UNC Volleyball Set for Three Matches in South Dakota

THIS WEEK
The University of Northern Colorado volleyball team will play three matches in two days at the South Dakota Classic on Sept. 9-10. The Bears face West Virginia (8:30 a.m.) and CSU Bakersfield (3:30 p.m.) on Friday before meeting the Coyotes on Saturday. Playing at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., Saturday's match against USD will take place at 5 p.m.

HISTORY VS WEST VIRGINIA
This week's match will be the first between the two teams.

HISTORY VS CSU BAKERSFIELD
UNC is 1-3 all-time against CSUB with the most recent meeting taking place during the 1994 season. Two of those meetings took place during postseason appearances.

   Dec. 8, 1979 - vs. CSUB, W, 2-1*
   Sept. 16, 1989 - vs. CSUB, L, 2-3
   Nov. 5, 1989 - vs. CSUB, L, 0-3
   Dec. 4, 1994 - at CSUB, L, 1-3#

* AIAW Nationals (Orlando, Fla.)
# NCAA DII Elite 8 (Bakersfield, Calif.)

HISTORY VS SOUTH DAKOTA
The Bears are 26-3 overall against USD since 1979. The two teams last faced each other on Sept. 1, 2018, when the Coyotes defeated UNC, 3-1, in Vermillion, S.D.

LAST TIME OUT
Northern Colorado dropped a pair of matches in Nebraska with a 3-0 setback in a neutral match against Wichita State and a 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 21-25, 28-26, 19-17) loss at Nebraska Omaha. The final two sets against Omaha went into extra serves as the Mavericks completed a comeback after falling behind 2-1.

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.

2021 BIG SKY ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
After leading the Bears to the Big Sky Tournament title, Rachel Hickman, Lauren Stein, and Makenzie Harris were selected to the All-Tournament team. Harris led the Bears with 23 kills and 22 digs in the title match and was awarded the tournament MVP honors for her efforts.

BIG SKY ROOTS
Head Coach Lyndsey Oates welcomes a familiar face in the Big Sky to her coaching staff for the 2022 season. Jeanae McDonnell will take over as an assistant coach for the Bears following time spent coaching at fellow conference school Montana, and at Colorado State. McDonnell has a storied career as a player at Northern Arizona, where she holds multiple program records and earned conference accolades like Big Sky Regular Season MVP and Big Sky Tournament MVP. She currently ranks No. 7 all-time in Big Sky history for kills.

NEWCOMERS
Oates welcomed a total of six true freshman to the team in Greeley this season: two from Colorado, two from Minnesota, and one each from Utah and Ontario, Canada.

BIG SKY HONORS
Following 2021 regular season play Rachel Hickman and Kailey Jo Ince each secured All-Big Sky First Team honors. It was the second honor for Ince.

300 WINS
With a win against Montana on Oct. 30, 2021, UNC Head Coach Lyndsey Oates reached 300 career wins. As one of four coaches in program history, Oates is the second coach to reach the 300-win mark while Linda Delk owns the UNC record with 593 victories.

CHAMPIONSHIP QUALITY
Since joining the Big Sky conference in 2006, UNC has made it to the conference championship match seven times while winning on six occasions.

UNC IN THE NCAA'S
Northern Colorado made its sixth appearance in the NCAA DI Tournament since joining the ranks in 2006.

BACK IN THE BANK
UNC volleyball returns to Bank of Colorado Arena for a three-match swing September 15-17 when the Bears host Tarleton State, Cal Poly, and Santa Clara. All three matches are 6 p.m. first serves and tickets are available via the UNC Athletics app, online at UNCBears.com/tickets or by calling (970) 351-4849 or visiting the Ticket Office in Campus Commons from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

1,000 KILL CLUB
Graduate Kailey Jo Ince entered the year with 1,071 career kills to rank No. 8 on UNC's leaderboard. With 72 kills this season, Ince has already moved up two places to No. 6 all-time (1,143 kills). Ince is four kills away from the next player on the list as former teammate Taylor Muff sits at No. 5 with 1,149 9career kills.

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.

HARRIS FOR BIG SKY POW
Senior Makenzie Harris was named the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week on August 30. Harris opened her 2022 campaign with an 11-kill performance in a 3-1 win over UC Santa Barbara. Harris followed that effort with a match-high 15 kills in just three sets as the Bears swept North Carolina inside the Bank of Colorado Arena. Harris hit a sparkling .464 to help top the Tar Heels while adding 11 digs for the 'double-double' in the UNC battle. For the week, Harris averaged 3.71 kills per set on .302 hitting percentage.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Makenzie Harris

Rachel Hickman

Kailey Jo Ince

Sponsors

Upcoming Events

University of Northern Colorado Athletics