CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah volleyball team will enter into their final two matches of the season this week. The Thunderbirds have an overall record 7-19 this season along with a 2-12 record in conference play. They will look to end their season on a high note versus Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona.
Last Time Out
Last week, the Thunderbirds matched up against Idaho State and Weber State. The match against Idaho State turned out to be a five-set thriller.
Macky Fifita played one of the best matches of her career as she crushed 25 kills, had a .333 hitting percentage, and recorded 13 digs.
With pressure mounting as both teams headed into the fifth set, Southern Utah pulled out all the stops. They took control early on in the set and won it emphatically won 15-6.
Saturday's match against Weber State, however, turned out to be a different story. Weber State was able to gain an early lead in each of the sets and despite a strong effort from the Thunderbirds, the Wildcats won the match in three sets.
Opponent Preview: Northern Colorado
The Bears of Northern Colorado have earned a 13-14 overall record this season. In conference play, they are 6-8. This will be their first matchup against the Thunderbirds this year.
The duo of Kortney Locke and Alex Kloehn has been the spearhead of the Bear's offensive attack. Locke leads the team with 306 kills and Kloehn follows behind with 229 kills.
Defensive specialist, Taylor Els, has been a major contributor to Northern Colorado's defense. She has accrued 424 digs for the year averaging 4.46 digs per set.
Opponent Preview: Northern Arizona
Southern Utah faced off against Northern Arizona once earlier this season. In that matchup, the Lumberjacks claimed the victory in three sets. Outside hitter Kaylie Jorgenson led Northern Arizona in that matchup hitting 16 kills.
MaCail Evans headed up the Thunderbirds by hitting 11 kills.
The Lumberjacks have a 12-13 overall record on the year and are 8-6 in conference matches. Their biggest wins of the season came against Portland State and Sacramento State who are both at the top of the Big Sky rankings.
Jorgenson was true to form in the previous match against Southern Utah. She leads Northern Arizona with 362 total kills. Backing her up is Heaven Harris. Harris has hit 262 kills along with an impressive hitting percentage of of .376.
Scheduling
The match against Northern Colorado will begin at 7 p.m. MT Thursday evening. Play will begin versus Northern Arizona at 1 p.m. MT on Saturday.
Live Stats/Live Stream
A live stream of both matches will be on PlutoTV. The PlutoTV app can be downloaded to access PlutoTV programming, or visit pluto.tv/watch.
Live stats will be available on suutbirds.com prior to the start of the match.
Follow Us
Stay updated during this week's events by following @SUUVolleyball on Twitter and Instagram along with liking the Southern Utah Volleyball page on Facebook.
