Weber State volleyball serves its way into Big Sky tournament title match
After a strong first set, Weber State volleyball appeared to be on its way out of the Big Sky tournament in its semifinal match against Sacramento State on Thursday evening.
The Hornets overcame a WSU rally to take set two, then controlled set three.
In the fourth, the regular-season champs went up 18-12 and the fourth-seeded Wildcats were nearly toast.
But using a relentlessly tough serve, the Wildcats rallied to take the fourth, then ran away with the decisive fifth set and advanced to the tournament title match with a well-fought, 25-21, 23-25, 22-25, 25-23, 15-7 victory over Sacramento State.
“We just kept grinding,” WSU head coach Jeremiah Larsen said on a postgame ESPN+ interview. “Usually, in the season, we’d fall off the cliff at that point and we just didn’t … so I’m proud of my kids because they’ve been working hard to try and be better at that.”
Weber State (20-9) will face the winner of Thursday’s late semifinal between No. 3 Montana State and No. 7 Eastern Washington (who ousted tournament hosts and No. 2-seed Northern Colorado) in the championship match.
The berth puts the Wildcats in the Big Sky tournament final for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
Thursday’s match point was fittingly won by ace queen Dani Richins, who rolled her serve over the tape and to the court to end the contest. That gave Weber State 17 aces, tied for third-most in a single match in program history.
It ties 17 aces from a spring 2021 win against Southern Utah for third (three sets); WSU served 19 aces in 1989 against Utah and 18 in 1990 against Idaho (both five-set wins).
Weber State’s 17-2 ace advantage helped overcome the Hornets’ block as Sac State totaled a 14-8 block advantage.
“They’re blocking really well, we’re serving pretty darn tough and, at the end of the day, sometimes volleyball is all about the serve-receive battle,” Larsen said. “I thought we passed well and we served really tough.”
Bridgette Smith totaled 18 aces for Sacramento State (21-11), who outhit WSU .214 to .146.
Dani Richins and Rose Moore each had four aces for WSU. Richins led the Wildcats with 14 kills. Saane Katoa totaled 12 kills and helped on four blocks. Liana Woodley added nine kills and helped on four blocks. Baylee Bodily had seven kills and three aces, and Kate Standifird passed 40 assists.
WSU 3, PSU 0
Weber State opened the Big Sky tournament Wednesday with a sweep of No. 5 Portland State 25-21, 31-29, 25-18.
WSU served 11 aces to PSU’s zero, and outhit the Vikings .223 to .198.
Baylee Bodily led with 16 kills, and Makayla Sorensen and Rose Moore each served three aces. Sorensen added 15 digs and Kate Standifird totaled 32 assists.