OGDEN, Utah (October 31, 2015) – Many teams were lurking last week, and answered when opportunity knocked as Eastern Washington, Idaho and Sacramento State each claimed Big Sky Volleyball tournament bids in Friday and Saturday’s action.
EWU, Sac State and UI became the third, fourth and fifth teams to reserve a spot at the Big Sky tournament, which will be hosted by the regular season champion. Conference leader Northern Arizona improved to 11-1, while Idaho State was the second team to double-digit league wins now at 10-2.
Along with Idaho, NAU and Sac State, Northern Colorado put together a 2-0 week to make a significant push towards a tourney bid.
Eastern Washington 3, Montana State 2 (Friday) – Allie Schumacher finished with 23 kills, seven digs and a .382 hitting percentage, helping Eastern Washington outlast visiting Montana State for a 3-2 victory.
Alexis Wesley and Jessica Gilbert added 11 kills apiece as the Eagles (14-9, 9-3 Big Sky) sealed a conference tournament bid with the win. Ashley Seiler contributed nine kills and nine digs, Chloe Weber had eight kills and Ryann Ensrud tied for a match-high with 27 digs as EWU hit .297 for the match.
The teams split the opening sets in similar fashion as MSU held off a late EWU rally to take the first 25-22, and EWU closed the second set on an 11-3 run to prevail 26-24 in the second. MSU led by seven late in the third, and held off another Eastern surge to win 25-23.
The Eagles stormed back in the fourth, hitting .447 to force a decisive fifth with a 25-15 decision. A 6-0 run put EWU ahead 7-3 in the fifth, but MSU chipped away to take a 12-11 lead before EWU scored four of the last five points and win 15-13.
Natalee Godfrey paced the Bobcats (3-17, 1-11) with 15 kills on a .520 hitting clip and Natalie Passeck produced 13 kils with eight digs. Kiana Black also hit over .500 with 11 kills as MSU hit .262 overall.
Northern Colorado 3, North Dakota 2 (Saturday) – Kendra Cunningham and Timarie Nymeyer had 17 kills apiece, helping Northern Colorado outlast host North Dakota in five sets.
Ashley Guthrie dished 60 assists to go with six kills, 13 digs and four blocks as the Bears (10-15, 6-6) hit .265 as a team. Cunningham also recorded a double-double with 17 digs, while Alex Kloehn (12) and Kortney Lockey (10) registered double-digit kills.
After trading the opening sets, UNC used kills from Emily O’Neil and Cunningham to gain a late edge and take the third 25-23. UND held off a late UNC rally in the fourth to prevail by the same score. UNC jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the fifth and ended on a 5-1 run to win 15-8.
Chelsea Moser led UND (17-12, 5-7) with 17 kills, Courtney Place had 15 with 12 digs and Faith Dooley added 14 kills with six blocks. McKenzie Hart tied for a match-high 34 digs with UNC’s Meagan Garcia as UND hit .176 as a team.
Northern Arizona 3, Weber State 1 – Janae Vander Ploeg totaled 17 kills, seven digs and four blocks as Northern Arizona pushed past Weber State 3-1 for its 10th-straight victory.
Abby Lofstedt added nine kills while Lauren Jacobsen had six with nine digs and four service aces for the Lumberjacks (21-4, 11-1). Jensen Barton produced 39 assists with eight digs and was one of four Lumberjacks with at least four blocks.
NAU used a 12-2 run in the first and a 12-4 surge in the second on the way to a pair of 25-18 wins. WSU avoided the sweep and hit .321 to control the third for a 25-16 win. The ‘Jacks raced out to an 11-3 lead in the fourth and held WSU to negative hitting to grab a 25-14 win and the match.
Amanda Varley led the Wildcats (5-19, 1-11) with 15 kills, Taylor Christensen had 37 assists with seven digs and Thamires Cavalcanti nabbed a match-high 18 digs. WSU held NAU to .188 hitting, but hit .104 themselves with negative percentages in the second and fourth sets.
Idaho State 3, Southern Utah 0 – Tressa Lyman notched a double-double with 15 kills and 16 digs, and Idaho State grabbed its 10th conference win with a hard-fought 3-0 win over Southern Utah.
Makenzie Filer contributed 11 kills and Marissa Todd notched seven with six blocks as the Bengals (18-8, 10-2) had six players with at least five kills. Hayley Farrer dished 44 assists with seven digs and five kills as ISU hit .203 overall.
ISU prevailed in a marathon opening set, as each teams fended off multiple set points before kills from Lyman and Bailey Bars gave them the set 34-32. The Bengals scored the last three points of the second set for a 25-22 win, then erased an early deficit in the third with a 5-0 run and again scoring the last three points to win 25-20.
Remo Gaogao paced the Thunderbirds (15-10, 6-6) with 12 kills and 10 digs and Faith Ma’afala distributed 39 assists to go with 10 digs. SUU had a slight edge in blocking, but was held to .159 hitting with 21 attack errors.
Sacramento State 3, Portland State 0 – Lauren Kissell and Morgan Stanley combined for 23 kills to lead Sacramento State to a 3-0 win at Portland State and clinch a Big Sky Tournament bid.
Kissell hit .429 with 12 kills and six digs, while Stanley had 11 kills and five blocks. Kennedy Kurtz tallied 32 assists with 12 digs to lead a Sac State (22-5, 9-3) attack that hit .356 with just eight attack errors.
Sac State hit .382 to open the match with a 25-19 win, then pushed out to a 10-point lead in the second before taking it 25-18. The third set had 13 ties and four lead changes with both teams hitting strongly before Sac State took the last four points for a 25-19 win.
Jenna Mullen had 10 kills at a .381 hitting clip for the Vikings (7-17, 3-9), while Kylie Copple registered a double-double with 31 assists and a team-high 11 digs. PSU was limited to .159 hitting with 23 attack errors.
Idaho 3, Montana 1 – Katelyn Peterson finished with 14 kills and nine digs, Sarah Sharp added 13 and six while Idaho clinched a Big Sky tournament bid with a 3-1 win over visiting Montana.
The Vandals (11-13, 8-4) totaled a .264 team hitting percentage as nine different players registered kills, with Meredith Coba and Sami Parris combining for 46 assists. Tineke Bierma killed nine balls and DeVonne Ryter eight.
After trading the opening two sets, Idaho closed the third set on a 7-3 run to win 25-20. The Vandals hit .375 in the fourth, riding an early five-point cushion and scoring the last six points of the match to win 25-18.
Hannah Sackett (15 kills), Brianna Gardner (13 kills) and Janell Sparks (10 kills) each hit over .300 for Montana (7-17, 3-9). Raegan Lindsey recorded 44 assists and 19 digs, both match-highs as UM hit .220.
With just four games remaining in Big Sky play, five out of eight tournament spots have been claimed. Multiple teams will look to battle for those final three bids next week with the tournament rapidly approaching on Nov. 19-21.