In its season finale, the NAU volleyball team played one of its more consistent matches of the season but still fell to Northern Colorado in four sets by a score of 22-25, 19-25, 25-20 and 16-25 on Nov. 21 in Greeley, Colo.

“We played well tonight,” said sophomore middle blocker Katie Bailey. “Our defense was exceptional, but this was a tough loss. Northern Colorado played a fraction better than us and that was the deciding factor.”

The Jacks opened strong, matching the Bears point-for-point throughout an evenly matched first set that featured eight ties. But with the score deadlocked at 16, the Bears started a run, scoring nine of the set’s last 15 points to take a 1-0 lead for the match.

Down one set, the Jacks came out swinging for the second, taking an early 9-5 lead. Their lead would not last long, with the Bears battling back to take a 10-9 advantage. Then, with the set tied at 15-15, the Bears pulled away. NAU’s attack did not match NCU’s offense as the Bears took advantage of five NAU attack errors and a service error. The Jacks’ errant play put the squad in a 2-0 hole going into the third set.

But as they have proved throughout the season, NAU would not go down without a fight. In the third set, six different Jacks had at least one kill, with freshman middle blocker Ashley Ames recording a team-high three kills. With the third set tied at 6-6, the Jacks used a balanced offensive attack to go on an 11-5 run, which turned into a set win and sent the match to a fourth set.

Despite winning the third set, the Jacks could not muster enough momentum in the fourth. The Bears jumped out to an early lead and never trailed en route to taking the match in four sets.

“This was definitely one of the best games we played all season,” said freshman setter/outside hitter Kelli Dallmann. “We were definitely up and down this season but this was a good way to end the season.”

Dallmann led the way for the Jacks, tallying her conference-leading third triple double of the season with 15 kills, 16 assists and 10 digs. Senior setter Jana Mays-Robinson wrapped up her Lumberjack career with a team-high 21 assists and freshman libero Anna Gott had a match-high 27 digs.

NAU finished the season at 8-17 overall and 5-11 in the Big Sky. But despite the team’s struggles throughout the season, the Jacks had their bright moments, most noticeably, a five-set upset win over Eastern Washington — the conference’s No. 1 team at the time (Oct. 16).

“This was a building year,” Bailey said. “We had so many freshmen and sophomores this year and we didn’t have a lot of upperclassmen experience with only Jana and Chelsea [Cheeley]. But this year made us stronger. Next year we’ll get rid of our freshmen and sophomore jitters and we’ll be a lot better.”

Next season, the Jacks lose only one senior, Mays-Robinson, from this year’s team. The squad returns several notable freshman including Dallmann — who finished the season as one of four players in Division I women’s volleyball to average more than two kills, three assists and two digs per set — and Gott, who led the conference with 4.60 digs per set.

The Jacks’ lineup also will be boosted with the possible return of sophomore outside hitter Lexi Sullivan, who suffered a knee injury earlier in the season and led the team with 3.38 kills per set this season.

“We’re only losing Jana next season and she was a real good role model for us,” Dallmann said. “We just have to learn from our mistakes and definitely be more confident next season.”