Greeley, Colo.—Outside hitters Sarah Sharp (20) and Kaela Straw (19) combined for 39 kills and six blocks in a five-set nail-biter victory by Idaho over Northern Colorado Friday evening at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley, Colo., in the semifinal round of the Big Sky Tournament. The No. 2 seeded, Vandals, routed the No. 6 Bears, 25-21, 17-25, 25-23, 18-25, 15-10.
 
The victory sends the Vandals into Saturday's championship match where it will face top-seeded in a rematch versus Northern Arizona at 7:30 p.m. (mountain time). The match will air on Eleven Sports and can be streamed on PlutoTV.
 
The winner of the match between the teams that shared the 2018 Big Sky Conference regular-season title will receive the Big Sky's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 

These same two teams met a week ago, as both teams were vying for the No. 1 seeding and a regular season conference title. The Lumberjacks won in three sets.
 
In front of Northern Colorado's home crowd, Idaho took the first set, 25-21 with Sarah Sharp collecting six of her 20 kills.
 
With the scored tied 6-6, in the second set, the Bears responded with a 6-0 run to win the set 17-25.
 
With its back against the wall, the Vandals found themselves trailing the Bears 15-19 before answering with six straight points to lead the match, 2-1.
 
The fourth set was all the Bears as Idaho did not have an answer for Northern Colorado. Never trailing, the Bears claim the set, 18-25.
 
A decisive fifth was tied 8-8 before Idaho closed out Northern Colorado to advance to the finals Saturday.


 
NOTABLE STATS: Alycia Wodke recorded a match-high 28 digs to lead the team. Straw finished with a .319 hitting percentage to go along with her 19-kill showing. The Vandals accounted for 12.5 blocks in the match while Northern Colorado did not register a single block.
 
UP NEXT: No. 1 Northern Arizona and No. 2 Idaho will play at 7:30 p.m. MT Saturday night.