Sept. 20, 2008
Final Stats
Complete Eastern Washington Results 
Pocatello, ID--Idaho State captured its first victory defending its home court against Eastern Washington in straight sets (25-19, 25-19, 28-26) to improve its Big Sky record to 1-1 for the season. Idaho State posts a 3-9 overall record while the Eagles fall 4-7 for the season and 1-1 in the Big Sky.
The victory marked the first home match and conference win for head coach Chad Teichert. "Well of course it is always good to win, whether it is home or away, non-conference or conference," said Teichert. "But it's nice to have a win at home. I think it helps us get fans support and it's nice to have a win in the conference early in the season and get the momentum on."
The Bengals came onto the court with intensity and focus as they fought for every ball on the court in the first set which contained 12 tied scores and five lead changes. ISU showed its continual improvement as they maintained a positive energy allowing the Bengals to tie up the Eagles at 16-16. ISU went on to score nine points in the final plays holding Eastern Washington to just three.
In the second set, ISU kept down the errors as they posted nine kills with one error from 27 attempts for a .296 percentage. Junior Emily Waldron posted four kills and eight attacks as well as a service aces gaining five points for her team in the set.
Senior Brenda Cooper and sophomore Britta Bartschi became pivotal players in the tough fought third set for the Bengals. Cooper posted three kills and eight attacks with zero errors for a .375 attack percentage, as well as recording two block assists. She earned four points on her own accord. Middle blocker Bartschi earned 4.5 points as she posted three kills from nine attempts with two errors for a .111 percentage as well as service ace and a block assist.
Overall, the Bengals posted 29 kills with only 12 errors for a .157 percentage for the match while Eastern Washington recorded 39 kills and 33 errors from 130 attempts for a .046 percentage. Senior Blakely Peppinger recorded 22 assists as well as a service ace and block assist.
The Bengal service game and defense attributed to the victory as ISU posted six service aces and brought down the roof posting seven team blocks to Eastern Washington's four. Senior Cooper recorded three block assists and a solo block. Sophomores Bartschi and Sarah Carson also posted three block assists each. Redshirt Junior Paige Palmer led the back row as she recorded 16 digs.
The Bengals fed off the energy of the crowd as and celebrated the victory with the fans by singing the Bengal fight song. "We love being home," said senior Cooper "but we want to go away and score on the road and show them what we have too."
Idaho State volleyball action will continue as the team heads to Boise to begin a two-match road trip. The Bengals will compete against Boise State on Wednesday, September 24th in Bronco Gym at 7 p.m. then travel to Ogden to take on Weber State at 7 p.m. on Friday, September 26th at Swenson Gym.
