@UNCBearsVB Starts Busy Week Against Denver

Wednesday, September 7

Greeley, Colo.

7:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

Denver

Buy Tickets

9/6/2016 5:59:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Northern Colorado volleyball has four matches this week starting with Denveroach Kamie Ethridge and the UNC women's basketball earned their first win of the season

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. – It's another busy week for the Northern Colorado volleyball team, playing four matches in a pair of states. The week begins in Greeley vs Denver and ends with three matches in Stockton, California.

Match Notes: Northern Colorado | Big Sky | Denver

vs Denver, Wednesday, September 7, 7 pm: CETSports 900 | Video Stream | Audio Stream | Live Stats | @UNCBearsVB | Tickets | Gameday Central
vs South Dakota, Friday, September 9, 11 am: Live Stats | @UNCBearsVB | Gameday Central
at Pacific, Friday, September 9, 7 pm: Video Stream | Live Stats | @UNCBearsVB | Gameday Central
vs Oregon State, Saturday, September 10, 2 pm: Live Stats | @UNCBearsVB | Gameday Central

Quick Sets
• Northern Colorado is coming off a 2-1 weekend, where the Bears defeated Houston Baptist and Penn, while falling to North Florida.

• UNC is in the middle of a nine game stretch, where they play eight of the matches away from home. The lone home match is on September 7 against Denver.

Scouting the Bears
Following week two of the season, the Bears offense looked more balance than week one. After relying a lot on Kortney Lockey during the first week of play, UNC saw more production from its middle blockers last week. Alex Kloehn and Natalya King combined for 51 kills during last Saturday's matches against Houston Baptist and Penn.

While the middles stepped up offensively for UNC, Lockey continued to dominate on the outside. Against CSU, UNF, HBU and Penn she had 13, 17, 20 and six kills, respectively. The six kills came on a .600 hitting percentage again Penn.

Northern Colorado's back line defense continued to play well last week, averaging 62.75 digs a match. Makenna Meier leads that charge for the team with 4.50 a set, while four other players are averaging over 2.00 digs a set.

The Bears had their best blocking match of the season against Houston Batpist when they recorded 12 overall. The trio of Ashley Guthrie, King and Kloehn were a big reason why. Guthrie and King each had five block assists, while Kloehn had three solo blocks and three block assists.

Another key to Northern Colorado's success last week, and moving forward was its strong serving. The Bears had 31 aces over the three matches. Kortney Lockey had four aces, a new career high, against North Florida.

Scouting Denver
Denver comes into Wednesday night's match with a 4-2 record, going 2-1 last weekend defeating Loyola Marymount and Montana State, while falling to Utah State.

The Pioneers are led by first year head coach Tom Hogan, who took over for Jesse Mahoney after he left for the Colorado job. Hogan is not a new face for the program though, having been the associate head coach since 2012.

DU has some key parts back from its back-to-back NCAA Tournament teams. Offensively the Pios are very diverse with five different players averaging over 2.00 kills per set. Kayla Principato leads the team with 2.23.

Defensively, Cassidy Rooke leads the back row with 3.09 digs a set, while up front, the Pioneers have built a wall with Ruth Okoye, Principato, and Emma Willis all averaging over 1.00 blocks a set.

Denver is picked to win the Summit League again according to the league's preseason coaches' poll.

Scouting South Dakota
South Dakota enters the weekend with a six match win streak afer dropping their season opener. During the win streak USD has defeated Tulsa, North Dakota and Ball State.

The Coyotes are led by six rotation player Audrey Reeg, who leads the teams with 3.60 kills per set and is second in digs at 4.20 per set. She earned All-Summit League honors last season.

Setting up Reeg and the rest of the offense is setter Brittany Jessen. Jessen is averaging 10.92 assits a set, and holds her own on defense as well with 3.52 digs a set.

While the Yotes do not possess the best blocking team for opponents, they have a solid back line to go along with Reeg and Jessen. Libero Lauren Mattison is averaging 4.44 digs a set, and two other players are averaging over two.

USD was picked to finish fifth in the Summit Leage. The Coyotes are the third Summit lead team UNC will play this season. Denver and North Dakota State are the other two.

Scouting Pacific
Pacific is coming off a tough weekend at the Wahine Volleyball Classic where they took on No. 8 UCLA, No. 15 Hawaii and RV Missouri State. The Tigers went 0-3 against the tough competion.

Lexi Elman, leads the team with 3.71 kills per set, and also adds in 3.00 digs a set this season. Elman, along with Emily Baptista (2.55)are the lone Tigers averaging over 2.00 kills a set.

