Oct. 24, 2009
Final Stats
Eastern Washington Box Score 
Cheney, WA--Idaho State was no match for Big Sky leaders this week as the Bengals fell for the second straight match to a conference leader in straight sets when Eastern Washington posted a victory over Idaho State at Reese Court on Saturday night. The Eagles improved to an 8-2 Big Sky record to top the conference rankings, shared with Portland State. Idaho State fell to a tie for seventh place with a 3-7 record in Big Sky play.
"We passed-served pretty well, and served pretty well, but we didn't hit the ball well. Sometimes our ball control was not there," said head coach Chad Teichert. "I'd like to think we can do better than that."
The Bengals (9-13, 3-7 BSC) struggled on the attack as they were reduced to single digits in kills for the third time this season, and second straight match. The error filled match caused the Bengals to post a .070 attack percentage was due in part to a block defense created by the Eagles. Eastern Washington (14-7, 8-2 BSC) out-blocked the Bengals 10-to-3 for the match.
Idaho State had two players post .400 attack percentages with zero errors each. Junior middle blocker Sarah Carson recorded six kills from 15 attempts while setter Karissa Legaux, a sophomore, posted two kills from five attempts. Legaux recorded 27 assists in the contest.
The Bengals were led by sophomore Jaclyn Hone who recorded eight kills, but made eight errors in 36 attempts for a .000 attack percentage. The outside hitter also recorded 11 digs and a service ace.
Libero Paige Palmer recorded 13 digs in the match for her 17th consecutive double-figure dig performance, a streak that leads the Big Sky Conference. Palmer's performance places her 15 digs shy of a career 1,000 digs.
"When she is on the game she helps us by covering the block. We need her to do it consistently and she has," said Teichert. "You would expect that from a libero, but not everyone has her consistency."
The best set performance of the match was the second where the Bengals posted four lead changes and 10 tied scores. Idaho State won the service battle for the match posting two aces and only four errors while Eastern Washington recorded two aces and seven service errors.
"Last week we worked on scoring more when we are serving," said Teichert.
Eagle Hayley Hills posted a match-high 16 kills, with a double-double including 13 digs, with a .394 attack percentage. The outside hitter recorded 20 kills against the Bengals in their last match up.
"A couple of their hitters are very effective. Chenoa Coviare is effective and that Hayley Hills is remarkable," stated Teichert.
Coviare recorded the only other double-figure kill performance of the match with 13 in a .423 attack percentage performance. Eastern Washington hit .299 for the match after opening the first set with a .452 percentage.
Eastern Washington swept the Bengals in the regular season, but Idaho State fared better in their first match up where the Bengals took the first two sets before falling in five at home.
The Bengals return home to host Northern Colorado on Friday, October 30 at 7 p.m. at Reed Gym. Idaho State will host Northern Arizona on Halloween, October 31 at 7 p.m.
