Wichita State plays at UTEP on Tuesday for NIVC championship

Wichita State will play UTEP on Tuesday for the NIVC championship.

Wichita State (25-8) advanced by sweeping Montana State the semifinals, while UTEP (25-9) hit .475 and did the same to South Florida.

Wichita State, which finished 15-4 and second to SMU in the American Athletic Conference West standings, beat Montana State (24-9) 25-21, 26-24, 25-20 as Morgan Stout had 14 kills with one error in 23 attacks to hit .565. She added two blocks and two digs.  Sophia Rohling had eight kills, two blocks and two digs; Barbara Koehler had seven kills, a solo block and three digs; and Natalie Foster had six kills with one error in 12 swings, a dig and four blocks, one solo. Izzi Strand had three kills, 33 assists, an ace, a block and eight digs. Her team hit .313 as the Shockers won their fifth in a row.

Visiting Montana State, which went 12-4 and tied for second in the Big Sky, got 11 kills from Kira Thomsen, who had nine digs. Montana State finished with the most wins in program history under first-year coach Matt Houk.

UTEP,  which finished in a three-way tie for second at 11-5 in Conference USA, is in a post-season championship match for the first time. Alianza Darley led with 12 kills and hit .440 after having one error in 25 attacks to go with two aces, two digs and two blocks, one solo. Kaya Weaver had eight kills in 12 errorless attacks, an assist, a dig and a block; Danika Washington had eight kills in 10 errorless attacks, five blocks and two digs; Torrance Lovesee had seven kills with one error in 19 swings, two assists, two aces, a block and a dig; and Maria Ovalle had five kills in sever errorless attacks, a block and a dig. 

South Florida (22-12) finished 13-6 and atop the American Athletic East and had the most wins for the program since 2002. Buse Hazan led with 11 kills, an assist, two aces, a block and four digs.

TV/streaming details for the 7 p.m. Mountain time Tuesday championship match at UTEP were not available, but click here for the NIVC tournament website.