Box Score Colton Yack, Sports Information Director

Volleyball:

No. 6 SLCC clinches a spot in NJCAA National Tournament with 3-0 sweep over No. 10 Snow, will play No. 4 Southern Idaho tomorrow for Region 18 title
 

	1	2	3	4	5	Final
SLCC	26	25	25	X	X	3
Snow	24	18	23	X	X	0

 
TWIN FALLS, ID – Facing third seeded and No. 10 ranked Snow College Badgers in the Region 18 Tournament semifinals, the second seeded and No. 6 ranked SLCC volleyball team swept the Badgers and clinched a berth to the NJCAA National Tournament; sealed a spot in the Region 18 championship against No. 4 ranked College of Southern Idaho Golden Eagles.

With so much on the line coming into the match, Snow jumped out to an early 1-5 lead and held onto it nearly midway through the first set. SLCC finally gaining their first lead of the match at 10-9, Snow immediately responded and regained control. Leading 20-23 and on the verge of taking set one, the Bruins said not so fast and began their comeback.

Taking advantage of three Badger errors, SLCC put together a four point run to place themselves at set point. Snow managed to tie things at 24 apiece before a Carol Grasso (Sao Paulo, Brazil) kill and an Allyssa Koki (Ewa Beach, HI) ace sealed the set 26-24 for the Bruins.

Set two opened up in similar fashion with Snow clinging onto a 5-3 lead. Another four point run from the Bruins put SLCC ahead for good as Jessica Quayle (Ogden, UT) and Kallie Schmit (Kalama, WA) combined for 11 kills in the set en route to the 25-18 set two win and a 2-0 advantage heading into halftime.

Coming out of the break the Bruins appeared poised to run away with set three consistently leading by a comfortable margin. Down 22-16, the Badgers desperately wanted to force a set four and started stringing together some points scoring five of the next six. With the score at 24-21, one last effort from Snow placed the score at 24-23 however a hammer kill from Grasso put the dagger in the hearts of the Badgers and clinched the sweep.

SLCC saw three different players in double digit kills led by 17 from Grasso. Schmit and Quayle rounded out the balanced offensive attack with 16 and 13 kills apiece, respectively.

On top of Schmit's offensive performance, she also posted 13 digs to finish with a double-double. Rachel Davis (Riverton, UT) had a miraculous 54 assists in three sets to go along with 10 digs.

The win seals a second consecutive trip to the NJCAA National Tournament in Casper, Wyo., for the Bruins.

Despite the national berth, the Bruins have much more to play for as they face rival CSI in the Region 18 title match tomorrow at 1 p.m. With both teams already heading to Casper, national seeding implications are on the line. A live stream to tomorrow's 1 p.m. match can be found here.