Sept. 19, 2004
Pocatello, ID--Idaho State dropped a 3-1 decision to New Mexico State Saturday night in the Final match of the Idaho State Classic. With the win, NMSU finished a perfect 3-0 in classic play to win the ISU Classic Championship. Wyoming placed second with a 2-1 record, Gonzaga was third at 1-2 and ISU finished fourth with an overall 0-3 record.
The Bengals were the first team at the Classic to win a game against the Aggies. ISU defeated NMSU 30-27 in the first game before falling 28-30, 26-30, and 24-30. Despite the loss, ISU head coach Mike Welch was pleased with the effort.
"I thought this was the best match of the tournament for us," Welch said. "I'm pleased with what happened tonight. I thought we played at an extremely high level against a very talented team."
Ali Gorny led the Bengals with 18 kills on 57 attacks. She also picked up 17 digs in the effort. Nikki Randall was the only other Bengal to record double-digit kills with 10. Martha Brinton helped with 21 assists, while Ashley VanderBloomen tallied a game-high 23 digs.
New Mexico State outside hitter led the Aggies with a game-high 23 kills. She had just six errors in the match for an attack percentage of .304. Both Tanya Allen and Alice Borden reached double-digit kills with 10 and 12 respectively.
As a team, Idaho State killed the ball 60 times with an attack percentage of .117 compared to NMSU's 67 kills for an attack percentage of .117.
Named to the Idaho State Classic All-Tournament team were Stevi Adams of New Mexico State, Christina Davis from Gonzaga, Gorny of ISU, Sara Maytorena and Lauren Scott from Wyoming, and Jackie Choi from NMSU. New Mexico State's Alice Borden was named the ISU Classic's MVP.
Up next for the Bengals will be a Sept. 21st matchup with Utah Valley State at Reed Gym. ISU will then open Big Sky Conference play against Montana State and Montana on Sept. 24 and 25.
