NORTHERN COLORADO OUTLASTS MONTANA, WILL PLAY HORNETS IN THE BIG SKY TOURNAMENT SEMIS
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Montana setter Taryn Wright set the Big Sky Conference record with 13 aces, but it was not enough as Northern Colorado defeated the Grizzlies, 3-2 (30-24, 25-30, 25-30, 30-21, 15-11), in the Big Sky Conference Volleyball Tournament Quarterfinals Thursday evening at the Hornets Nest.With the victory, No. 5 seed Northern Colorado (13-15) will face No. 1 seed and host Sacramento State tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. in the semifinals. Montana (12-15) was eliminated from the tournament. In tomorrow’s other semifinal match, No. 2 Portland State will take on No. 3 Eastern Washington at 5 p.m.
The winners of both semifinal matches will face each other in the championship match Saturday at 7 p.m. for an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. Eastern Washington advanced to the semis by virtue of its 3-1 victory earlier this evening against Weber State.
In the fifth game of tonight’s second semifinal, Northern Colorado never trailed as the Bears jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Montana tied the game on three occasions, but the Bears used a 4-0 run to take a commanding 11-7 lead. Montana got no closer than within three points of Northern Colorado’s lead the rest of the game.
Northern Colorado, which finished with 16.0 team blocks and limited the Grizzlies to a .181 hitting percentage, had five players finish with double figures in kills comprised of Dulcie Stone (14), Devon Crotteau (14), Lizzy Rhoads (12), Meredith Alder (11) and Lenay Goble (10). Rhoads also had a match-high eight blocks.
Each of Montana’s 13 aces in the match were tallied by Wright, who broke the original Big Sky record of 10, set in 1984 by Montana State’s Maggie Koughan. Wright also had 39 assists and 11 digs. Four Grizzlies finished with double figures in kills, comprised of Claudia Houle (14), Jade Roskam (12), EvaLyn Whitehead (11) and Emily Sakis (10).
