UNC seeks to continue climb up Big Sky standings with pair of home matches

Thursday, October 20

Greeley, Colo.

6 p.m. MT

University of Northern Colorado

Idaho

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10/18/2022 9:27:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

ESPN+Live Stats UNC Notes (PDF)

By: By Jason Dormeyer

GREELEY, Colo.—After a pair of key wins on the road last week, Northern Colorado will enjoy a return to the Bank of Colorado Arena by hosting Idaho (Oct. 20) and Eastern Washington (Oct. 22) this week. Opening serve against the Vandals on Thursday is set for 6 p.m. while the match against the Eagles will start at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

TICKETS
Tickets for all regular-season volleyball matches are available via the UNC Athletics app, online at UNCBears.com/tickets or by calling (970) 351-4849. Tickets can also be purchased in person by visiting the Ticket Office in Campus Commons from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

ABOUT IDAHO (3-15, 0-6 Big Sky)
Idaho enters the week having dropped their last six matches to start Big Sky play. The Vandals are No. 7 in the conference with a .185 hitting percentage, but 10th out of 10 defensively by allowing their opponents to hit .251.

HISTORY VS. IDAHO
Winners of seven straight in the matchup, UNC holds a 12-7 record against the Vandals since 1986. Idaho hasn't defeated UNC since 2018 when the Vandals one two of the three matchups that year, including a 3-2 win in Greeley at the Big Sky Championship semifinal.

ABOUT EASTERN WASHINGTON (8-10, 3-3 Big Sky)
Eastern Washington enters the week in sixth place in the Big Sky standings after two wins last week. The Eagles have the league's No. 5 offense with a .197 attack rate and ninth on the defensive side by allowing .241. EWU leads the Big Sky with 1.77 aces per set.

HISTORY VS. EASTERN WASHINGTON
The Bears hold a 25-10 all-time advantage against Eastern Washington. UNC has won nine in a row against EWU as the Eagles last posted a win against the Bears during the 2017 season.

LAST TIME OUT
The Bears swept the Treasure State swing with a 3-2 win at Montana State followed by a 3-0 victory at Montana. The Bears outhit Montana .397 to 0.99 and held the Griz to a season-low 8 points after posting a 25-8 in the third and final set.

HOME SLATE
With a 6-2 record inside the Bank of Colorado Arena, the Bears will look to continue their winning ways at home with two home weeks remaining on their schedule. Idaho (Oct. 20) and Eastern Washington (Oct. 22) will be the next teams to make the trip to Greeley. The team will close out the home season with Senior Night on Nov. 12 when it welcomes Weber State.

BIG SKY'S TOP OFFENSE
Northern Colorado leads the Big Sky in several offensive categories, including: attack percentage (.269), kills per set, (13.99) assists per set (13.07). Individually, junior setter Syd Cole holds the top average in the conference with 11.23 assists per set.

SETTING THE SCENE
Syd Cole has dominated the Big Sky single-match charts this season. The junior has the top four (4) assist marks in 4-set matches, and the top spot in a 5-set contest. Her 70 assists at Northern Arizona smashed the Big Sky single-match high by 11 assists as Sacramento State's Ashtin Olin has put up the next best total of 59. Her 70 assists were two shy of the UNC NCAA DI record set by Daisy Schultz during the 2019 season.

HITTING .300
With 1,619 career attacks, Rachel Hickman now qualified for UNC's all-time hitting percentage (min. 1,500). Hickman is hitting .315 this season to up her career average to .303, a rate good for No. 4 all-time in the UNC's records books.

1,000 KILL CLUB
Graduate Kailey Jo Ince entered the year with 1,071 career kills to rank No. 8 on UNC's all-time NCAA DI leaderboard. With 222 kills this season, Ince has already moved up five places to No. 2 all-time (1,315 kills). Kelly Arnold (2009-12) holds the UNC NCAA DI record with 1,566 career kills. Ince is also ranked No. 3 in school history in points (1,443) and No. 4 in attacks (3,527).

1,000 ASSISTS AND CLIMBING
Junior Syd Cole eclipsed 1,000 career assists during the UNC Classic this season. Cole is ranked No. 7 all-time in UNC's NCAA DI history with 1,446 career assists. Cole's 11.23 assists per set is ranked No. 8 in NCAA DI.

BLOCK COMBO
The duo of Kailey Jo Ince and Cece Huhn are soaring up the UNC NCAA DI record books in solo blocks this season. Ince has been credited with 40 solo blocks for No. 6 all time at UNC while Huhn is one spot back at No. 7 with 38 career solo stuffs.

BATTLE OF THE UNC'S
Facing the 'other' UNC, Northern Colorado swept Northern Carolina 3-0 (25-11, 25-21, 25-12) inside the Bank of Colorado Arena on August 27. The Bears outhit the visitors .419 to .109 in the match. The Tar Heels were placed just outside the top-25 in the AVCA Preseason Coaches' Poll.

REIGNING CHAMPS
Northern Colorado enters the 2022 season as the reigning Big Sky regular season and tournament champions. The Bears secured their sixth tournament title in program history in a thrilling five-set match against the Weber State Wildcats in Ogden, Utah. The victory also punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament where they faced Washington State.

2022 BIG SKY PRESEASON POLL
After picking up six of 10 first-place votes, Northern Colorado was picked to repeat as champions in 2022 by the Big Sky Coaches. The Bears received 78 points in the poll while Weber State (70 points) and Portland State (66 points) rounded out the top three. Weber State collected the two remaining first-place picks.