COEUR d'ALENE - Sophomore outside hitter Mariah Smith said something was different about the North Idaho College volleyball team on Saturday.

"I talked to some of the girls in the locker room before the game and the vibe was just different," Smith said. "We were calm, relaxed and ready."

The eighth-ranked Cardinals came out firing and staged off a Salt Lake rally to defeat the fifth-ranked Bruins 25-13, 25-20, 16-25, 17-25, 15-13 and take sole position of first place in the Scenic Western Atheltic Conference.

“This is a bittersweet win,” Cardinals coach Kandice Kelly said. “They beat us both times we’ve played them this season, but I have to give credit to the girls. They didn’t care that they beat us two times in a row.”

The Cardinals (18-7, 5-1 SWAC) set the tone early, winning the first two sets with excellent passing from Sierra Pancho and effective hitting from Yang Yang.

“We know that Salt Lake is our biggest competition in the league,” Smith said. “We knew we had to come out firing away. So we just put all our hearts in the first two games and went crazy.”

The Cardinals had 29 kills in the first two sets and only committed eight errors.

“Our team is getting so much better,” Kelly said. “We are playing better on defense and they’re mixing their shots up and just not making mistakes.”

The Bruins (19-6, 5-2 SWAC) struggled in the first two sets and committed 11 errors in the first set alone.

“I thought we were giving them the game,” Salt Lake coach Sue Dulaney said. “We were just making a lot of mistakes (and) unforced errors.”

But the momentum shifted after the 10-minute intermission between the second and third sets when the Bruins jumped out to a 5-1 advantage in the third set and never looked back, winning the third and fourth sets.

“When we were down, we just weren’t playing like ourselves,” Kelly said. “But I told them the team with more heart will win this game. And I believe we have more heart, we’re smarter and we’re more competitive.”

At one point during the fifth and deciding set, the Cardinals were down 7-3 and on the verge of letting one slip away.

But NIC was in a familiar position. Five of the Cardinals’ matches this season have gone the distance.

“I told our girls, ‘we’ve been in tough situations before. This is no big deal,’” Kelly said. “We didn’t make it this far to lose.”

The Cardinals fought back and tied the set at 12 when Yang went up for the spike but gently tapped the ball over the net and the Bruin blocker.

“Honestly, I was just thinking to myself, ‘We can do this. We can do this,’” said Smith, who finished the match with a team-high 17 digs to go along with 10 kills. “Mentally I had to say that to myself so I could be there for my team. I wasn’t thinking any negative thoughts, I was saying ‘let’s make this pass and make this shot. Let’s do everything right.’”

Brooklyn Bradbury, who had 13 assists in the game, served up the final point of the match, which the Bruins failed to return in three hits.

“This win means everything,” Smith said. “It’s great.”

“Mariah is definitely overlooked,” Kelly said. “She serves well and passes well. She’s usually top in digs and hitting-wise she is getting a lot more consistent.”

Yang had 16 kills, 16 digs and one ace in the match. Pancho recorded 28 assists, nine digs and two aces. Emily Sarff added 15 digs for NIC, which won its seventh match in a row.

The Cardinals donned all-pink uniforms during the match in celebration of Dig for Pink night, which attempts to raise awareness for breast cancer.

The win gives NIC a split with Salt Lake in their two SWAC matches. Salt Lake split with Southern Idaho. NIC beat CSI (17-8, 6-2) at home, and visits CSI Oct. 22. A win in Twin Falls would put NIC in the driver’s seat to win the SWAC title. The conference champion hosts the Region 18 tournament Nov. 4-5.

Utah State University-Eastern travels to Coeur d’Alene on Wednesday. The match, which was originally scheduled for Oct. 8, was postponed due to the passing of USU-Eastern’s men’s basketball coach.