freshmen to be key contributors as well.

Making the Grades
For the fifth straight season UNC volleyball earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association academic honor. The team posted a GPA over 3.30 to earn the honor. The Bears also had 12 players from last year's team earn All-Big Sky Academic honors as well.

On the Tube
Northern Colorado will be on a TV near you again this season thanks to CET Sports. For the second straight year CET Sports will carry select UNC volleyball games. This year's matches broadcasted will be a pair of intra-state rivalries with Colorado State on August 30th and Denver on September 7th.

Big Sky TV
In a partnership with EverSport.tv all home Big Sky school matches will be streamed for free on Big Sky TV once again for 2016. The Northern California-based company will provide service for streaming all Big Sky football, volleyball and basketball events both on PC or laptop along with any tablet and phone through the Watch Big Sky app.

UNC Bears Focus
Back again this year for all Northern Colorado athletics fans is the UNC Focus presented by Advantage Bank. The UNC Focus is a weekly radio show. The Voice of the Bears Troy Coverdale will host it each Wednesday night on 1310 KFKA from 5pm-6pm.

Looking Ahead
With three wins this week, UNC will qualify for their fifth NCAA Tournament since 2009. The Bears would learn who its opponent is on the night of November 27 during the NCAA Selection Show on ESPNU at 7 pm mountain time.