COEUR d’ALENE — With a No. 1 seed and a home playoff berth in the Region 18 women’s volleyball tournament on the line, North Idaho College appeared to play its match Saturday at Christianson Gymnasium as if it were an elimination match.

While no such dire consequences were actually on the table, the Cardinals took College of Southern Idaho, ranked No. 2 in the NJCAA and the top cat in the Scenic West Athletic Conference, to the limit before the Golden Eagles won, 25-19, 25-22, 25-27, 28-26.

The real consequences were that the Cardinals (6-10, 5-2 SWAC) are now in third place behind Salt Lake Community College (20-7, 7-2), and CSI (23-3, 6-1) is one game ahead of SLCC.

For now, if it stays in the same spot in the SWAC standings, NIC would play Nov. 5-7 in the Region 18 tournament, starting against Colorado Northwestern Community College. The Cardinals have five more matches in the regular season, starting with a nonconference home match on Tuesday against Blue Mountain of Pendleton, Ore. Their next SWAC match is Friday in Rangely, Colo. at Colorado Northwestern.

“We would have tied for the conference lead,” Cardinals coach Kelsey Stanley said. “It would be unbelievable if anyone can somehow defeat CSI. If anyone does, then things change.”

The Golden Eagles fought off a game point that would have tied the match late in the fourth game, after NIC sophomore outside hitter Brenna Meehan delivered her 16th and final kill along the back row. On match point at 27-26, Larissa Dos Santos of Sao Paulo, Brazil, one of seven players on CSI’s roster who is listed at 6-foot or taller, put away a kill attempt with a block that sent the ball nearly straight down.

“CSI has been been our rival for a lot of years,” said Meehan, who also had 15 digs and five blocks. “I guess we’re kind of used to, we want to beat them and they want to beat us on each other’s home courts. I think they wanted to get back at us since we beat them (Sept. 25 in five games) at Twin Falls, so that was a big part of why it was a big match. It was to be first in conference so that it would be held at our place. We still have a chance and we have to win two games to get to nationals.”

NIC freshman middle blocker Brooke Bell, a 6-foot-2 player from San Diego, had one of her best matches this season. Bell finished with 11 kills, including five in the third game and another three while moving from the middle to the outside spot, late in the fourth.

“We just wanted to stay aggressive and keep fighting,” Bell said. “It was important, we wanted to win and we wanted to host here, but we’re not scared to go anywhere else. We can still win (the region). I was trying to be smart with where I put my kills and not give anything easy.”

The difference in the match, especially in building a 2-0 lead for CSI, was 6-foot sophomore middle blocker Tawnee Luafalemana, who came into the match having led the SWAC in hitting percentage. Luafalemana finished with 19 kills and nine blocks. Teaming up with 6-foot-1 outside hitter Ashelyn Jones, who had 12 kills, the pair made it tough for NIC’s front row defense.

“It’s just good competition,” Golden Eagles coach Heidi Cartisser said. “Everybody knows there’s a lot on the line for these matches for hosting rights (in Region 18) and so the stakes are a little bit higher and everybody brings out their better play. We are in the driver’s seat if we can win out the rest of our conference.”

Trailing 2-0 to CSI, Meehan and Bell went to work late in the third to prevent the sweep. Meehan fought off match point with a soft touch for a kill to tie the game at 24. Bell and Meehan each had violent hits to give their team one-point leads, before Meehan fired another hard one into the middle of their defense.

“We were just really focused on that extra effort to the ball,” Stanley said. “No drops, just bring that extra energy. Our outsides were on. We figured we’ll feed the one who is scoring.”

Brittany Gay had 42 assists for NIC, which lost at home to No. 6 Salt Lake on Friday night. Penny Gwynn led with 17 digs.