MOSCOW, Idaho—The Idaho Vandals clinched the eighth and final seed in the 2016 Big Sky Tournament with its 25-14, 25-18, 20-25, 20-25, 18-16 win over Montana State on Saturday. Sophomore Sarah Sharp recorded a career-high 24 kills, helping propel Idaho to its 12th consecutive postseason berth.

Idaho (11-17, 6-10 BSC), playing in its eighth fifth-set match of the season, need every bit of Sharp's offense to put away the Bobcats. Montana State opened up a 6-3 lead in the frame. Idaho narrowed the deficit to three, 8-5, when the teams switched ends of the court. A Becca Mau block helped Idaho to a 3-0 run, tying the set at eight. MSU regained a two-point advantage, 11-19, before back-to-back kills from Sharp closed out a 4-0 run to regain the 13-11 lead. Idaho held three different match points, before kills from Crawford and Mau wrapped up the night.

"I'm super proud of our team that we did not give up," head coach Debbie Buchanan said after the win. "We were really strong in the first two games. We did not come out like we would have liked after the break. I thought Montana State did a good job of really coming out with some energy. We just did not come out strong. If we played like we did at the end of that fifth set, I think we would have ended it a lot sooner."

The Vandals looked to have the match in hand after two sets. The Vandals hit .531 percent on the attack in the first two sets, dominating play. Sharp had 10 kills at the break, with just one error on 13 tries. Idaho limited Montana State to just .183 percent before the break. Idaho totaled seven more kills in that span, outhitting the Bobcats 30-23.

"We played really hard in those first two games," Sharp stated. "We came out a little flat in the third. We should have had that in three. But we stayed together as a team and kept working through some things, trying to limit our errors."

Montana State (5-20, 3-13 BSC) came out of the break and hit .342 percent in the third, limiting Idaho to .220 on the attack. Idaho's errors piled up in the fourth set, totaling eight in the frame to help Montana State even the match.

Senior Terra Varney closed out her home career with the win. Idaho's lone senior led the match with 20 digs, improving her career total to 1,454.

"Today was a little different," Varney noted. "A lot of tears before the game. When we got closer to the game I began thinking like it was any other game. I did not come out here as my 'senior game,' I just played it as another game. I knew we needed to come out as a team and play together."

Kaela Straw and Mau joined Sharp as the only others to reach double figure kills for Idaho. Both outside hitters totaled 12 kills. Freshman Megan Ramseyer recorded two big aces for the Vandals from the service line. She also led the team with 30 assists. Haylee Mathis finished with eight kills, seven digs and 28 assists. Junior Torrin Crawford led all players with a .700 attack percentage, eight kill on 10 swings.

Idaho advances to the Big Sky Tournament as the eighth seed. The Vandals began the day knowing a win would clinch the tournament, following Weber State's loss earlier in the day. Idaho will play tournament host North Dakota on Thursday, Nov. 17.

Fans can stay up-to-date on all things Idaho volleyball by following the team on twitter, @IdahoVolleyball.