CLEVELAND – The 2016 season came to an end for the Northern Kentucky volleyball team on Saturday night, as the Norse fell in a three-set decision to No. 2 seed Green Bay in the semifinals of the Horizon League Championship. With the 25-20, 25-21, 25-21 loss, NKU ends its season at 18-11 and finished third in the Horizon League with an 11-5 mark. The Phoenix move on to the championship final carrying a 21-8 record.
First Set Summary
- The first set went point-for-point until the Phoenix pulled away at the midpoint. NKU rallied to close the gap after finding itself down 24-16, gutting out four more points to extend the frame, but eventually fell 25-20.
- Sophomore outside hitter Haley Libs led the team with five kills on nine swings to go with seven digs.
- Senior outside hitter Tristen Simpson added four kills.
- The team hit .149, but was plagued by 11 hitting errors in the set.
- Green Bay held a staunch advantage at the net, registering six blocks, five of which were courtesy of one of the nation's top blockers, Lydia DeWeese.
Second Set Summary
- Hitting errors were once again the cause of a second-set setback, with 10 miscues for a .111 clip while Green Bay posted a percentage of .194.
- Simpson had a strong set with five kills on nine swings, while Libs was once again solid on both offense and defense with four kills and five digs.
Third Set Summary
- NKU eliminated most of its unforced errors in the final frame, hitting .250, but the Phoenix posted their highest clip of the match at .372 with 20 kills.
- Libs added six kills as the team's primary attacker, while junior DS McKenzie Eskridge stepped up defensively to extend rallies with six digs.
Norse Notes
- The end of the season marks the end of four stellar careers from Norse seniors.
- Redshirt-senior Taylor Snyder, who tallied 40 assists in the final match for NKU, finishes her career as the No. 4 all-time leader in assists with 4,535. She is also No. 15 on the all-time digs list with 1,116. Snyder is just the fourth Norse to hit the 4,000-assist mark and the second to couple that with 1,000 digs. Additionally, she is the first in both respects to do so completely in the Division I era. This season, despite missing a chunk of the season due to injury, Snyder posted the best numbers of her career with 11.0 assists per set, 2.80 digs per set and 1.05 kills per set. Snyder holds the NKU D-I record for single-match assists, set last night when she tallied 68 against Valparaiso.
- Senior middle hitter Keely Creamer finished the season with 344 kills for the best average of her career (3.28) with the best percentage of her career (.304). Creamer is the only player on the team to have hit the 1,000-kill threshold in her career. She ends her career as the No. 14 all-time kills leader with 1,243. Additionally, she is the No. 2 all-time leader in block assists with 321 after tallying 80 on the season. Creamer owns the NKU D-I record for single-match hitting percentage (minimum 20 attempts), when she hit .750 against Valparaiso on Oct. 7. She also had the most kills in a three-set match against the Crusaders, with 19.
- Redshirt-senior libero Lauren Hurley had one of the best backrow seasons in program history after stepping into the role at the start of the year. Though she just barely missed out on breaking the Division I-era record for single-season digs, with 531 this year, she is the only libero in the D-I era to average more than five digs per set, at 5.06. She is also the only player to do so in at least the past decade, with available season stats dating back to the 2006 season. Career-wise, Hurley finished No. 18 all-time with 1,093. Hurley posted four 30-dig matches, including the D-I-era record of 37 set last night. She finished the night with 14 digs.
- Senior outside hitter Tristen Simpson has had her best season as a senior, tallying 277 kills for 2.64 kills per set at a .176 clip. She finishes her career with 889 kills, 190 digs and 131 blocks. This year, Simpson boasted one of the top reception percentages for the Norse with just 17 errors for a .938 clip. She was also strong at the net with 34 blocks, leading the wing attackers with four solos. Throughout her career, Simpson has been responsible for 961 points for the Norse. Simpson finished the night with 11 kills, hitting at a .292 clip for the team's most effective performance at the pin.
- Libs led all players in the match with 15 kills and 13 digs for her ninth double-double of the season. She ends the season with 340 kills with an impressive .204 hitting percentage, also adding 285 digs and a team-best 28 aces. Libs is well on her way to becoming a 1,000-kill club member, as she has tallied 744 career kills in just two seasons as a Norse.
- Eskridge had another strong performance in left back for NKU, registering 11 digs. Five of her eight double-digit dig matches have come within the past six contests, including a career-high 25 digs last night.
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