The Sacramento State and UNC volleyball teams met for the third time this season Tuesday night in a Big Sky Conference Tournament semifinal match.
The match at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley was the best of the three, and the match might have been one of the best in the Big Sky this season.
UNC outlasted the Hornets 3-2 with a 20-18 win in the fifth set to earn a spot in the conference tournament championship match for the second time in two years and fourth time dating to 2021.
In the back-and-forth fifth, a set normally played to 15 points in college, there were nine ties and four lead changes before Bears senior middle blocker Zoe Gibbs ended the evening on UNC’s sixth match point.
Gibbs scored two of the Bears’ final three points to close out the match, avenging a loss to the Hornets in last season’s five-set conference tournament championship in Sacramento. Gibbs finished with eight kills and five blocks.
“Yeah, that was a burn burner,” UNC coach Lyndsey Oates said of the win. “That’s as close as it gets. I think they had three match points that we were able to withstand. We didn’t play perfect. We missed a couple of serves down at the end. We played really hard and we did just enough to pull out that match.”
PHOTOS: UNC volleyball outlasts Sacramento State
Oates and senior outside hitter Bella Van Lannen credited the Bears’ resilience after its second five-set match in two days in the conference tournament. UNC beat Montana State in five sets in a quarterfinal Monday night.
The third-seeded Bears (16-15) go for their eighth Big Sky tournament title in Oates’ 21 seasons as head coach Wednesday night at Bank of Colorado Arena. UNC is hosting the tournament as the 2024 regular-season champion.
The Bears will meet No. 8 Idaho State for only the second time this season at 7 p.m. Wednesday for the Big Sky title and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. UNC beat ISU in three sets Nov. 13 in Greeley. Idaho State upset No. 1 seed Northern Arizona in a quarterfinal Monday, and the Bengals beat No. 4 Weber State in the first semifinal Tuesday.
“We just saw a lot of resilience, I think,” said Van Lannen, who had a season-high 16 kills and 17 points. “And especially from a senior class, I think, coming in and not letting the emotions get to us. It’s fight, next point, fight, next point. No matter what, we were just looking to each other that whole match.
UNC and second-seeded Sacramento State were the nightcap match Tuesday, and they were worth the wait.
The Bears swept the two matches during the regular season, beating the Hornets 2-1 Oct. 9 in Greeley and in five sets a month later in Sacramento.
Northern Colorado Bears middle blocker Isabel Bennet (5) celebrates winning a set during a semifinal match against Sacramento State in the Big Sky Conference volleyball tournament at Bank of Colorado Arena on the campus of the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. (Brice Tucker/Staff Photographer)
“Lyndsey’s teams are really good all the time, and they’re so good defensively and just put so much pressure on you,” Sacramento State coach Ruben Volta said after the match. “We’re pretty good offensively and we had moments of struggle offensively because they played really good defensive.”
UNC’s Alayna Tessena tied the fifth at 16-16 with a kill. Tessena had a team-high 17 kills for the Bears. Setter Nerea Alvarez-Jorge had 52 assists guiding the offense with seven kills and team-high six blocks.
The teams then traded service errors, with Leila Ballard and Mia Liddiard faltering for UNC with the ball in their hands. In between, Sacramento State’s Victoria Marthaler’s service error tied the match again at 17-17. The Hornets went ahead 18-17 on Liddiard’s error. Marthaler had a match-best 23 kills with three blocks and a service ace.
“It’s certainly a pressure situation we have to handle better,” Oates said of the back-to-back service errors, noting Ballard and Liddiard are two of the Bears’ best servers. “We have to be better than that. I know we’re going to handle that situation better the next time we get in it.”
Gibbs got a point back on a kill. Sacramento State lost a challenge to an officials’ call on a Brynn Reines’ kill, giving the Bears the lead at 19-18 before Gibbs’ match winner.
UNC led 14-10 in the fifth set —that’s four cracks at match point Sacramento State held off. The Hornets tied the set 14-14, starting an exchange of points almost the rest of the way.
Oates said UNC panicked and turned into a tight team, not playing free as it had done earlier, with the 14-10 lead.
Northern Colorado Bears outside hitter Bella Van Lannen (2) digs the ball during a semifinal match against Sacramento State in the Big Sky Conference volleyball tournament at Bank of Colorado Arena on the campus of the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. (Brice Tucker/Staff Photographer)
Volta said the service errors late in the fifth set came from players trying to be aggressive.
“You just saw a really good match with two teams who didn’t want to lose,” the coach said. “You don’t want them to pass well and just crush a ball on you, so you’re trying to put pressure on them. I’m really proud of my team and it was a great match.”