Lumberjacks stay atop Big Sky with win

Saturday, October 22

Flagstaff, Ariz.

1:00 PM (MT)

Montana

4-16, 1-9BSC

Northern Arizona

19-4, 9-1BSC

Montana

Northern Arizona

10/22/2016 3:52:00 PM | Volleyball

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By: Montana Sports Information

Northern Arizona hit .342 and remained atop the Big Sky Conference standings with a 25-22, 25-14, 25-19 victory over the Montana volleyball team on Saturday afternoon at Flagstaff, Ariz.

The Grizzlies (4-16, 1-9 BSC) dropped their eighth straight match, six of which have been on the road, while the Lumberjacks (19-4, 9-1 BSC) are one up in the loss column on both North Dakota and Northern Colorado in the league standings after winning for the 12th time in 13 matches.

Alexis Urbach had 11 kills on .227 hitting, her sixth straight match at .220 or better, Mykaela Hammer added eight kills on .400 hitting, and Sadie Ahearn matched a career high with 22 digs, giving her 64 in Montana's last three matches and moving her within 54 of a top-10 career total in program history.

Northern Arizona ranks among the top 20 teams in the nation in hitting percentage, and Montana was able to hang with the Lumberjacks in the opening set.

Despite falling behind 5-0 early, the Grizzlies were within two points twice late in the set, but a season-long problem proved to be the team's undoing: errors. Montana had 10 attack errors in the set, four more than the efficient Lumberjacks had for the entire match, and the Grizzlies lost 25-22.

Northern Arizona jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set and hit .375 to win handily.

The teams were tied 12-12 in the third set before the Lumberjacks scored 11 of the set's next 13 points to pull away and put the match out of reach.

Lauren Jacobsen and Kaylie Jorgenson combined for 24 kills and no errors to hit .369 to lead NAU, which plays its next four matches on the road as the Lumberjacks try to win their second straight Big Sky regular-season title.

Montana opens a four-match home stand next week, starting on Friday and Saturday with North Dakota and Northern Colorado, teams that beat the Grizzlies by 3-0 scores on the road just last week.

The home stand continues with matches at the West Auxiliary Gym against Portland State and Montana State the first week of November. The season concludes with matches at Idaho and Eastern Washington.