Having rallied from down 2-0 to force a fifth set, Weber State had Northern Colorado in a 12-9 hole in their Big Sky Tournament semifinal match Thursday night in Sacramento, California — a few points from playing for the tournament title as a No. 4 seed for the second straight season.

And when Saane Munyer swung a ball hard off the face of a Bears player for a 13-11 advantage, it seemed almost inevitable.

Almost.

After a delay to tend to the resulting bloody nose from Munyer’s kill, the No. 1 Bears staved off match point and eventually won 17-15, ending Weber State’s season in crushing fashion.

Northern Colorado took the match 25-19, 25-17, 11-25, 20-25, 17-15 — another five-set escape after a reverse sweep to get by Montana State on Wednesday. WSU lost in a sweep to UNCo at home two weeks ago.

After getting down two sets, Rose Moore’s arm and WSU’s block dominated set three and got the match to the fifth. Moore totaled a career-high 19 kills while hitting .410, and Ashley Gneiting added 11 kills. Munyer had six blocks and Liana Woodley four. Kate Payne had 30 assists and 10 digs.

After two untimely service errors had WSU down 7-5 in the fifth set, Payne made what could’ve been the play of the match for Weber State by chasing down a high overpass and flicking it over the net for a point. Morgan Pratt served an ace to knot it 7-7 and Weber was back in it.

Weber State finishes the season 14-15 overall and 11-7 against Big Sky teams.

The Wildcats got to Thursday with a fairly convincing 3-1 victory Wednesday over No. 5 Eastern Washington (25-22, 23-25, 25-14, 27-25). WSU outhit EWU .245 to .195 after losing in Cheney earlier this season.

Ashley Gneiting had a career-high 21 kills and Saane Munyer added seven blocks in that win. Kate Payne totaled 42 assists and 22 digs.