@UNCBearsVB Offense Overpowers Grizzlies For Second Consecutive Sweep

Thursday, September 27

Greeley, Colo.

7 pm

University of Northern Colorado

6-6, 2-1

Montana

6-10, 3-1

Montana

Northern Colorado

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

9/27/2018 10:38:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Northern Colorado had great production from its middles to jump above .500 in conference

By: Matthew Kushar, UNCBears.com

Northern Colorado volleyball made it two sweeps in a row on Thursday night, as their offense overpowered Montana for the win [25-14, 25-20, 25-17]. UNC had three players with double-digit kills as Brittany Lawrence and Taylor Muff tied for the game-high with 11 each.

"I like that we were really well rounded tonight. I like that Brittany was at the top in kills with 11 and zero errors," said head coach Lyndsey Oates. "In her first week, we wanted to get more kills from her and get her more involved in the offense. It was a good step forward tonight and using our middles was the highlight."

Lawrence set a new career-high at UNC with 11 kills and had a .500 hitting percentage. She also matched her career-high in blocks with three total."It feels really good to get the sweep," Lawrence said. "We were able to push the tempos on the pins and middles. That was part of the game plan; to be faster then them and beat them to our hits."

Muff matched Lawrence in kills, while hitting .160 for the match and adding two aces from the service line. Lauren Hinrichs was also effective at the net, scoring 10 kills and hitting .375, along with two block assists.

The Bears used quick shots to their advantage against the Grizzlies, scoring 48 kills and a .262 attack percentage. "The first couple of times we tipped it right in the middle of the court and I didn't think it was a great shot, but it worked several times," Oates said. "We kind of went away from it because they were going to pick it up, but we went back to it late. It wasn't something we scouted, but our players saw an opening and it was a way for us to be low error against [Montana]."

UNC began the match quickly, with Muff scoring three early kills to separate from the Grizzlies with a 7-2 advantage. Lawrence and Hinrichs traded off scoring from the middle to help the Bears build an 18-11 lead over Montana. UNC closed out the match on a 7-3 run, getting kills from Muff and Kortney Lockey to win 25-14 for a 1-0 lead in the match.

Now in the second set, the Bears built an early 7-4 lead with Lawrence and Hinrichs continuing to score. UNC maintained its lead with Muff and Jadyn McCartney now driving the offense to a 16-9 advantage. With the Bears on top 22-14, the Grizzlies mounted a comeback, fueled by 6-2 run, including a 5-0 run with the Bears serving for set point. Muff would stopped the comeback with a kill for the 25-20 set-two win and a 2-0 lead in the match.

In the third set, UNC had the lead early, but Montana stayed close and did not allow the Bears to separate like they had in the first two sets. The Grizzlies continued to score, keeping UNC within two points during first half of the set. The Bears were able to finally separate with kills from Hinrichs, and a block by Lawrence and McCartney. UNC clinched the match on a 5-1 run to win 25-17 and secure the sweep.

Taylor Els had 20 digs and had a strong night passing, along with Daisy Schultz who recorded 40 assists "I thought other than a few aces in the second set, we passed pretty well," Oates said. "I thought Taylor Els was excellent, she passed well and dug a lot of balls to help us control the ball. She touched a lot of balls on first contact so her stability in the passing lanes and defensively set up the offense for Daisy to stay evenly distributed."

"Passing was the biggest thing because it was really important for Daisy to set us on those balls. I had all my teammates around me telling me what shots was open so that definitely helped." added Lawrence.

UNC topped the current Big Sky leader Montana, who had a 3-0 recorded to open conference play. The Bears improved to 2-1 in the Big Sky and 6-6 overall.

Game Notes

Northern Colorado defeated Montana for eighth consecutive match and swept the Grizzlies for the fifth consecutive match.
UNC managed to hold Montana to a .096 hitting percentage, giving the Bears defense two straight matches holding opponents to sub-.100 percentages.
Along with three Bears with double-digit kills, they also had three will hitting percentages over .300. Jadyn McCartney joined Brittany Lawrence and Lauren Hinrichs with a .333 attack percentage, scoring eight kills and only committing two errors.
The Bears were efficient at the service line, recording four service aces to three service errors.
Taylor Els extended her streak of double-digit digs to 36 matches with 20 against Montana.
Laura Katarzynski tallied a career-high 13 digs in the match.

Up Next
Northern Colorado will be back at Bank of Colorado Arena tomorrow night against Montana State, with first serve at 6 P.M.(MT). The match will be streamed live on PlutoTV and WatchBigSky.com, with live stats available on UNCBears.com. Follow the match live on Twitter with @UNCBearsVB.

Kids Day!
UNC's match against Montana State on Friday is Kids day with $3 tickets for online purchases online only using the promo code KIDSDAY. Kids can enjoy a bounce house, face painting, poster station, and pre-match fan tunnel. Concessions will also be offering $2 hot dogs to all fans. Purchase tickets online by clicking here(fees apply).