Aug. 26, 2005
Box Score
Salt Lake City, UT--Idaho State dropped a 3-0 decision to Utah Friday night at Crimson Court in Salt Lake City in the team's season-opener. The Bengals fell just short in all three games, 22-30, 28-30, 27-30.
"This is really the first match in two years that I have walked off the floor in a loss smiling," said ISU head coach Mike Welch. "I was so impressed with how we played against one of the top-30 teams in the nation. We out-played them defensively and ball-control wise. We just lost the battle of the net."
The Bengals stayed close early in the first game, trailing by just two, 10-8. The Utes then went on an 8-0 run to take an 18-8 run, which the Bengals just couldn't counter.
In a very close second match, Idaho State took an early 12-11 lead before Utah went on a short run to get the lead, 16-12. The Bengals battled back to take a 24-23 lead before the game was tied again at 27. The Utes then went up 29-28 before winning the game by just two, 30-28.
Game three was just as exciting as the second with both teams taking leads back and forth deep into the contest. With the scored tied 22-22, Utah went on a 7-2 run to take a 29-24 lead. ISU then tallied three straight points of the Utes to get to within two, 29-27, but couldn't get any further as Utah took the 30-27 win to secure the match victory.
"Every game was so close," Welch said. "We were tied down the stretch in each game. I was really happy with the way our team stuck in there and battled. To get 19 digs a game against this caliber of a team being is impressive and something to be happy about. We'll get better."
Nikki Havens and Felice Yocopis each recorded double-doubles for the Bengals. Havens tallied a game-high 19 kills with just seven errors on 43 attacks. The junior outside hitter also had 11 digs and two service aces in the match. Yocopis was just as impressive, recording 10 kills with just four errors on 35 attacks. Yocopis also had a game-high 16 digs.
"Nikki (Havens) had a great game," Welch said. "She was triple-blocked the entire match and still hit nearly .280. Bri Beal played great. It won't show up on the box score, but Bri passed the ball very well tonight."
Freshman setter Amanda Bevens led the squad with 29 assists, while sophomore Katie Hurst reached double digits with 10 digs.
As a team, Idaho State tallied 42 kills with 26 errors on 127 attacks for a .126 hitting percentage. The Utes recorded 55 kills with just 13 errors on 133 attacks. ISU tallied 56 digs to Utah's 46, while Utah totaled 11.5 blocks to ISU's four.
Idaho State will be in California for a two-day tournament against Washington State, UC Davis, and Toledo Sept. 2-3. The team's home opener is Sept. 6 against Montana-Western.
