University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Saturday, September 24
Greeley, Colo.
12 pm
University of Northern Colorado
3
vs
0
North Dakota
@UNCBearsVB Earns First Big Sky Win With Sweep of UND
9/24/2016 3:06:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Balanced offense leads UNC over North Dakota in a sweep
GREELEY, Colo. – Northern Colorado volleyball earned its first Big Sky Conference match win of the year on Saturday with a sweep of North Dakota (26-24, 25-18, 25-18). During the match Ashley Guthrie became the sixth player in UNC history to record 4,000 career assists.
How it Happened
UND got out to a quick start in the first set with a 6-0 run to go up 8-3. The Bears battled back going on a 7-2 rally late in the set to tie it at 23. During the run, Northern Colorado scored six of its seven points on kills. The Bears completed the comeback, taking the set 26-24.
In the second set it was UNC who got out to the quick start going up 9-4 to force a Fighting Hawks timeout. The Bears extended their lead to as many as eight at 18-10, before North Dakota answered. The Hawks cut the lead to 22-17, but were unable to get any closer as UNC went into the break, up 2-0. In the set, Northern Colorado out hit North Dakota .412-.088.
The third set Northern Colorado's offense continued to click, with just four hitting errors in it. After trading the first 10 points, UNC went on a 7-1 run to take control of the set. It wasn't just the offense that was clicking for the Bears during the set, but also the back row defense from Kortney Lockey and Makenna Meier who had seven and eight digs in the set, respectively.
Game Changer
Kortney Lockey was making plays all over the court for UNC Saturday afternoon. When she wasn't throwing down one of her 11 thunderous kills, she picked up a team-high 17 digs.
Notables
- Ashley Guthrie became the sixth player in UNC history to record 4,000 career assists. She achieved that mark in the first set of the match.
- Kortney Lockey recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 11 kills and 17 digs. Both the kills and digs numbers led the Bears.
- As health has improved, the Northern Colorado offense has become more balanced. In today's match five different Bears had seven or more kills, including Lockey (11) and Timarie Neymeyer (10) reaching double figures.
- Northern Colorado's front line was big at the net, helping the Bears double the Fighting Hawks in blocks 10-5. Emily O'Neil led all Bears with five total blocks.
Quotable
Redshirt-Sophomore middle blocker Emily O'Neil
On the strong play of the Middle Blockers:
"I thought I had a good game today. Ashley trusted me a lot and it's up to us middle blockers to deliver. We have been working hard on good footwork and becoming quicker at the net. We all come into practice and are working hard to improve and get better."
Junior outside hitter Kim Weissmann
On the turnaround during the first set:
"In the first set during our timeout Coach Oatee said our effort needs to be there. I think that is where the switch happened and you saw it as we were blocking better and swinging more. That mentality switch really helped us and got us going for the whole match."
Senior setter Ashley Guthrie
On accomplishing 4,000 career assists:
"It is an awesome accomplishment, I didn't really know I was getting close to it. It is just a testament to the teams I have been on. I have been surrounded by some really talented players from my freshman year on and they have just really helped me build my confidence through the years. Being a setter is really weird, because you have to rely on others for the stat. It's an awesome accolade, but it's all because of the teammates I have been with."
Head coach Lyndsey Oates
On the change of momentum in the first set:
"At that first timeout I challenged the team with effort. I thought we were getting outworked. We were thinking too much, which is good we were thinking about the scouting report, but we weren't going to play our best doing that. We had a higher sense of urgency after that and they (North Dakota) started to give us a few errors as well to change the set."
On Kim Weissman's performance:
"Kim is a spark plug for us. We have her in the O-1 spot right next to the setter, so she is going to get a lot of chances. What we asked of her was if they commit away from her, meaning they go to commit to block one our middles, or someone like Timarie, she needs to be able to beat the block one-on-one which she did well today."
On team's overall defense:
"We played back row defense pretty well, I thought a lot of that was attributed to our block. Our block was significantly better today. Even when we didn't get a stuff block, it was a predictable ball for our back row defense, which was maybe what we didn't have the other night."
What's Next?
