NIC ROUNDUP: Cards fall, will play for 7th place at tournament

* VOLLEYBALL

WEST PLAINS, Mo. - North Idaho College volleyball coach Kandice Gregorak knew watching her team warm up for Friday's match against Central Florida that if the Cardinals were to advance to a fifth-place match, they'd have to play with more energy.

They didn't respond in time.

Yang Yang had 18 kills, 15 digs and four blocks as the seventh-seeded Cardinals lost to sixth-seeded Central Florida 25-21, 25-23, 25-23 at the NJCAA tournament.

"I thought the girls played decent, but we were flat and not as ready to play today," NIC coach Kandice Gregorak said. "We didn't come out with our best game. We were dead in warmups and that's how we played. Hopefully tomorrow, we end the season good and have a good finish. Our warmup today was terrible, so I knew it wasn't going to be a pretty start."

NIC (23-7) will face Hillsbourgh (Fla.) (28-14) in the seventh-eighth place match today.

"We've got to have everyone play at their best," Gregorak said. "Yang is the only one that put the ball away. Hopefully everyone has a good, fun game - but I don't think anyone had any fun (today)."

Rosie Robinson had 22 digs, Brooklynn Bradbury 14 assists for NIC.

"CSI beat them pretty easily (on Thursday)," said Gregorak of Hillsborough. "They're athletic and keep the ball in play. We need to limit our errors and put some balls away."

Southern Idaho, which beat NIC for the Region 18 championship, advanced to the title match today against Western Nebraska with a 25-23, 27-25, 14-25, 25-20 win over San Jacinto (Texas) on Friday.

Southern Idaho's (32-1) lone loss this season came at the hands of Western Nebraska on Aug. 31.

Western Nebraska defeated NIC in four sets on Thursday.

NJCAA TOURNAMENT

At Missouri State-West Plains

Times PST

Friday

No. 14 Temple d. No. 11 Western Texas 25-23, 21-25, 21-25, 25-17, 15-10 (loser-out)

No. 10 Hutchinson d. No. 15 Wallace State-Hanceville 25-20, 25-19, 25-20 (loser-out)

No. 9 Missouri State-West Plains d. No. 16 Faulkner State 25-8, 25-17, 25-13 (loser-out)

No. 12 Redlands d. No. 13 Casper 25-19, 25-21, 25-21 (loser-out)

No. 6 Central Florida d. No. 7 North Idaho 25-21, 25-23, 25-23

No. 5 Tyler d. No. 8 Hillsborough 25-12, 18-25, 28-26, 18-25, 15-13

No. 14 Temple d. No. 10 Hutchinson 25-19, 18-25, 25-19, 21-25, 15-13

No. 9 Missouri State-West Plains d. No. 12 Redlands 21-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-20

No. 2 Western Nebraska d. No. 3 Iowa Western 34-32, 20-25, 25-19, 25-18

No. 1 Southern Idaho d. No. 4 San Jacinto 25-23, 27-25, 14-25, 25-20

Saturday

Consolation round

Match 23 - No. 14 Temple (24-18) vs. No. 9 Missouri State-West Plains (27-10), 8 a.m. (ninth place)

Match 24 - No. 7 North Idaho (23-7) vs. Hillsborough (28-14), 10 (seventh place)

Match 25 - No. 6 Central Florida (35-7) vs. No. 5 Tyler (31-6) , noon (fifth place)

Match 26 - No. 3 Iowa Western (45-3) vs. No. 4 San Jacinto (34-3) 22, 2:30 (third place)

National championship

Match 27 - No. 2 Western Nebraska (40-2) vs. No. 1 Southern Idaho (32-1), 4:30

* MEN'S BASKETBALL

North Idaho 97

Treasure Valley 77

ONTARIO, Ore. - Mikey Hope and Kaj Sherman had 21 points each as the Cardinals shot 36 of 51 from the free-throw line to defeat the Chukars in a nonconference game.

"We're off to a good start shooting free throws," NIC coach Jared Phay said. "It was a big difference in the game tonight."

Jaill Abdul-Bassit scored 16 points, Keon Lewis 15 points and James Webb 11 points for NIC (6-1), which hosts Columbia Basin on Tuesday.

"I thought we battled with them," Phay said. "Treasure Valley is a tough team. We were down at halftime and we had to rally a little bit."

NORTH IDAHO

Jordan McCloud 0-1 2-2 2, Jalil Abdul-Bassit 5-6 3-6 16, Chris Sarbaugh 1-3 0-0 2, Jason Wheelock 0-0 0-0 0, Keon Lewis 4-6 7-12 15, Michael Middlebrooks 4-4 1-2 9, Mikey Hope 4-4 12-13 21, Dalen Erickson 0-0 0-0 0, James Webb 5-5 0-0 11, Nathan Rathbun 0-0 0-1 0, Kaj Sherman 5-5 11-15 21. Totals 28-34 36-51 97.

TREASURE VALLEY

De'Sean Mattox 4-8 0-2 11, Chris Willis 10-12 7-9 29, Jon Williams 2-2 0-0 6, Shevon Williams 0-0 0-0 0, John Fletcher 6-12 2-2 18, Alex Campbell 0-0 0-0 0, Marck Coffin 3-4 2-4 8, James Livingston 0-2 0-0 0, Skyler Burgess 0-0 0-0 0, Justin Cooper 1-3 0-0 2, James Johnson 1-2 1-2 3. Totals 27-46 12-19 77.

Halftime - TVCC 42-40. 3-point goals - NIC 5-7 (Abdul-Bassit 3-3, Sarbaugh 0-1, Lewis 0-1, Hope 1-1, Webb 1-1), TVCC 11-16 (Mattox 3-4, Willis 2-2, J. Williams 2-2, Fletcher 4-6, Livingston 0-2). Rebounds - NIC 23, TVCC 15. Assists - NIC 16 (Lewis 4), TVCC 18 (Mattox 7). Team fouls - NIC 17, TVCC 34. Fouled out - Willis, Burgess, Johnson.