On defense, Pacific has five different players with over two digs a set. Leading the charge in that category for UP is Katrin Gotterba, who is grabbing 5.38 digs a set, ranking 15th in the nation at that rate. Along with all of the digs, Pacific is slowing down its oppenents attack limiting them to the fourth lowest percentage so far this season at .145.

Coming into the 2016 season, the Tigers were picked to finish sixth in the 10 team West Coast Conference. San Diego was the consensus pick to take the conference title.

Scouting Oregon State
Oregon State is under new leadership with first year head coach Mark Barnard, who took over the Beavers in June of this year. So far for Barnard he has led OSU to a 3-2 record.

The Beavers lean heavily on the pair of outside hitters in Lanesha Reagan and Mary-Kate Marshall. Reagan leads the team with 4.32 kills a set and Marshall is not far behind at 4.18

While Oregon State has just one player averaging over 2.00 digs a set in Kayla Elis (3.21), they do have six players with 1.00 digs a set.

OSU was picked to finish last in the challenging PAC 12 conference that currently has four teams ranked in the AVCA Top 25.

Last Time vs
Denver
UNC and DU faced each other last season, with the Pioneers defending their home court in a sweep. Denver took advantage of a poor offensive night for the Bears who hit -.035 in the match.

South Dakota
It has been six years since the old NCC foes have squared off against each other. The Bears hosted the Coyotes in September 2010, coming away with the 3-1 victory. UNC earned the victory behind the strong attack led by Kelley Arnold and her 16 kills.

Pacific and Oregon State
This is the first time UNC has faced both Pacific and Oregon State.

On the Date
September 7
Northern Colorado will look to improve upon its record on September 7th. The Bears are 9-8 all-time on the date, including being 2-1 when at home. The team currently has a three game losing streak on the date that they will be looking to break.

September 9
UNC has a chance to improve its record on September 9th to over .500 with the pair of games on the date this season. Coming into the year, the team is 6-7 on the date, but has not played on it since 2006. Five of the six wins on the date have come at home.

September 10
The Bears are 7-8 when playing on September 10th. Eleven of those 15 matches have been played at a neutral site, in which UNC has a 6-5 record in. The last time UNC played on the 10th day of September was in 2011 at Colorado State.

Marathon Set
Northern Colorado and Houston Baptist played in one of the longest sets in NCAA history last Saturday. 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 Manhatan and Rider in 2010.

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

Double Trouble up the Middle
For Penn and Houston Baptist last Saturday, it was double trouble up the middle from the Bears middle blockers. The duo of Alex Kloehn and Natalya King combined for 51 kills over the two matches.

Alex Kloehn: Kloehn set a new career high in the match against Houston Baptist, recording kill number 17 to end the match. She hit .317 for the match and also added in six total blocks. She followed up that match with another 12 kills on a .421 attack percentage against Penn.

Natalya King: When Kloehn was off the court, King was picking up where her teammate left off. King recorded 10 kills and five blocks against Houston Baptist, and then set a career high with 12 kills on a .474 attack percentage. The hitter percentage is the highest of the season for any player to qualify with 12 or more kills in a match.

Lockey and Loaded
The right arm of Kortney Lockey has been very importent for the Bears in 2016. The sophomore leads the team with 3.88 kills a match, while having 291 attacks already. Against North Dakota State during the first weekend Lockey set a career high with 27 kills in the five set victory.

It is not just her offense that has been importent to the Bears, but also her passing and defense. Lockey is averaging 2.46 digs a set and has recorded double figure digs in three of the team's six matches. Just like with kills, she set a career high in digs vs North Dakota State as well with 16.

Serves Up
An identity the 2016 UNC volleyball team has strived to achieve is being known as a tough serving team. That process took a big step in the right direction last weekend while in Houston. The Bears had 31 service aces during the trip. UNC had a season high 13 against Houston Baptist. Kortney Lockey led the team with eight over the two days, including a new career high four against North Florida.

Digging Bones
UNC had been digging up a lot of balls so far this season, leading the Big Sky in digs per set at a rate of 17.21. That places the team 27th in the nation. Makenna Meier leads the team with 4.50 digs per set, ranking her seventh in the Big Sky and 91st in the NCAA. After Meier, four other Bears are getting over 2.00 digs a set.

All-Around Setter
Senior setter Ashley Guthrie does more than just set up the UNC offense. Her 9.83 assits a set help the team's attack, but she also averages 2.58 digs a set and 0.58 blocks.

Guthrie currently ranks sixth in the program's history for assists with 3,845. The next person on her list to catch is Tatjana Smith who finished her career with 4,747.

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 is now closing in on another honor, 200 career wins. Coming into the week Oates is two wins shy of 200.

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.

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 stays on the road next week, but in-state. The Bears will make the trip to Colorado Springs to take on Air Force on Thursday, September 15 and then Georgetown on Friday, September 16.