Recap: @UNCBearsVB plays hard, falls to No.1 seed Sacramento State

Thursday, November 16

Sacramento, CA

8 pm

University of Northern Colorado

14-16

Sacramento State

25-8

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Northern Colorado	25	14	16	25	1
Sacramento State	21	25	25	27	3

Photo by: Rob Trubia

11/16/2017 11:12:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Northern Colorado's offense suffered from errors in the quarterfinal match

By: Matthew Kushar, UNCBears.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif.- The postseason ended for Northern Colorado Volleyball on Thursday after a tough loss to Sacramento State [25-21, 14-25, 16-25, 25-27] in the Big Sky Tournament.

Errors were the difference for UNC in the match, as they committed 29 to Sac State's 14. The Hornets also were able to serve aggressively and recorded 11 service aces, although committing nine service errors. UNC had three aces to five errors at the service line.

UNC was ready for the top seed in the first set and opened a 4-2 lead over host Sacramento State. Seniors Kim Weissmann and Alex Kloehn were swinging early for the Bears and extend the lead over the Hornets to 10-5. Sac State found its rhythm at the service line with three straight aces from Brie Gathright and the lead was cut to 11-10. The score stayed close and Sac State was able to take its first lead of the match at 15-14. UNC's two Big Sky, second team selections stepped up and scored to take the lead back from the Hornets, 16-15. The two teams would tie three times, with UNC staying ahead by one point. The Bears separated from the Hornets at 20-18 and held on for a 25-21 set win. UNC hit .222 in the set and tallied 16 kills to Sac State's .184 percentage and 10 kills.

In the second set, UNC started out strong on offense again and forged a 5-3 lead behind kills from Kortney Lockey and Emily O'Neil. Sac State would tie the score up at five and after trading points with UNC, jumped ahead at 9-8. The Bears would keep the score close until Sac State went on a 7-0 run to build a 18-11 lead. The advantage was too much for UNC and Sac State tied the match up a one with a 25-14 win in the second set. The offense for UNC struggled with a .097 attack percentage and only nine kills. Sac State's offense were difficult to stop with a .406 percentage and 14 kills.

The third set was critical for UNC's effort to pull the upset over the top seed. Sac State started with an 6-4 lead, but the Bears raced back with a 7-1 run to hold an 11-7 advantage. UNC continued to score and keep Sac State at arms length with kills from Lockey and Kloehn. The set turned in Sac State's favor with UNC up 16-13. The Hornets went on a 12-0 run to take the third set 25-16 and go ahead of UNC 2-1 in the match. The Bears offense again struggled and only managed a .061 attack percentage, suffering eight attack errors.

The Bears needed to play their best to force a fifth set and keep the season alive. With kills from Weissmann and Lockey, UNC started with a 5-3 lead in the fourth set. Sac State responded and built its own lead at 10-7. The Bears stayed poised in the middle of the set and tied the score back up at 13. After briefly losing the lead to Hornets, UNC used a 7-0 run to retake the lead 21-16 in fourth. The Bears maintained its advantage and led 23-18 looking to secure a fifth set. The Hornets went on their own run and pulled ahead of UNC at 24-23, serving for match point. A kill from Kloehn kept UNC alive. Following an attack error from Sac State's Lana Brow, UNC had a chance at set point. A key kill from Shannon Boyle, followed by a service ace from Kennedy Kurtz would give Sac State the lead back and they would then secure the match victory with a 27-25 win in the fourth set.

Northern Colorado finished the match with a .139 attack percentage and Sacramento State had a .240 attack percentage. UNC had a slim 51 to 50 advantage in kills over Sac State, but the difference in errors was a key factor.

Player Focus
In their last match for UNC, Alex Kloehn and Emily O'Neil tied for the team lead with 13 kills and hit .212 and .400 respectively. Kortney Lockey recorded her 11th double-double of the season with 12 kills and 17 digs. Kim Weissmann tallied 10 kills in her final match as a Bear. Daisy Schultz had 44 assists and Taylor Els recorded 26 digs for her 26th consecutive match in double figures.

Thoughts from the Coach
"It's a tough one when your up 23-18 in the fourth set. We were trying to push it to a fifth and we just couldn't execute on offense. Hopefully this is a growing match that can rebound us into next year, but its tough to swallow right now. It wasn't for a lack of effort. The girls played hard, but we just didn't execute when it mattered." Head Coach, Lyndsey Oates