OGDEN — After splitting the season series during Big Sky volleyball play, Weber State and Portland State won Friday night in the first round of the NIVC tournament to advance and meet Saturday.

Portland State’s tough serve caused problems in the first set but, from there, Weber State took control on the way to a 16-25, 25-13, 25-20, 25-23 victory at Swenson Gym.

“It means a lot,” senior setter Ashlyn Power said. “It’s an opportunity a lot of teams don’t get so just to be able to keep playing, it’s good to get back out there and get to play again. It was fun.”

The Wildcats defeated PSU and Cal State Bakersfield over the weekend in their first matches since losing in heartbreaking, five-set fashion in the Big Sky tournament title game.

“To play at home again and be able to host, we’re really grateful to the administration for getting that for us,” sophomore hitter Dani Nay said “Grateful we get to keep playing together.

The Wildcats (22-9) advance to the NIVC quarterfinals and travel to UTEP (23-7) for a road match at 7:30 p.m MST Tuesday.

UTEP defeated Tulsa and Colorado State in Colorado to advance.

Arkansas and UNLV will also face off Tuesday at UTEP, with winners presumably playing each other in the semifinal round.

In the first set Saturday, Weber State got down 12-6 early. A Vikings block made it 17-9 and that was about it.

“They’re a pretty good serving team, so just cleaning up our passing so we could get a diverse offense rolling a little bit definitely was what made the difference,” Nay said.

But after PSU (20-11) took a 1-0 lead in the second set, Weber State didn’t trail at any point until 19-18 in the fourth set.

Kate Standifird served two aces in the dominant second set and Dani Nay reached 15 kills by the end of the third to put Weber up 2-1.

The Wildcats went up 12-6 on a Nay kill but the Vikings rallied to ties at 14-14 and 18-18, taking a one-point lead on a WSU net violation.

WSU head coach Jeremiah Larsen called timeout and then the Wildcats got help when Ellie Snook hit the ensuing serve long. From there, Rylin Adams and Baylee Bodily combined for a block, Nay served an ace, and Adams added two kills including match point to seal it.

“Teams are not just going to give up after losing a couple sets like that, so I think it shows happens when we focus on ourselves and control our side, it will eventually take care of itself,” Nay said about the fourth-set response.

Nay finished with 20 kills, two off her season high. WSU served 11 aces.

The Wildcats have won five postseason matches in the last three years and are now 67-20 in the last three seasons.

BYU TOPS UTAH

In a rematch of a sweep earlier this season, BYU women’s volleyball defeated Utah 3-1 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday evening in Provo.

Led by Dani Drews (18 kills), Utah won the first set 25-17 but BYU rebounded to win the next three 25-22, 25-23, 25-23. Erin Livingston led BYU with 13 kills.

No. 11 seed BYU (30-1) advances to the Sweet 16 and will travel to play at No. 6 Purdue (25-6) on Thursday, Dec. 9.

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