The Snow College volleyball team finished the Region 18 Tournament as the runners-up, defeating No. 16 College of Southern Idaho in the semifinals 3-2 before the Badgers fell to No. 8 Salt Lake Community College 3-1 in the championship game.
The Badgers will travel to Thatcher, Arizona, to take on the Region 1 Champions, No. 10 Eastern Arizona College, in the Rocky Mountain B District Championship Monday at 7:00 p.m.
The Badgers are coming off a weekend where they swept their final regular-season games against No. 5 SLCC 3-1 and Colorado Northwestern Community College 3-0.
The first set against CSI opened as a tightly contested fight with both teams tied up at 8, and this trend continued to the 15-15 marker. The Golden Eagles would go on an 8-3 run to go up 23-18, but the Badgers made a five-point run of their own to knot the game back up at 23. CSI would win three of the last four points to take the first set 26-24.
The second set saw the Badgers take a lead of 9-5. They would continue to pile on the points as they extended their lead by as much as 10 points. They would cruise to a 25-15 win to tie the match at one set apiece.
The third set had Snow College go up early, 10-5. CSI responded with a 6-1 run to tie the set at 11-11. Both teams would continue to trade points; CSI held a slight lead at 18-15.
The Badgers were able to close the distance to tie the period up at 23-23, but CSI was able to win four of the final six points to close out the period 27-25.
The penultimate set started as the Badgers got out to a lead of 9-2. The Badgers were able to stretch the lead to 20-11. Both teams would go on to win five more points as the Badgers would close the set 25-16 to force a fifth set.
The final set began with the Golden Eagles out front as they had a 9-5 lead. The Badgers were able to string together a 5-1 run to tie the period up at 10-10. Both teams traded the following points to bring it to 13-13. The Badgers would go on to win four of the final five points to take the set 16-14 and the match 3-2 to advance to the Region 18 Championship game.
After the Badgers defeated CSI, they took on the host of the tournament and the number one seed SLCC in the championship game.
In the first set, SLCC got out to a commanding lead as it went up 10-3 early. The Bruins would continue to extend the lead to 18-7 and eventually win the set 25-14.
The second set was a closer bout as both teams went back and forth, with SLCC holding a slight 10-9 lead by the end of the first third of the period. The Badgers continued to trade points with the Bruins and tied the period at 19. Snow College would go on to win six of the next seven points to close the set 25-20.
The Badgers went up 9-5 to open the third set, but the Bruins struck back as they won 10 of the next 12 points to take a 15-11 lead. SLCC would carry the momentum to a 25-16 set win as it went up 2-1 in the match.
The Badgers got off to a slow start in the fourth set, as they went down 14-5 in the early parts of the period. Snow College cut the deficit as it got the score as close as four points at 21-17. SLCC's lead was too much for the Badgers to mount as they fell in the final set 25-20 and the match 3-1.
The Badgers will take on the Region 1 Champions, No. 10 EAC, in Thatcher, Arizona, Monday at 7:00 p.m. for an automatic bid to the NJCAA National Tournament. For video streaming and live stat information, visit snowbadgers.com.