Sept. 8, 2004
Pocatello, ID---Despite winning game one 30-25, Idaho State fell 3-1 to Utah State Wednesday evening at Reed Gym. After splitting back-to-back matches at home, Idaho State now heads out on the road, traveling to Fullerton, California for the Four Points Sheraton Tournament for three games.
With the loss, ISU falls to 2-4 overall on the season. Utah State improves to 1-3 with the win.
The Bengals held on to win game one 30-25 before dropping the next three, 24-30, 32-34, and 24-30.
"We didn't take care of the little things that make the big difference," said ISU head coach Mike Welch of his team's performance. "It was a lack of discipline that hurt us. These are lessons to learn. We are identifying our needs. Now we will move on, fix those mistakes and make progress."
ISU battled in game three, rallying from 21-25 down to tie the game at 26-26. A back-and-forth point battle ensued that resulted in a 32-32 tie before Utah State scored two straight points on kills to secure the game. Utah State then won game four to win the match.
Kamie Olsen and Nikki Randall led the Bengals with 12 kills each, while Martha Brinton tallied a game-high 44 assists. Heather Kinnison helped ISU with 11 kills and six blocks.
Zuzana Cernianka led the Aggies with a game-high 24 kills. The junior outside hitter/setter recorded 26.5 of USU's 88 total points on the night. She also tallied 25 assists and 13 digs with four blocks.
ISU now travels to Fullerton, California for the Four Points Sheraton Tournament for matches against San Jose State on Sept. 10, Providence on Sept. 11, and Cal State Fullerton also on Sept. 11. The Bengals will then travel to face Boise State in Boise. The next home match for ISU will be Sept. 16 against Wyoming.
