Cardinals finish ninth at nationals

WEST PLAINS, Mo. - For the seventh-seeded North Idaho Cardinals, once the fun began, nobody in the nation could stop them.

Freshman middle blocker Yang Yang had 20 kills, 12 digs and four aces as NIC fought back after losing the first game on Saturday morning to beat 12th seeded Mineral Area 21-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-22, 15-12 to finish ninth in the NJCAA volleyball tournament on Saturday at the West Plains Civic Center.

"It's been an awesome season," NIC coach Kandice Kelly said. "I'm a very, very lucky coach. Very lucky for this being my first season. "

Sierra Pancho had 26 assists, Janele Vogt six blocks and Brooklynn Bradbury 19 assists for NIC, which finishes the season 25-10.

“I thought we played really well,” Kelly said. “We definitely eliminated a lot of our hitting errors and our serving got a little tougher and played a lot scrappier than we had been.”

Eight of NIC’s 14 players were freshmen this season, and only two reserves returned from last year’s team that placed fifth at nationals.

“It was a good season considering we started so slow,” Kelly said. “Being in the top 10 is a good deal. If we could have gotten that first (match), who knows how far we could have gone. But we played a ton of matches and gained valuable experience. Nobody had ever played in this tournament and we definitely had a few jitters on Thursday, but it’s sure nice to be 3-1 at nationals.”

NIC won 9 of 10 five-game matches this season.

“This is personally one of the best experiences I’ve had on a volleyball team,” sophomore outside hitter Mariah Smith said. “Everyone on the team is a great athlete and we’re very fortunate to have been placed together. This experience changed our lives. We were pretty proud of ourselves with having a bunch of freshmen and are happy with how we ended up.”

Iowa Western beat the College of Southern Idaho 20-25, 26-24, 25-10, 22-25, 15-8 to finish fifth. CSI finished sixth at 24-12. College of Central Florida, which beat NIC in the first round on Thursday, finished seventh.

In the championship match, No. 1 seed Blinn College (38-0) of Brenham, Texas, capped an unbeaten season with a 25-19, 25-22, 23-25, 25-23 win over third-seeded Western Wyoming (39-3).

NJCAA TOURNAMENT

at Missouri State University, West Plains, Mo.

Saturday

North Idaho d. Mineral Area 21-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-22, 15-12 (ninth and 10th places)

College of Central Florida d. Eastern Arizona 25-21, 25-17, 25-19 (seventh and eighth places)

Iowa Western d. Southern Idaho 20-25, 26-24, 25-10, 22-25, 15-8 (fifth and sixth places)

Western Nebraska d. San Jacinto 25-15, 19-25, 25-16, 25-19 (third and fourth places)

Blinn College d. Western Wyoming 25-19, 25-22, 23-25, 25-23 (national championship match)