Behind double-doubles from Meredith Hays and Stephanie Ziegler and a 13-kill, zero-error performance from Kelsey Brennan, the Aggies swept Idaho, 25-22, 25-22, 25-16 on Tuesday night to advance to the WAC Tournament championship match.
Hays recorded another double-double finishing with 18 points and 15 digs, Stephanie Ziegler posted a double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs and Kelsey Brennan added 13 kills hitting .591 while committing no attack errors. The Aggies hit .333 as a team and ousted 2-seed Idaho after the Vandals dominated the Aggies in Moscow, ID in the two teams' last meeting.
The first set saw 13 ties as neither team could create any separation. The Aggies forged ahead 20-17, the largest lead for either team to that point but Idaho would rally to score the next two cutting the Aggies' lead to 20-19. The Aggies would call a timeout to regroup and responded with Kills by Ziegler and Hays to go back up by three 22-19. Idaho would cut the Aggies' lead to one at 23-22 forcing another Aggie timeout but Hays would record back-to-back kills to give the Aggies the 25-22 set one victory.
Set two saw the teams tied six times through the first 24 points leaving the teams tied at 12-all but a three point run by the Aggies would give them a 15-12 lead. The Vandals would trim the Aggies' lead to just one 1t 18-17 but the Aggies would push the lead out to five points going ahead 23-18. Idaho would score three points in a row to cut the Aggies' lead to 23-21 but an Idaho kill by Alex Sele was sandwiched by kills from Michelle Kuester and Stephanie Ziegler giving the Aggies another 25-22 win.
Set three was all Aggies as they would jump out to a 10-5 lead. Idaho would clim back to within one scoring four in a row but the Aggies responded with a 5-0 run to go ahead 15-9. The Aggies expanded the lead to eight behind back-to-back attack errors from Idaho putting the Aggies up 21-13 and go on to win 25-16 with match point being earned on a service ace by Kelsi Phillips.
Idaho's Allison Walker finished with a team-high 18 kills hitting .359 for the match but no other Vandal recorded more than eight kills. The Aggies held Idaho to .211 hitting for the match and out-blocked the Vandals 7-5. Each team recorded a pair of service aces in the match.
The Aggies will take on the winner of the Fresno State/Hawai'i match. The championship will be televised on ESPNU at 7:00 p.m. (MT).



