Sept. 18, 2008
Final Stats
Complete Portland State Box Score 
Pocatello, ID--Idaho State improved its play as it came close to overcoming Portland State in sets one and three but fell in its home opener against Portland State in straight sets (25-23, 25-18, 25-22) at Reed Gym Thursday afternoon. Idaho State falls to 2-9 overall record while Portland State improves to 8-3 with a 1-0 Big Sky record.
"I think we feel good because we played well and we held our own," said junior Emily Waldron about the play against previous Big Sky regular season champions Portland State. Waldron who continues to lead the Bengals in double-doubles with four when she recorded 12 kills, the match-high, and 16 digs. Waldron had 31 attempts with only three errors for a .290 percentage. PSU's Jennifer Oney equaled match-high 12 kills with Waldron and posted three digs.
The Bengals held a 7-2 lead to start the match against the Vikings until PSU caught up at 12-12 in the first set. The Bengals pushed forward but were unable to regain the lead. ISU started off slow in the second set and could not recover. In the third set ISU began with solid play and posted a strong 10-6 lead. Unfortunately, the Vikings were able to consistently string together points. ISU and Portland State went back and forth for a nail biting third set that consisted of five tie scores and four lead changes, but the Vikings would come out victorious.
Sophomore Sarah Carson had nine kills, a season-high, and only recorded one error for a .533 percentage. Senior Brenda Cooper posted eight kills. The Bengals recorded more attack attempts but eventually hit the wall as Portland State was able to put a hand on the ball and keep the Bengals attacks from becoming scoring opportunities. Portland State recorded 10 total team blocks to ISU's four. Portland State's Erica Jepsen posted six block assist, a match high and was responsible for earning 11 points for her team.
Senior Blakely Peppinger also recorded a double-double when she led the Bengals in assists with 37 and posted 11 digs.
Head coach Chad Teichert hopes the loss to Portland State will be unsettling for the girls and serve as a motivator for his players. "I am pleased with the kids in terms of their effort, but I'm not pleased in terms of the way the match turned out," said head coach Teichert. "I hope they aren't happy, I hope they aren't pleased. I hope they are sick about it and come back to practice tomorrow as hungry as can be, wanting to win a volleyball match, to get better at some phase of the game or several phases of the game, because we've got to get better. We are capable of it."
The Bengals will come out gnashing their teeth and bearing their claws on Saturday afternoon, September 20, against Eastern Washington as they look to split at home at 7 p.m. at Reed Gym.
