BUTTE, Mont. – Completing a perfect day on the court, the College of Idaho extended their school record season-opening win streak to six, defeating a pair of ranked opponents at the Big Sky Challenge, inside Butte Convention Center.
The No. 25 ranked Lady Yotes (6-0) upset No. 10 Grand View 29-27, 25-18, 25-18 in their opening match and grinded out a 25-18, 30-28, 25-18 win over No. 23 ranked Carroll College to end the day.
In the early match, C of I fought through 12 ties and six lead changes in the first set, fighting off a pair of set points, getting back-to-back
Brenna Meehan kills to end the period.
The Yotes led 16-15 in Set 2, but a combo block from
Alaina Slater and
Marija Djonovic started a 5-0 rally that proved to be the difference. The Vikings (3-2) scored the first point of Set 3 – but never led again, as C of I scored six of the next seven points and cruised to the win.
Ashley Pagan had 11 kills to lead all players, with
Taylor Alexander adding 10 kills and three blocks. Meehan and
Jackie van Vliet had eight kills; Djonovic recorded 39 assists, seven digs and two aces; with
Kilee Lopez leading all players with 14 digs. Kelsey Redmond and Ashley Proska had eight kills to lead GVU.
Against Carroll (2-3), C of I used a dominant 52-33 edge in total kills to earn the win against the defending Frontier Conference champs.
Meehan had consecutive kills as part of a five-point C of I surge late in Set 1 to extend a lead to 22-16 and ease to the win.
The Saints controlled most of Set 2, building a 21-16 edge after a Mallory Arbizzani stuff block. The Yotes answered in a big way, as Pagan had two kills in a 6-1 push to even the score. Carroll fought off four set points and earned a chance to steal the frame at 27-26, but a serving error got C of I a needed side out – with a big Djonovic kill and a CC hitting error ending the marathon.
Set 3 was tight late, as C of I was forced to call a timeout after the Saints pulled within 19-18. However, Djonovic served the final five points – including an ace – to ice the victory.
Slater had 12 kills with just one error, with van Vliet recording 11 kills and four blocks and Alexander had 10 kills and four blocks. Pagan and Djonovic each had double doubles – Pagan with 10 kills and 17 digs and Djonovic with 42 assists and 10 digs. Rayna Pilgeram was the offense for CC, recording eight kills, 24 assists and five digs.
C of I closes out their non-conference play tomorrow with a 9 a.m. matchup against No. 20 Bellevue and a 3 p.m. tilt with Lewis-Clark State.
