HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky volleyball team picked up its fifth-straight victory with a 3-1 triumph (25-15, 25-17, 19-25, 25-17) over visiting Oakland on Friday night. NKU improves to 6-1 in Horizon League matches and 10-6 overall, while Oakland dips to 12-8 in all contests and 6-3 in league play.

STATS LEADERS

• Miranda Wucherer flirted with a triple-double with 24 assists, career-high 22 digs, eight kills and three block assists.
• Anna Brinkmann also registered a double-double with 13 kills and 10 digs.
• Joining Wucherer in the 20-dig club on the evening was Anna Burke, as the junior libero had a match-high 26 scoops.
• Reilly Briggs led all players in the match with 14 kills. She also matched her career high with seven digs and contributed four blocks.
• Sequoia Hunt and Abby Kanakry helped the Norse at the net, registering seven and six blocks, respectively.
• Joy Banks just missed out on a double-figure kill total with nine terminations.
• Lillian Leiner also posted a 10-dig effort and Katy Yopko fell one dig shy of a double-double as the sophomore setter recorded 16 assists and nine digs.

 
FIRST SET SUMMARY   

• The first three points went to the Norse and they never looked back in the set.
• NKU ran away to a 25-15 win thanks to a .281 hitting percentage with 12 kills and just three miscues.
• Kanakry was a perfect 3-for-3, putting away each attempt in the set, while Brinkmann registered four kills.
• The Norse back row picked up 24 digs, led by Wucherer's seven. Burked added six while both Leiner and Yopko contributed four.
• At the net, Northern Kentucky also had a 4-0 advantage in blocks.

 
SECOND SET SUMMARY   

• Another strong defensive effort resulted in a 25-17 decision for NKU, with the Norse recording another three blocks and 20 more digs.
• Burke provided 11 of the team's scoops and Kanakry stuffed three Golden Grizzly attempts.
• Briggs and Banks provided four kills, while Brinkmann and Wucherer chipped in with three apiece.

 
THIRD SET SUMMARY 

• Oakland rallied after dropping the first two sets to claim the third, 25-19.
• NKU was held to .000 hitting, while Oakland registered a .222 attacking percent.
• While the Norse held a 12-11 advantage in kills, they committed nine more attack errors, 12-3.
• Banks had four kills to lead NKU's offense.

 
FOURTH SET SUMMARY 

• Trailing 4-1 early, the Norse block took over and registered two in the next three points with Hunt teaming respectively with Wucherer and Brinkmann. That kickstarted an 8-2 NKU run that resulted in the Golden Grizzlies calling timeout.
• Back-to-back kills from Briggs and an assisted block by Briggs and Hunt helped extend NKU's spurt to 11-3 forcing Oakland's second timeout.
• Hunt made her presence felt at the net with four of her seven blocks coming in the stanza.
• Briggs and Brinkmann provided the offensive firepower with six and five kills, respectively.

 
MATCH NOTES   

• Tonight's win is the 199^th of head coach Liz Hart's career.
• The Norse outdug the Golden Grizzlies, 88-71, on the evening. This marks the second 80-plus dig effort for NKU this season, nearly equaling the 89 picked up at Wright State (Sept. 25).
• Northern Kentucky, which entered tonight's match as the Horizon League leader in blocks, held a 13-9 advantage in the match and is now averaging 2.20 blocks per set in all matches and 2.77 in league contests.
• With tonight's double-doubles, Wucherer now has six on the season and 39 in her career and Brinkmann has 10 on the year and 37 for her career.
• Prior to Wucherer's 20-20 effort this evening, the last Norse to register one was Laura Crawford, who also did so against Oakland on Oct. 9, 2019 with 21 kills and 27 digs.
• Burke (26) and Wucherer (22) teamed to give the Norse two players with 20 or more digs for the second time this season after Burke and Lillian Leiner each posted 20 in NKU's four-set win over Evansville. Burke now has seven 20-dig efforts on the season.
• Hunt has become a brick wall at the net for Northern Kentucky. In the last three Norse matches, she has totaled 20 blocks and averaged 2.0 blocks per set.

 
NEXT UP 
Northern Kentucky's five-game homestand concludes on Saturday afternoon when it hosts Cleveland State at 4 p.m. The match can be seen on ESPN+.