The Snow College volleyball team split its final conference road action against North Idaho College and No. 20 College of Southern Idaho. The Badgers defeated NIC 3-1, but fell to CSI in five sets.
The Badgers were coming off a win over No. 8 Utah State University Eastern at home, 3-0. It completed the Badgers' first regular-season sweep against the Eagles since the 2019 season.
The first set opened in NIC's favor as it took a 10-5 lead over the Badgers. The Badgers were able to strike back, as they went on a 13-2 run to take an 18-12 lead. They were able to keep the pace to close out the first set with a 25-19 win.
The second set was tightly contested as it was knotted at 7-7 in the early part of the period, and it would extend to a 15-15 tie by the midway point. The Cardinals were able to pull away as they went on a 10-4 run to take the set 25-19 and tie the match at 1-1.
The Badgers started the third set hot as they took the first five points and would continue that run as they worked towards a 17-4 lead by the midway point of the set. The Badgers would slow down a bit, but never enough to put the set in danger as they closed it out 25-15.
The finals set opened as a close fight as they were tied at 9-9 early before the Badgers went on an 8-2 run to take a 17-11 lead. The Cardinals would cut the deficit to 18-17, but the Badgers would then go on to win seven of the last nine points to close out the set 25-19 and the match 3-1.
After the victory over NIC, the Badgers headed south to Twin Falls, Idaho, to take on No. 20 CSI.
The first set opened in favor of CSI as they took the first three points. The Badgers would come back and win the next three to tie it, and both teams kept trading points to the midway point at 13-13. The Badgers were able to break away and take a 22-17 lead before CSI came back and closed the first set 28-26.
The second set started as CSI went on an early 4-0 lead before the Badgers battled back to make it an 11-11 game. The Golden Eagles were able to go on a run to take a 21-17 lead before they took the second set 25-20.
CSI opened the third similarly to the previous two, as they won the first three points of the period. The Badgers maintained the margin to keep the set within reach at the 15-12 marker; they would then go on a 10-1 run to take their first lead of the set. The Badgers would then win three of the next seven points to take the set 25-20.
The fourth set was contested early as both sides traded runs until the Badgers were able to make some distance to take a 19-13 lead, but it wouldn't last for long as CSI went on a 9-3 run to tie the game at 22-22 a piece. The Badgers responded, winning three of the final four points to take it 25-23 and force a fifth set.
The final set had both teams taking early runs to tie the game at 7-7. This trend would continue as they traded points all the way up to 15-15 to force overtime, where the Badgers would fall short to CSI 17-15 in the fifth set, dropping the match 3-2.
The Badgers will close out their regular season at home against No. 5 Salt Lake Community College Friday at 6:00 p.m. before taking on Colorado Northwestern Community College Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Both matches will be played inside the Horne Activity Center in Ephraim. For video streaming and live stat information, visit snowbadgers.com.
