Idaho Takes Big Sky Opener Against @UNCBearsVB

Thursday, September 20

Greeley, Colo.

7 pm

University of Northern Colorado

4-6, 0-1

Idaho

7-6, 1-0

Idaho

Northern Colorado

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

9/20/2018 10:20:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Kortney Lockey joins the 1000 kill club at UNC

By: Matthew Kushar, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo.- The Big Sky preseason favorite Idaho lived up to hype Thursday night, as they swept Northern Colorado volleyball [19-25, 17-25, 22-25] at Bank of Colorado Arena. UNC (4-6, 0-1) faced a tough test from Idaho and did not match the offensive output from the Vandals.

Both teams went back-in-fourth to start the first set and UNC tied the match up at nine. Kortney Lockey scored two kills during the stretch to give her 1000 for her career.

A service ace from Taylor Els and a Taylor Muff kill gave the Bears the lead. Idaho raced in front of UNC with a 5-0 run to give the team a 14-11 advantage. The Bears stayed close with the Vandals as Lauren Hinrichs tallied three kills to cut the lead to 15-17. Sarah Sharp was swinging well for Idaho and recorded three late kills that gave the Vandals a 25-19 win in set one and a 1-0 lead in the match.

In the second set, Idaho jumped out to a 6-4 lead, with DeVonne Ryter recording three kills. Hinrichs and Muff continued to score for the Bears, but the Vandals began to pull away. Idaho extended its advantage to 14-7 with kills from Ryter and Reece Carman. UNC got back into the set with a 4-0 run with Laura Katarzynski serving and Hinrichs scoring a pair of kills to bring the lead down to 14-19. The rally came up short for the Bears as the Vandals closed out the set on a 6-3 run to win 25-17 and go up 2-0 in the match.

Idaho started with a quick 2-0 lead in the third and continued to maintain its advantage through the early stage of the set. Muff scored two kills to keep UNC within striking distance of the Vandals at 7-9. Sharp was a consistent source of offense for Idaho and helped keep the Vandal lead as the set progressed. UNC had some fight left in them and would use a 5-0 run to get back in the set at 21-20, in favor of the Vandals. The Bears used kills from Muff, Lockey, and Brittany Lawrence to fuel the run. The match was tied at 22 after an Idaho attack error forced the Vandals to take a timeout. The timeout proved key for Idaho, as the team responded with a 3-0 run to clinch the set and the match with a 25-22, third-set win and a sweep of UNC.

For the match, Idaho hit .292 with 43 kills and UNC had a .126 attach percentage with 38 kills. The Bears committed 22 attack errors to the Vandals 12.

In their words
Lyndsey Oates, Head Coach

On the game
"It was frustrating start to conference season. We were not at our best and played into everything they wanted us to do. We didn't get great matchups and they were able to exploit that. I thought we served and passed well, but otherwise, we were not ourselves."

On Idaho
"They hit quick in the middle and are high and big on the pins. If you don't max jump on the middle, [Ryter] will beat you. When you do, they set the pins for one-on-one matchups that they can exploit. That's what makes them good, but we have to be better about finding their patterns so we can defend them."

On Lockey's milestone
"As storied as this program is, that's a big accomplishment to get 1000 kills. She's carried a big load for three years. She was a role player her freshman year, but that's a lot of sets and a lot kills that she should be very proud of."

Lauren Hinrichs, Middle Blocker

On the game
"We did not really execute our game plan. They killed us on things we knew they were going to come out doing. We see them again on their home court and we have time to fix that stuff and be prepared for them."

On her performance
"The [scouting report] they were going to give a lot of line and there was going to be a lot of seems, which was our game plan to push the backs. I was seeing the spots more and Daisy did a great job giving me open looks. We still have work to do"

On Kortney's milestone
"It was awesome to see. She is a great player and a leader for the team. We were all really happy for her to get 1000 kills. She's a force out there, leading the team in kills and still digging the ball for us."

Game Notes

Lauren Hirnichs led UNC with nine kills and had a .304 attack percentage.
Kortney Lockey recorded her 1000 kill on Thursday night and became the 18^th player in program history to accomplish the milestone. She finished with seven kills in the match, for 1005 total.
Taylor Muff and Jadyn McCartney each added eight kills, with Muff adding two service aces.
Taylor Els recorded 18 digs to extend her streak of double-digit digs to 34 matches.
The Bears recorded five service aces to four service errors.
Daisy Schultz returned to the lineup with 33 assists.

Up Next
Northern Colorado will be back on the court Saturday night to face Eastern Washington at 7 P.M. in Bank of Colorado Arena. The match will be streamed live on the free PlutoTV app and live stats will be available on UNCBears.com. Follow the match live on Twitter with @UNCBearsVB.