Sept. 13, 2003
Stats
Spokane, WA--Idaho State picked up their third tournament title of the season, this time at the Gonzaga Volleyball Tournament, defeating both UNLV and Gonzaga on Saturday to finish 3-0 in the tournament.
Ali Gorny led the way again with her eighth double-double of the season against the Bulldogs. Gorny had 18 kills and 17 digs in the Bengals 30-28, 32-30, 30-16, win. Kylie Gilmore had 18 kills and a .417 attack percentage in the win. Martha Brinton had her seventh double-double of the season with 45 assists and 10 digs.
For her play Gorny was named Most Valuable Player of the Tournament, the second time this season she has been named MVP of a tournament. Jennie James and Brinton were named to the All-Tournament team.
In the win over UNLV the Bengals nearly had three players with 20-plus kills. James led the way with 25 kills and a .435 attack percentage. Ali Gorny had 24 kills and 12 digs. Brinton had a season-high 67 assists and 15 digs. Freshman Ashley VanderBloomen had her first 20-dig match of her career.
The Bengals trailed by two points twice in the first game and led just 21-19, but a pair of kills by Gorny and five attack errors by the Rebels helped the Bengals reel off nine straight points to win game one, 30-19. The second game was close throughout, but the Rebels held off a Bengal charge and won 30-28. After starting off game three with a 4-0 deficit, the Bengals rallied and took the lead at 12-11, but the Rebels retook the lead for good at 21-20 and won 30-24.
Down two games to one the team which has lost just one match that went over three games all season kept their composure and turned the tables on the Rebels. ISU took a quick 5-1 lead and never trailed in winning game four 30-24. Game five saw the Bengals fall behind 5-3, but three straight Gorny kills put the Bengals up. However the Rebels rallied and retook the lead at match point 14-13. A service error tied things up, then Ali Gorny set up the win with another kill. A ball handling error on match point by UNLV's Nicki King finished things at 16-14.
"We're really happy about the win this weekend because there were three quality opponents that really pushed us. We really showed some great character. It was great to see how we responded to tough situations. Ali once again showed that she's a big time player."
The Bengals improved to 9-3 with the wins. UNLV fell to 5-3, while Gonzaga is 1-8. The Bengals will return home on Tuesday, September 16, when they host in-state rival Boise State at 7:00 p.m. in Reed Gymnasium. The match will be the Bengals final non-conference match.
