The crowd is jumping as the Norse are up 24-19 in the third set. Kendall Hopewell gets ready to serve. She gets into her routine, the whistle blows and she jumps up and hits the ball.
The ball goes flying over the net and is bumped up by Green Bay. Green Bay setter Emma Johnson sets it up for Katie Schulz, she spikes the ball and it goes flying in the air, but it is violently interrupted by Sydney Bray. She blocked the ball right back at Schulz and she couldn’t get to it as it hit the floor.
The Norse jump up and the crowd goes wild as they beat Green Bay 3-0, moving their overall record to 17-8 and their conference record to 13-1. Before the game, NKU seniors Jaya Parker, Raelyn Sanders and Lucy Cluxton were recognized for their achievements as athletes, but also as students.
In set one, it was all NKU winning comfortably 25-13, but in the second set was where Green Bay stepped up their game. Both teams traded points back and forth. NKU went deep into the set, and the game was all tied up at 26 with the Norse having the serve.
Bray got a huge kill, to put them up by one and they needed one more point to close it out. Allison Risley served the ball across the net as the ball was batted back to the Norse, but they were denied at the net by Ava Hoying and Kendall Hopewell.
The third set wasn’t any different. At one point, NKU was down by three, then marched right back, going on a 6-0 run. To end the set, it was electric. The Norse went on a 4-0 run, getting Regents Hall jumping out of their seats.
Bray had a huge outing for the Norse on senior day. She led NKU with 11 kills in the match, posting a .333 hitting percentage, while having seven digs.
Ivey Stocks and Risley each had ten kills, with Stocks going 10-0-15 on the day and Risley posting a near double-double with eight digs.
Abbey Pickard passed the ball all around the court, having 40 assists while getting five digs as well. Lucy Cluxton posted a match-high 19 digs and five assists.
Northern Kentucky bested the Phoenix in every statistical category, including 7-3 in aces, 62-40 in points and kills 48-32.
NKU finished its home schedule undefeated against Horizon League competition, marking the first time the Norse have done so since the 2020-21 season.