@UNCBearsVB Opens Season With a Trio at Home

Friday, August 26

Greeley, Colo.

7:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

Saint Mary's

8/24/2016 6:10:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

UNC volleyball starts its 2016 season with three matches at home

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. – The 2016 volleyball season is finally here for Northern Colorado. The Bears will open the year with a trio of matches inside Bank of Colorado Arena to begin the year. They will host Saint Mary's (Aug. 26), North Dakota State (Aug. 27) and Colorado State (Aug. 30). All three matches will begin at 7 pm.

Northern Colorado Notes | Big Sky

Gameday Happenings
Friday, August 26 – UNC volleyball will be hosting a volleyball 101 class inside the Champions Room. The class will take place prior to the match from 6:00-6:30 pm to teach fans the basics.
Saturday, August 27 – The team will be hosting its first Camper Reunion Saturday. All youth (13 & under) campers from over the summer will receive a voucher for free admission to the match via email.
Tuesday, August 30 – Help the Bears #DefendTheDen! Wear your blue and gold to support the team as they take on in-state rival and nationally-ranked CSU.

Scouting the Bears
Northern Colorado enters the 2016 season with a veteran laden team. The Bears return 12 players from the 2015 team while also welcoming five freshman to the roster.

Senior setter Ashley Guthrie will be looked to as the team's leader this season. Guthrie is coming off a first team All-Big Sky performance last season where she averaged 10.23 assists a game to go along with 0.87 kills and 2.19 digs.

She will be setting the way for sophomore outside hitter Kortney Lockey who will be stepping into a big role for the Bears in 2016 after the graduation of Kendra Cunningham. Lockey enjoyed a successful freshman season with 2.11 kills a match to rank fourth on the team.

Other threats on the outside for the Bears this season include Timarie Nymeyer, Kim Weissmann, Michaela Nelson, and freshmen Anna Graham and Sarah Wyland.

Up the middle UNC is led by the strong trio of Alex Klohen, Emily O'Neil and Natalya King. It was mostly Klohen and O'Neil who played the position last season for the team, but King has shown growth through the spring and preseason.

On the back line there will be a new libero for Northern Colorado in senior Makenna Meier. Meier takes over for graduated Meagan Garcia. The team has a lot of depth and can play its match-ups wisely with the return of Audry Landry and Kayla Uyemura, plus the addition of freshmen Taylor Els and Alyssa Chisholm.

Scouting Saint Mary's
St.Mary's is coming off a disappointing 6-22 season in 2015, including finishing last in the WCC with a 1-17 record.

The Gales return All-WCC Freshman Team member Lindsey Knudsen who led the team in kills last season with 2.78 per set, along with other members of a young nucleus.

Eleventh year head coach Rob Browning will look to turn the team around in 2016 where SMC was picked to finish eighth out of 10 teams in the WCC

Scouting North Dakota State
Old NCC rival, North Dakota State visits Greeley for the first time since 2012.

The Bison return a pair of All-Summit members from last season's 19-12 team. Emily Minnick and Emily Miron are those two players returning for NDSU.

This season North Dakota State is picked to finish second in the Summit behind Denver.

Scouting Colorado State
Once against Colorado State begins the 2016 ranked in the AVCA Top 25 poll coming in at No. 25.

The Rams lost their all-everything player in Adranna Culbert from last year, but have a talented roster back led by All-Mountain West preseason team member Alexandra Poletto.

Head coach Tom Hilbert enters his second decade at the helm of CSU as the team to beat in the Mountain West again this season. The Rams will also play St. Mary's and North Dakota State before taking on the Bears.

Last Time vs
Saint Mary's
The last time UNC and Saint Mary's faced each other was over 20 years ago. The teams played twice on October 8, 1983 in the Metro State Invitational where the Gales took both matches by the scores of 2-0 and 2-1, respectively.

North Dakota State
The Bears and Bison last faced each other in 2012 in Greeley. UNC would come out victors with a sweep to close out the Hampton Inn & Suites Northern Colorado Classic. Northern Colorado was led in the match by Alyssa Wilson's 10 kills along with Merideth Johnson and Tamber Haddock's 13 and 11 digs each. The win was the programs ninth in the past 11 games vs NDSU.

Colorado State
In the battle of Northern Colorado's two universities, CSU bested UNC last season 3-0 inside Moby Arena. The Bears struggled against the Rams front row getting blocked 11 times and being held to a .106 hitting percentage. Emily O'Neil led all Bears with nine kills, while Meagan Garcia led the team in digs with 16.

On the Date
August 26
Northern Colorado has played on August 26 five times, cumulating a record of 3-2 in those matches. The Bears have played at home just once on the date, defeating UNLV 3-0 in 2011.

August 27
Just like the 26th of August, UNC has hit the court five times. The 27th hasn't been as nice to the team though, as the Bears have a 1-4 record. At home UNC is 0-1. That game took place in 2011 with UC Davis coming up the victors 3-2.

August 30
August 30th has been a busy day on the calendar for UNC, as the team has played 13 matches on the date. While they have had a lot of games on the day, only one game has been played inside Bank of Colorado Arena. That was in 2013, when UNC defeated Cal Poly 3-1.

Season & Home Openers
Under Lyndsey Oates Northern Colorado is 6-5 in season openers, and had a four game win streak until last season. All-time the Bears are 29-11 in season opening matches.

Northern Colorado has a history of success in home openers, with a record of 33-7 all-time. Under current head coach Lyndsey Oates, UNC is 9-2 in home openers including winning last season's match against Western Michigan 3-1.

This is the first time since 2013 that the team has opened at home. That year UNC went 2-0 in opening weekend defeating Baylor and Cal Poly.

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.

Setting the Way
Senior setter Ashley Guthrie is set up to have a solid 2016 season. Last year she became just the seventh player in program history to record 3,000 career assists and earned a spot on the first team All-Big Sky. She ended it with 3,609 just 25 shy of sixth place. She has the team's DI record for assists in sight, currently held by Marissa Hughes at 4,877.

Locked and Loaded
Sophomore Korney Lockey is coming off a successful freshman season and is set up to have an even better sophomore year. She will be stepping up to be the team's go-to player on the outside. As a freshman she finished fourth on the team in kills with 205.

Up the Midd-Al
Middle blocker Alex Kloehn put herself into the UNC record book last season recording 18 solo blocks. That was just five shy of former teammate's Brianna Strongs DI record of 23 set in 2013. This season she will look to form a wall on the front line for the Bears along with fellow middles Emily O'Neil and Natalya King.

Finding the Right Spots
Junior outside hitter Timarie Nymeyer was the most efficient hitter in the Big Sky last season with a .324 attack percentage. She wasn't just effective, but she finished second on the team averaging 2.40 kills per set.

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 contributers as well.

Who's the Libero?
With the graduation of Meagan Garcia, UNC had a hole to fill at libero. Senior Makenna Meier has stepped up into that position for the team, and has taken on the challenge full charge.

Same Face, New Place
Fans will continue to see the familiar face of Kendra Cunningham around the UNC program. Cunningham's playing days may be over, but now she is the team's Director of Operations.

Welcome Guch
UNC welcomed a new assistant coach over the offseason in Jon Haruguchi. He came to Northern Colorado from Dartmouth where he was an assistant coach for the Mean Green. He brings over 15 years of coaching experience to the team.

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
Northern Colorado takes its first road trip of the year over Labor Day weekend, when they head to Houston, Texas. The Bears will battle host Houston Baptist, North Florida and Pennsylvania in the Barcelona Labor Day Classic.