Preview: @UNCBearsVB Hosts the Hampton Inn and Suites Northern Colorado Classic

Friday, September 7

Greeley, Colo.

12 pm

University of Northern Colorado

San Jose State

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Photo by: Woody Myers

9/6/2018 9:39:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Northern Colorado will host the two-day tournament with San Jose State, Pacific, and Alabama State participating

By: Matthew Kushar, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo.- Its back to Bank of Colorado Arena this week for Northern Colorado volleyball, as they host the Hampton Inn and Suites Northern Colorado Classic. The tournament will take place from Friday to Saturday, with UNC playing matches against San Jose State, Pacific, and Alabama State.

UNC (2-4) was on the road last weekend, playing three matches in the South Dakota Classic. On Friday, the Bears dropped its morning match against Cal, 1-3, before sweeping Northeastern in the afternoon. The next day, UNC dropped a hard-fought match against host South Dakota, 1-3. The Bears would finish third in Vermillion, South Dakota with a 1-2 record.

Kortney Lockey earned All-Tournament honors after posting 4.00 kills per set and a .207 attack percentage, in 11 sets played. During the tournament, Lockey recorded two doubles. She posted 16 kills and 17 digs against California and 13 kills and 12 digs against South Dakota. On the season, Lockey leads the team with 3.73 kills per set and is second with 2.82 digs per set, while hitting .200.

Taylor Muff recorded a new career-best, five service aces against South Dakota and totaled seven for the tournament. Muff leads UNC with 10 service aces this season for a 0.45 per set average.

Lauren Hinrichs has made an immediate impact during her first season in blue and gold. The transfer from Wichita State has recorded 12 total blocks for the Bears, including two solo and 10 block assists, working out to a 0.55 blocks per set average. Hinrichs has also developed as an efficient scorer, leading the team with a .377 attack percentage and is second on the team with 2.82 kills per set.

Along with Hinrichs, freshman Maddy Bremer made her UNC debut at the South Dakota Classic, recording her first career kill and block in the win against Northeastern. The Prior Lake native ranked second in the tournament with 0.83 blocks per set, including two solo against South Dakota.

UNC will look to finish with a winning record this weekend as they host the two-day tournament.

Scouting San Jose State
San Jose State was picked sixth in the Mountain West Preseason Poll after finishing fifth in the conference last season. Head coach Jolene Shepardson is in her fifth season with Spartans and they return four starters and their libero from 2017. San Jose State returns seven total letterwinners from the 2017 team. The Spartans have opened the 2018 season with a 1-2 record. The team participated in the USF Invitational, where they swept Jacksonville. SJSU dropped matches against host USF and Stony Brook 1-3 and 0-3 respectively.

This will be the first meeting between UNC and San Jose State.

Scouting Pacific
Tigers head coach Greg Gibbons is starting his ninth season at Pacific and the team returns one starter, with four letterwinners overall from the 2017 team. The team has seven newcomers to replace the six starters the team lost in the offseason. Pacific has started the 2018 season with a 3-3 record having played all of its matches on the road. The Tigers started at the Sun Devil Classic going 1-2, with a 3-2 win over Texas Arlington, while dropping matches against New Mexico State (1-3) and host Arizona State (1-3). The next weekend, Pacific would participate in the Cactus Classic, going 2-1 with wins over San Diego State (3-2) and Lipscomb (3-1). The Tigers would be swept by host Arizona in the final match of the tournament. Hanne De Schriver returns for the Tigers after being named to the WCC All-Freshman team last season, leading the team with 7.14 assists per set.

Northern Colorado and Pacific met in 2016 for the only match between the two teams, with the Tigers winning 3-2. Kortney Lockey tallied 11 kills and Alex Kloehn lead UNC with 12 in the match.

Scouting Alabama State
Hornets head coach Penny Lucas-White enters her seventh season at the program and returns five starters from the 2017 team that won the SWAC conference with a perfect 18-0 record and 28-11 overall. Alabama State also returns nine letterwinners. The Hornets were picked to repeat as conference champs in the preseason poll. Alabama State has started the season 3-4 after two road tournaments. The Hornets went 3-1 during the SWAC/MEAC Challenge, defeating North Carolina Central (3-2), Gardner-Webb(3-1), and South Carolina State(3-0). At the Hyatt Regency Invitational, Alabama State was swept in three matches by Georgia Tech, Tulane, and Wofford. Junior Krysta Medearis leads the Hornets with 3.24 kills per set and is second on the team with 0.56 blocks per set.

This will be the first meeting between UNC and Alabama State.

Following the Bears
The Northern Colorado Classic starts on Friday September 7th, with UNC's first match against San Jose State at 12 PM and then the Bears will be back on the court at 7 PM to take on Pacific. NOCO classic play concludes for UNC with a match against Alabama State on Saturday, September 8^th at 12 PM. The Bears matches will all be streamed on PlutoTV, channel 241. Live stats are provided be UNCBears.com and follow the matches live on twitter with @UNCBearsVB.