SALT LAKE CITY - The College of Southern Idaho made sure the NJCAA Division I Volleyball Championships will go on without the No. 1-ranked team in the nation.

Sixth-ranked CSI put together its best match of the season at the right time, eliminating No. 1 North Idaho 25-22, 25-21, 25-22 Friday evening to advance to Saturday's Region 18 Tournament championship match and keep alive its hopes of qualifying for the national tournament.

Contrary to the way the previous three matches went, all North Idaho wins, CSI (27-5) grinded through the opening parts of the first two sets, then took each with a sustained push at the end. The team credited it to tireless work from the coaching staff, which scouted North Idaho (27-6) to the point where it seemed the Golden Eagles knew the Cardinals better than the Cardinals knew themselves.

"We've trained so hard just focusing on what they do," said CSI sophomore Jessica Peacock, who shook off a first-set ankle injury to finish with a match-high 16 kills. "We weren't surprised by any of their changes, because we could not have possibly been any more prepared."

Elisa Brochado had 14 kills for CSI, while Torrey Hulsey, who committed to West Virginia on Thursday, had 12. Barbara Alcantara dished out 42 assists and had 10 digs.

North Idaho couldn't find a way to get its block established, something it did in all three wins. The Cardinals finished with seven blocks to CSI's six but didn't do enough to put that seed of doubt in the Golden Eagles' minds.

Marketa Hanzlova led North Idaho with nine kills, followed by eight each from Callie Johns and Tina Strahinic, the latter of whom carried the team in the early goings as Johns and Hanzlova warmed up.

"We're trying to get as many of our guns firing at once because that makes us that much tougher," said North Idaho coach Chris Kosty. "In our conference, it's always a battle between us, CSI and Salt Lake (Community College), and on a given day any of us can beat the other. Obviously that happened tonight. They did a great job of getting that last big push when it mattered."

Hulsey didn't have a match that stuffed the stat columns, but almost all of her kills came at the most important times. The faith Alcantara showed to set her big middle the ball at the key moments rubbed off on the Sutter, Calif., sophomore.

"My team was keeping me pumped up, and that just made me want to do even better for them," said Hulsey. "I didn't think we had it won at any point because we had been two sets up on them in the past. We were just thinking of it as we had to win that (set). But we weren't going to let ourselves lose to them again."

CSI will face top-seeded host Salt Lake Community College in today's Region 18 title match. The Bruins (26-7) rallied for a four-set win over Snow College inFriday's late match. Today's winner automatically qualifies for the national tournament in Council Bluffs, Iowa, while the loser hosts ninth-ranked Eastern Arizona on Tuesday for a trip to the tournament.