FULL STATS
OGDEN, Utah (October 6, 2016) – In a night full of opportunity for both Big Sky volleyball divisions to make some noise, the north division overwhelmed the south with a 5-1 record while putting the first blemishes on a pair of previous unbeaten teams and prevailing in a trio of five-setters on Thursday.
Eastern Washington knocked off Northern Arizona in Cheney, handing the defending champions their first league loss in over a year. North Dakota edged Sacramento State in five sets, giving the Hornets their first blemish after a 4-0 start.
Northern Colorado earned an efficient sweep over Portland State, while Montana State rallied to beat Weber State in five and give the north division the edge in a night that exclusively featured north vs.south matchups. Idaho picked up the fifth win of the night for the north, hanging on to defeat Southern Utah in five sets.
Idaho State earned the lone win for the south division, getting past Montana in four sets.
With the shuffling around in the standings, UND, UNC, NAU and Sac State all sit in a four-way tie for the top spot in the league at this point. League play resumes Saturday, highlighted by a first-place battle between UNC and Sac State in Greeley.
Northern Colorado 3, Portland State 0: Kortney Lockey finished with 10 kills and nine digs, Ashley Guthrie distributed 41 assists with six kills and six digs and Northern Colorado earned a home sweep over Portland State.
The Bears (10-7, 4-1 Big Sky) hit a scorching .421 for the match with just six errors and 51 kills. Kim Weissmann (nine kills, .280), Emily O’Neil (nine kills, .421), Alex Kloehn (nine kills, .533) and Timarie Nymeyer (eight kills, .500) each had strong three-set outings behind Guthrie’s passing.
UNC had an errorless opening set, jumping out to a 9-3 lead while hitting .394 to win 25-18. O’Neil sparked a 5-0 run with three kills in the second set that made it 11-6 and a pair of dump kills from Guthrie pushed UNC to a 19-13 lead. The Bears hit .421 to take the second set 25-17. Clinging to a two-point lead in the third set, UNC closed strong hitting .444 for the set and scoring seven of the last eight points with three of those coming from kills by O’Neill to win 25-18.
Pati Anae led the Vikings (10-7, 2-3) with 12 kills and 12 digs. PSU hit .224 for the match but had just three blocks and couldn’t contain UNC’s balanced attack.
North Dakota 3, Sacramento State 2: Chelsea Moser totaled 18 kills on a .429 hitting clip, Tamara Merseli chipped in 10 kills with 28 digs and North Dakota outlasted Sacramento State to hand the Hornets their first conference loss of the season.
The Fighting Hawks (12-8, 4-1) hit .226 for the match with a 12-7 blocking advantage and improved to 6-1 all-time against Sac State. Faith Dooley grabbed 11 kills with nine blocks, Julia Kaczorowska had 13 kills and Sydney Griffin paced the offense with 54 assists, 17 digs and seven blocks.
Sac State (10-9, 4-1) prevailed from a tightly-contested opening set, scoring the final three points capitalized by two Shannon Boyle kills to win 25-22. UND flipped the script in the second set, as Merseli had four straight kills to help UND turn a 20-17 deficit into a 23-21 lead and ultimately end on an 8-1 run 25-21. The Fighting Hawks returned from the break strong, rolling to a 25-15 third-set win with a .417 hitting clip.
The Hornets worked towards leads of 8-4 and 16-10 and wouldn’t relinquish them after that on the way to a 25-20 decision to force a fifth set. UND pushed towards a late three-point lead, only to see Sac State answer with three consecutive points of their own to make it 13-all. Dooley and Merseli answered with kills to give UND the match.
Mikaela Nocetti and Madeline Cannon combined for 33 kills, Kennedy Kurtz had 54 assists and 17 digs, and Lexie Skalbek had a match-high 34 digs for Sac State. The Hornets hit .185 with 26 attack errors and a season-high 11 on the serving end.
Idaho State 3, Montana 1: Chloe Hirst (24 kills, 12 digs), Abby Jensen (14 kills, 13 digs) and Hayley Farrer (50 assists, 15 digs) each notched double-doubles in helping Idaho State to its second straight league win.
The Bengals (7-11, 2-3) totaled a .207 hitting percentage with a 57-38 kill advantage. Hirst swung at a .440 clip, Marissa Todd added eight kills and Haylie Keck tied for a match-high 20 digs.
Montana (4-11, 1-4) grabbed the early lead hitting .281 to start on the way to a 25-17 win. ISU answered back hitting .355 and used multiple three-point spurts during the set to build a gap and win 25-17. The Bengals pushed to an 8-3 advantage in the third set, and Jensen had five kills spread across two different 4-0 runs on the way to a 25-16 win. ISU trailed 18-19 late in the fourth, but rallied with seven of the next eight points to win 25-20.
