@UNCBearsVB Travels to Laramie for NIVC Tournament On Thursday

Thursday, November 29

Laramie, Wyo.

4 pm

University of Northern Colorado

Portland

Photo by: Woody Myers

11/28/2018 9:57:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

NIVC Tournament Central NIVC Bracket Game Notes

Northern Colorado will play Portland in the opening round of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship

By: Matthew Kushar, UNCBears.com

The 2018 season is still alive for Northern Colorado volleyball, as the team accepted an invitation to play in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship(NIVC) produced by Triple Crown Sports. The Bears will travel north to play Portland in Laramie, Wyo. on Thursday at 4:00 pm.

Northern Colorado hosted the Big Sky Tournament last week and was the No. 6 seed on their home court. UNC upset the No. 3 Weber State with a sweep in the first round. The Bears dropped the semi-final match against the tournament runner-up Idaho, 3-2.

With the Bears victory over Weber State, the team surpassed last season's win total with 15. UNC went 14-16 in the 2017 season.

Kortney Lockey tallied 22 digs against Idaho to push her past 1000 for her career. The Eaton, Colo. native now becomes the eighth member of the 1000 kill and 1000 dig club in her senior season and is the 25th player to record 1000 digs in program history. Lockey is averaging 3.17 kills per set and 3.06 digs per set in the final season at UNC. During the Big Sky Tournament, Lockey scored seven service aces and is second on the team with 32, 0.30 aces per set this season.

Taylor Els was named to the Big Sky All-Tournament team, recording 44 digs in the two matches for a 5.50 digs per set average. Els added a service ace and an assist during the tournament. The Lincoln, Neb. native lead the Big Sky this season with a 5.56 digs per set averaging, recording 600 total. She is two digs away from tying the program record for total digs in a season.

Brittany Lawrence was also named to the Big Sky All-Tournament team, scoring 20 kills for a 2.50 kills per set average and adding two total blocks. The North Platte, Neb. native was highly efficient, with a .474 attack percentage, committing only two errors on 38 total attempts. On the season, Lawrence is fourth in the Big Sky and lead the team with a .352 hitting percentage. She also averaged 1.99 kills per set and leads the team with 0.45 blocks per set.

Taylor Muff set a career-high with 20 kills in the match against Idaho. Muff finished the tournament with 29 total kills and also recorded 25 digs in the team's two matches. Daisy Schultz carried over her performance from regular season into the tournament, recording 94 assists for a 11.75 per set average in the two matches.

The NIVC will be the Bears first national postseason tournament since they went to the NCAA Tournament in 2014.

About the NIVC
UNC will be one of 32 Division I team competing in the NIVC, with the tournament field being comprised of Power 5 and mid-major teams. The tournament originally ran from 1989 to 1995, but Triple Crown Sports re-started it in 2017. Ole Miss won the championship match last season over Texas Tech.

The first and second round of the NIVC will be played from Nov. 29-30, with the third round taking place Dec. 5-7. The semifinals will be played Dec. 7-9 and the Championship match is set for Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 7 pm(ET). All matches will be hosted by participating schools.

Scouting Pilots
Portland will be playing in its first national postseason tournament in program history this weekend. The Pilots enjoyed their best start in program history under first year head coach, Jeff Baxter, with a 12-0 opening record. The team received votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Poll. The team's 18 wins are the most in program history since 1986 when they won 19.

Junior middle blocker Katie Barker is hitting an impressive .342 in 2018 and is also leads the team with 125 total blocks, with a 1.11 blocks per set average. Sophomore libero Carey Williams leads the West Coast Conference with 478 total digs and is second with a 4.27 digs per set.

Northern Colorado played Portland in the 2017 season, dropping the match 3-1 during the Lobo Classic in Albuquerque, NM. Alex Kloehn led UNC with 10 kills and five total blocks, while Emily O'Neil had eight kills and eight total blocks.

Following the Bears
Northern Colorado volleyball will play Portland on Thursday, November 27^th at Uniwyo Sports Complex in Laramie, Wyo., with the first serve at 4 pm(MT).

The match will be streamed live by GoWyo.com and live stats will also be provided by GoWyo.com. Follow the match live on Twitter with @UNCBearsVB.

About Triple Crown Sports
Based in Fort Collins, CO., Triple Crown Sports has been producing college and youth events for more than 35 years. TCS runs both the preseason and postseason WNIT basketball events and produces the men's and women's Cancun Challenge tournaments in November. Triple Crown is also powering "WNIT" concept events in D-I softball (NISC) and volleyball (NIVC), with those two events debuting in 2017. TCS youth fastpitch tournaments (including the 900-team Sparkler/Fireworks event) draw the nation's finest club programs, and hundreds of college coaches attend TCS events for recruiting purposes.