OGDEN, Utah (Sept. 24, 2015) – If Wednesday and Thursday’s Big Sky Volleyball conference play openers are any indication, the race for the league tournament will certainly be a tight one. Home and road teams split the opening conferences matches of the season three apiece.
Weber State 3, Montana 1 - Ciera Borho finished with 18 kills, Megan Thompson added 11 with five blocks and Weber State defeated host Montana 3-1 to open conference play Wednesday night.
The Wildcats shook off a first-set loss, fighting back to take the next three while hitting 12 service aces and taking advantage of 13 Montana service errors. WSU hit just .077 in the first set, but hit .440 in the second in route a .264 percentage for the game.
Thompson was extremely efficient, hitting .846 while Andrea Hale chipped in 16 kills. Taylor Christensen put together 43 assists and Thamires Cavalcanti had 14 digs, both match-highs.
West Virginia transfer Hannah Sackett paced the Grizzlies with 17 kills and 10 digs. Capri Richardson and Janell Sparks combined for 23 kills while each hitting over .340.
Eastern Washington 3, North Dakota 0 – Jessica Gilbert had 13 kills, Allie Schumacher added 11 to go with nine digs and Eastern Washington earned a home sweep over North Dakota Thursday night to open Big Sky play.
Nicole Rigoni put up 30 assists and eight digs for the Eagles, setting them up to hit .290 as a team. EWU was strong defensively, holding UND to a .157 hitting percentage.
Gilbert paced the Eagles early with five kills in each of the first two sets, and Schumacher finished the job with five of her own in the deciding third.
Chelsea Moser led UND with 10 kills and McKenzie Hart had a match-high 15 digs. Courtney Place was a kill shy of a double-double with nine and 12 digs. UND struggled with 20 attack errors and hit below .155 in two of the three sets.
Idaho State 3, Montana State 0 – Idaho State jumped out a 2-0 lead behind strong defense and ultimately held off Montana State in the third set for a 3-0 road win in both teams’ first conference matches of the season.
2014 Big Sky MVP Tressa Lyman tallied a team-leading 14 kills for the Bengals. Bailey Bars was solid all-around for ISU, finishing with nine kills, a .438 hit percentage, seven digs, five blocks and a pair of service aces. Hayley Farrer had 32 assists for a Bengal offense that hit .258.
ISU hit .394 to MSU’s .094 to grab a 25-17 decision in the first set. The Bobcats outhit ISU and led the majority of the second before ISU closed the set on a 9-1 run. The Bengals fought off four set points from MSU before prevailing 30-28 in the last set.
Loni Kreun had a match-high 15 kills on a .462 percentage for Montana State. Natalie Passeck contributed a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs for a MSU team that was held to .176 hitting.
Northern Arizona 3, Portland State 1 – Janae Vander Ploeg totaled 19 kills and seven digs to lead Northern Arizona past hosting Portland State in a Big Sky opener.
Payton Bock led a stout defensive front for NAU, finishing with nine blocks and eight kills. Jensen Barton chipped in seven blocks and five digs to go with her 40 assists. NAU had 16 blocks total, hit .271 as a team and took advantage of 31 attack errors by PSU.
The Lumberjacks hit .355 in its first-set win and .370 in the third to grab a 2-1 lead. They held PSU to a -.044 percentage to stride towards the 25-17 match clincher.
Pati Anae and Eva Linden each tallied double-doubles for PSU as Anae had 13 kills, Linden chipped in 11 and both had 11 digs. The Vikings and Lumberjacks combined for 99 digs in the match and 29 blocks.
Sacramento State 3, Southern Utah 2 – Lauren Kissell pummeled a season-high 25 kills, four of those coming in the deciding fifth set, and Sacramento State held off a Southern Utah rally for a 3-2 home win to open conference action.
Kissell hit .408 for the match, with Morgan Stanley and Sloan Lovett each contributing 10 kills an eight digs apiece. Kennedy Kurtz added nine digs and dished 51 assists for a Hornet attack that overcame 24 errors.
The Hornets rolled in the first two sets, but Southern Utah stormed back holding Sac State to a .000 percentage in the third and then hitting .406 in the fourth to keep the match alive. Two kills and a pair of errors from SUU pushed Sac State to an early 6-1 lead in the fifth, and the Hornets didn’t look back as they improved to 14-2.
Madi Forsythe put together 18 kills and was one of four Thunderbirds with double-digit kills on the night. SUU hit .208 and had 26 attack errors and seven service errors.
Idaho 3, Northern Colorado 1 – Tineke Bierma and Becca Mau each finished with double-digit kills, helping Idaho push past defending champion Northern Colorado 3-1 in a Big Sky home opener.
Bierma and Mau each hit .333, with Bierma grabbing 12 kills and Mau with 10. The Vandals hit .222 while holding UNC to .135 and totaling 11 blocks. Terra Varney led UI with 12 digs and Katelyn Peterson had nine to go with seven kills.
Idaho shook off a rusty first-set, averaging .280 hitting the rest of the way. The Vandals used a late run to take the third set and outlasted the Bears in the fourth 26-24.
Kendra Cunningham paced the Bears with 15 kills and 13 digs. The Bears were plagued by errors, committing 35 on attacks and another eight on serves.