Box score (XML) | Box score (PDF)MOREHEAD, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University volleyball team continued its roll through the season's opening weekend, hitting .324 as a team in a straight-set sweep (25-10, 25-21, 25-10) over Morehead State to close out the Eagle Challenge.
Jayden Julian led the offense with 12 kills while attacking at a career-high .588 clip as NKU improved to 2-0 on the season with the win. Morehead State, now 0-2 on the season, is the four-time defending Ohio Valley Conference champion. Yesterday, the Norse opened their season with a 3-1 win over defending Big South champion Radford.
"We executed really well today all around," said head coach
Liz Hart following the match. "We received the ball really well today and that allowed Taylor (Snyder) to make really good decisions and help us stay in a rhythm." Snyder finished with 29 assists and seven digs.
Megan Wanstrath added seven kills while
Jenna Ruble and
Keely Creamer each had five kills.
Defensively,
Mel Stewart led the Norse with 11 digs, and
McKenzie Eskridge added eight digs and two of NKU's seven service aces.
Lauren Hurley led the Norse with three service aces, bringing her season total to seven.
Hart noted the service efforts, stating, "Hurley had the most aces but, collectively, we were serving very well. We were able to force them to set their outsides and we defended that very well." Through two matches, the Norse are averaging better than two service aces per set.
Hannah Sigala's six kills topped the Eagles' offensive efforts as the Norse held MSU to a .000 attack percentage.
"The girls are really confident and excited to see all the work they did over the spring and summer come together," added Hart. "We're gelling on the court and have good chemistry, and it's good to see. This was a great weekend for us, but we have a quick turnaround to get focused on Wright State for Tuesday."
The Norse came out on fire in the first set, racing out to a 10-3 lead before cruising to a 25-10 win in the set. Julian picked up four kills in the set, while Ruble added two kills, a block and a service ace. As a team, the Norse hit .476 in the opening stanza and set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.
NKU had to play off the back foot in Set 2, as MSU's Colbey Cameron opened the set with back-to-back service aces to give the Eagles an early advantage. The Norse pulled back to an 11-10 lead thanks to a 5-1 run in which the Norse capitalized on a pair of MSU service errors to pull back ahead. Morehead State regained the lead and stretched it to three points at 19-16 before
Lauren Hurley came through as she did yesterday against Radford, serving a six-point rally for the Norse that included two service aces to help the Norse string together a 9-2 run to close out the set with a 25-21 win.
Set 3 saw the Norse and Eagles match each other point-for-point to 6-6 until the Norse pulled away with a pair of big runs, the first an 8-1 stretch that saw Wanstrath and Creamer each pick up a pair of kills, and the second an 11-2 run that closed out the match, including a match-ending service ace for Ruble. The Norse improved on their impressive Set 1 hitting percentage, attacking at a .526 clip in the final frame of the match.
After a brief respite for the Labor Day weekend, the Norse are back to midweek action on Tuesday, traveling north to Dayton, Ohio, to take on Wright State. First serve from C.J. McLin Gymnasium is set for 7 p.m.
NKU opens the home half of the 2014 schedule on Friday, hosting Samford, Eastern Michigan and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville for the Northern Kentucky Volleyball Invitational in Regents Hall. A complete tournament schedule is available at NKUNorse.com. For more information on NKU volleyball, follow @NKUNorseVBall on Twitter.
