Greeley, Colo.— Idaho volleyball season comes to an end in 18-25, 19, 25, 17-25 loss to No. 1-seed Northern Arizona Saturday in the final round of the Big Sky Conference Tournament. Idaho drops to 23-10 on the year. The Lumberjacks, who earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, improves to 26-8.
 
"NAU played a good game," said head coach Debbie Buchanan. They got us out of our system, and we just could not find a rhythm. Our previous game wore us out, and it showed in this match. This was a tough one to lose."
 
Senior Sarah Sharp led the Vandals with 12 kills on 36 attempts in her final match. Sharp, named to the All-Tournament Team, also assisted on four blocks and tallied three digs. Also selected to the All-Tournament Team, Senior Haylee Mathis dished out 33 assists, 11 digs and .200 hitting percentage performance.
 
Each set opened competitively with both teams trading the lead. In the first set, NAU would use a 5-0 run to lift itself past the Vandals. Unable to recover from the seven-point deficit, the Lumberjacks took the set, 18-25.
 
The Vandals would score the first two points but that would be the largest run Idaho could string together in the second set. The Vandals knotted the score up at 14-14, but then a quick six to nothing run by NAU proved to be too much for the Vandals to overcome. Idaho fell 0-2 as the Lumberjacks win set two, 19-25.
 
Trailing in the match, 0-2, the Vandals went on a 6-3 run late in the set that cut its deficit to five points, 13-18. The Lumberjacks, however, pulled together another strong run that would give NAU the third and final set, 18-25.
 
Seniors Reece Carman and Kaela Straw totaled eight kills each in their final match while senior DeVonne Ryter stood firm on the net blocking three shots. Alycia Wodke, who broke the school record of digs in a single-season (624) this weekend, registered ten digs in her final match.