Montana
Northern Arizona
Lumberjacks come on strong, win 3-0
10/9/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Box Score
Montana and Northern Arizona played volleyball for 80 minutes Thursday night at Flagstaff, Ariz., but the match, which the Lumberjacks won in straight sets, was decided in just two.
The Grizzlies played a strong first set for the third straight match and built a 24-21 lead, but Northern Arizona scored five straight points in short order to go up 1-0, then hit .414 to win sets two and three 25-17, 25-10.
"The positive thing is we've started off three straight matches very strong against good teams. But then we struggle when things don't go our way. Our response is not at the level it needs to be," said UM coach Jerry Wagner.
Montana (2-15, 2-3 BSC) was the underdog in Thursday's match, but it didn't look like it early on.
Behind a kill and a pair of blocks by redshirt junior middle blocker Capri Richardson, the Grizzlies used a 6-0 run late in the set to build a 20-16 lead, and a kill from sophomore outside hitter Michelle Robinson gave Montana a 24-21 advantage and three set points.
Unfazed, Northern Arizona used three kills and two Montana errors -- one blocking, one receiving -- to storm back for the victory.
Montana hit .225 in the opening set, a percentage the Grizzlies would need to maintain the rest of the match to be competitive, but that dropped to .045 in sets two and three, not nearly good enough to hang with the Big Sky Conference's top offensive team.
"We were tuned in and motivated, and we executed the game plan in set one and did a number of things well that you need to do to win here," said Wagner.
"And they did what they normally do. We had a response to it in the first game when we were running good stuff of our own, but we struggle in our response to things that happen."
Northern Arizona (13-3, 4-1 BSC) mostly had its way in sets two and three. The Lumberjacks raced out to an 8-3 lead in set two, and the Grizzlies hit -.030 in set three, which allowed NAU to end the match on a 16-3 burst.
Sydney Kemper had 10 kills on .474 hitting and a match-high 13 digs, Payton Bock totaled seven kills on .778 hitting, and Jensen Barton added 39 assists to lead the Lumberjacks to a .343 hitting performance.
Freshman Janell Sparks had nine kills on .296 hitting to lead Montana, which hit .113.
Montana will play at Southern Utah (10-6, 3-2 BSC) Saturday at 7 p.m. The Thunderbirds were surprised at home Thursday night by Montana State, 27-25, 25-22, 26-24.
