Weber State University’s volleyball team earned a share of their second-straight Big Sky Championship after sweeping Northern Arizona University on Nov. 11 and Southern Utah University on Nov. 13 in three straight sets each.
The Wildcats now sit on a 25-game winning streak at Swenson Gym.
The University of Northern Colorado secured their share of the championship title after their win against the University of Idaho in four sets on Nov. 13.
The Wildcats’ weekend started out by leading the Lumberjacks throughout the entirety of the first set. NAU came close to stealing the lead but weren’t able to before the ‘Cats took the set 25—23.
The following set, the Wildcats were able to give themselves some breathing room and finished out the second set 25—17.
In the third and final set, the Lumberjacks were able to tie the set a total of 11 different times with five lead changes. The Wildcats brought home their third-straight set and closed out the night 25—22.
Rylin Adams led the squad with 10 kills and one block, Emma Mangum collected eight kills and three blocks, Dani Nay had seven kills and one block and Sam Schiess had four kills and three blocks.
On Nov. 13, Weber State took honored some of the best Wildcats to walk through Swenson Gym before taking on their in-state rivals.
SUU had a hard time catching up to the Wildcats from the start, with Weber State scoring a 7-point run before the T-Birds got a single point on the board.
It didn’t take long for the ‘Cats to close out the first set 25—18.
History was made for Nay in the second set when she made her third kill of the match, tallying 1,000 career kills for her as a sophomore.
The ‘Cats finished the second set 25—19.
With just one more set between the ‘Cats and the Big Sky Championship, Weber State wasted no time sealing the deal and closed out the third set with their largest margin of a score, 25—14.
“We’ve been getting better every day, and we have been focusing on that,” Adams said. “ I’m really happy with where we’re at. It feels good, and it’s definitely sad leading up to senior day. I’ve never started a match bawling before, but it feels good.”
Adams led the squad with 18 kills and two blocks, Nay collected 10 kills and two aces, Mangum also had ten kills and two blocks and Baylee Bodily had seven kills, two aces and two blocks.
Ashlyn Power led the way with 45 assists.
Adams, Schiess, Power and Emily Olson were the seniors honored in their match against SUU.
In Adams’ time at WSU, she has been named to the All-Big Sky Academic Team in 2016, 2018 and 2019. Also in 2019, Adams was named to the All-Tournament team.
In their unprecedented spring 2021 season, Adams was named to the All Tournament Team, All-Conference First Team, Big Sky MVP and the AVCA Pacific North All-Region.
Schiess was named to the All-Big Sky Academic Team in 2018 and 2019, and was named to the Big Sky All-Conference First Team and Big Sky All-Conference First Team in their spring 2021 season.
Power was named to the Big Sky All-Academic Team in 2017, 2018 and 2019. In 2019 and spring 2021, Power was also named to the Big Sky All-Tournament Team and All-Big Sky Conference First Team.
Olson is a redshirt sophomore in eligibility but will be graduating in the spring with a degree in nutrition.
The Big Sky Conference tournament will be held at Swenson Gym Nov. 18-20 and will be the first postseason tournament in program history to be hosted by Weber State.
The WIldcats hold the No. 1 seed, and Northern Colorado are close behind at No. 2.
“We’re super excited. it’s nice to get a win under your belt the weekend before a tournament,” Schiess said. “It’s nice, too, that we get to host, so we’re excited to go play some more volleyball.”
Weber State will kick off the tournament against The University of Montana, who seeded at No. 8 on Nov. 18 at 7 p.m.