Missy Huddleston led Montana with 10 kills, Alexis Urbach had nine and Mykaela Hammer added eight with eight blocks. UM had a 11-6 blocking advantage, but hit just .110 with three sets under .055.
Eastern Washington 3, Northern Arizona 1: Ashley Seiler and Ka’iulani Ahuna combined for 36 kills and 36 digs and led Eastern Washington to a huge victory over defending champion Northern Arizona, handing the Lumberjacks their first Big Sky loss of the season.
The Eagles (8-6, 3-2) hit .177 as a team with 63 kills and out-blocked NAU 10-4.5. Taylor Larsen grabbed 11 kills with a .375 hitting percentage, Sophie Miller dished 35 assists and was one of four Eagles with at least 17 digs, as her and Megan Lafond each dug 19.
EWU erased a 16-19 deficit in the opening set, answering with a 7-1 run with aces from Ahuna and Kimberly Brinkworth making it 23-20. NAU pulled within 22-23 and 23-24, but a kill from Chloe Weber gave EWU the lead. NAU rebounded from an early 10-17 hole, finishing the set on a 15-4 surge including the final seven points to win 25-21.
In the third set, Seiler and Larsen each had a pair of late kills as EWU scored five of the last seven points to take the lead 25-22. EWU brought home the upset victory hitting .368 in the deciding fourth and using another late surge, this time off a Miller ace and two kills from Seiler closing on a 4-1 run for the 25-21 decision.
NAU (14-4, 4-1) dropped its first conference loss in over a year and were held to a season-low .125 hitting percentage. Lauren Jacobsen led the Lumberjacks with 12 kills and 18 digs and Jordan Anderson had a match-high 22 digs.
Montana State 3, Weber State 2: Kiana Black put together a career-high 20 kills, Natalie Passeck added 18 with 12 digs and Montana State rallied past Weber State in a five-set thriller.
The Bobcats (4-10, 2-3) hit .244 for the match and out-performed one of the top blocking teams in the country 13-10 in that category. Black also added seven blocks, Caitlin Lonergan tallied 15 kills with 14 digs and Allyssa Rizzo grabbed 24 digs.
In a marathon opening set, MSU fought off multiple set points before Eli Svisco got a kill and combined for a block with Audra Dugan to win 32-30. The Wildcats (11-3, 2-3) stormed back jumping out to a 19-11 lead on the way to a 25-19 decision. WSU trailed 21-23 in the third, but stole the set scoring the next four points as Megan Thompson had two kills and assisted on a block.
MSU stayed alive in the fourth rolling to a 13-5 lead early and later putting together an 8-1 run to close the set 25-15 forcing a fifth. With the set tied 9-9, MSU reeled off five straight points as Black had two kills and combined with Lonergan for a pair of Blocks setting up match point. WSU responded with two quick points before Black grabbed her 20
th kill of the match to give the Bobcats their second straight win.
Weber State hit .210 for the match with 28 attack errors. Amanda Varley led WSU with 21 kills, Andrea Hale had 15 with five blocks and Thompson hit .455 with 12 kills and five blocks.
Idaho 3, Southern Utah 2: Becca Mau had 24 kills with 11 digs and five blocks, Sarah Sharp chipped in 22 kills and Idaho fought past Southern Utah in a five-set thriller.
The Vandals (7-10, 2-3) snapped a three-game skid hitting .216 for the match with 74 kills. Terra Varney had a match-high 29 digs and Megan Ramseyer notched a double-double with 41 assists and 10 digs.
UI hit .367 to open the match and grabbed a late cushion after kills from Mau and Torrin Crawford to ultimately win 25-21. Crawford added two more kills during a 4-0 spurt late in the second that pushed Idaho to a 2-0 lead at the break after the 25-20 decision. SUU (2-15, 0-5) erased a 12-17 deficit in the third, outscoring Idaho 13-5 to avoid the sweep.
The T-Birds hit .300 and jumped to leads of 12-6, 20-11 and forced a fifth set 25-19. In a back-and-forth final set, UI fought off three straight match points after trailing 14-11 to make it 14-14 after an ace from Varney. The Vandals would fend off two more match points before a SUU attack error and a kill from Sharp sealed the victory 19-17 in the extended set.
Chennin Benson (17 kills, 13 digs, five blocks), Ann Clappier (11 kills, seven blocks) and MaCail Evans (seven kills, 10 blocks) each turned in strong efforts in the narrow loss. SUU hit .209 while out-blocking Idaho 19-8.