The 1-24 Vandals continued their end-of-season road trip to Greely, Colorado to take on the #1 FCS Bears at 12-2 in conference play and 21-6 overall. NCU defeated UI in straight sets.
The Vandals grabbed the first point of the night before the Bears scored the next two, taking their first lead before UI tied things up once again. The opening set was remarkably close, there were 12 ties and eight lead changes which included a couple separate instances where the Vandals led by two but after the match was tied at 14, NCU went on a 11-7 run and lead by as many as four before they won the first set 25-21.
The Bears began the second set scoring the first two before the Vandals landed their first point. NCU would extend their advantage to 10-4 before UI got a couple more to draw closer. The Bears lead never got to more than six before the Vandals crawled a little closer midway at 14-11. Despite UI never giving up the fight, NCU began to pull away and had a 20-12 lead before a timeout from coach Romana. NCU ended the middle set with a 5-2 run.
The third set began like the second with NCU scoring the first two, but this time UI kept things close, and we were tied at 4-4 and again at 5-5. Vandals from there took the lead multiple times and didn’t give it up until allowing the Bears to be the first to reach double digits. NCU grew their lead to four before another timeout. UI got a little closer at 15-12 but the Bears started to feel their groove and lead by seven when there was another timeout. The Vandals would not score again and NCU raked in the last five to win the game and sweep the season series.
Madu Fontes led the Vandals in kills with 12 and Miya Carmichael led the team with 20 assists. Annette Baker led the Bears with nine kills and Syd Cole led with 28 assists. NCU has now won the last dozen consecutive matchups against the Vandals and remained first in the conference. UI falls to 1-25, still winless in conference play, sitting at the bottom at 0-15. Idaho will conclude their 2024 campaign in Flagstaff against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks. The final game will begin Saturday on ESPN+ at 5:30 p.m.
You can reach Jackson Hamelund at [email protected]