The Bears will now head to the Pacific Northwest for their first road trip of the Big Sky season. The team will take on Eastern Washington on Thursday before heading to Idaho Saturday.
The next home match for Northern Colorado will be on October 5 against Montana State.
How it Happened
UND got out to a quick start in the first set with a 6-0 run to go up 8-3. The Bears battled back going on a 7-2 rally late in the set to tie it at 23. During the run, Northern Colorado scored six of its seven points on kills. The Bears completed the comeback, taking the set 26-24.
In the second set it was UNC who got out to the quick start going up 9-4 to force a Fighting Hawks timeout. The Bears extended their lead to as many as eight at 18-10, before North Dakota answered. The Hawks cut the lead to 22-17, but were unable to get any closer as UNC went into the break, up 2-0. In the set, Northern Colorado out hit North Dakota .412-.088.
The third set Northern Colorado's offense continued to click, with just four hitting errors in it. After trading the first 10 points, UNC went on a 7-1 run to take control of the set. It wasn't just the offense that was clicking for the Bears during the set, but also the back row defense from Kortney Lockey and Makenna Meier who had seven and eight digs in the set, respectively.
Game Changer
Kortney Lockey was making plays all over the court for UNC Saturday afternoon. When she wasn't throwing down one of her 11 thunderous kills, she picked up a team-high 17 digs.
Notables
- Ashley Guthrie became the sixth player in UNC history to record 4,000 career assists. She achieved that mark in the first set of the match.
- Kortney Lockey recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 11 kills and 17 digs. Both the kills and digs numbers led the Bears.
- As health has improved, the Northern Colorado offense has become more balanced. In today's match five different Bears had seven or more kills, including Lockey (11) and Timarie Neymeyer (10) reaching double figures.
- Northern Colorado's front line was big at the net, helping the Bears double the Fighting Hawks in blocks 10-5. Emily O'Neil led all Bears with five total blocks.
Quotable
Redshirt-Sophomore middle blocker Emily O'Neil
On the strong play of the Middle Blockers:
"I thought I had a good game today. Ashley trusted me a lot and it's up to us middle blockers to deliver. We have been working hard on good footwork and becoming quicker at the net. We all come into practice and are working hard to improve and get better."
Junior outside hitter Kim Weissmann
On the turnaround during the first set:
"In the first set during our timeout Coach Oatee said our effort needs to be there. I think that is where the switch happened and you saw it as we were blocking better and swinging more. That mentality switch really helped us and got us going for the whole match."
Senior setter Ashley Guthrie
On accomplishing 4,000 career assists:
"It is an awesome accomplishment, I didn't really know I was getting close to it. It is just a testament to the teams I have been on. I have been surrounded by some really talented players from my freshman year on and they have just really helped me build my confidence through the years. Being a setter is really weird, because you have to rely on others for the stat. It's an awesome accolade, but it's all because of the teammates I have been with."
Head coach Lyndsey Oates
On the change of momentum in the first set:
"At that first timeout I challenged the team with effort. I thought we were getting outworked. We were thinking too much, which is good we were thinking about the scouting report, but we weren't going to play our best doing that. We had a higher sense of urgency after that and they (North Dakota) started to give us a few errors as well to change the set."
On Kim Weissman's performance:
"Kim is a spark plug for us. We have her in the O-1 spot right next to the setter, so she is going to get a lot of chances. What we asked of her was if they commit away from her, meaning they go to commit to block one our middles, or someone like Timarie, she needs to be able to beat the block one-on-one which she did well today."
On team's overall defense:
"We played back row defense pretty well, I thought a lot of that was attributed to our block. Our block was significantly better today. Even when we didn't get a stuff block, it was a predictable ball for our back row defense, which was maybe what we didn't have the other night."
What's Next?
The Bears will now head to the Pacific Northwest for their first road trip of the Big Sky season. The team will take on Eastern Washington on Thursday before heading to Idaho Saturday.
The next home match for Northern Colorado will be on October 5 against Montana State.
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Volleyball
OH
/ Women's Volleyball
DS
/ Women's Volleyball
MB
/ Women's Volleyball
OH
/ Women's VolleyballUNC Weekly Press Conference - Lyndsey Oates (Jan. 6)
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