Sept. 25, 2009
Final Stats
Eastern Washington Box Score 
Pocatello, ID--Eastern Washington fought back from the brink of destruction as Hayley Hills, 2008 Big Sky MVP, led the Eagles with 20 kills and 16 digs to help overcome ISU's 2-0 lead in the Bengals first five set match (17-25, 21-25, 25-21, 25-17, 15-13) of the season at their home opener in Reed Gym Friday night. The Bengals captured the first two sets with relative ease, but after the break the Eagles took charge flip-flopping the stats and running away to an undefeated 3-0 Big Sky Record. Eastern Washington, who captured the regular season last year, improved to 7-5 for the season while Idaho State fell to 5-7 and 1-2 in Big Sky play.
"We knew we were playing a good team at home and we started off well, but I think Eastern (Washington) started playing better. Their number 13 (Hayley Hills) is a dynamite player and she can play at a high level," said head coach Chad Teichert of the match.
Idaho State posted three players with double-figures in kills while five players posted double-figures in digs. Sophomore setter Karissa Legaux recorded a double-double with 36 assists and 10 digs, her first of the season, and fourth of her career. Paige Palmer led the defensive effort with 21 kills for her third 20-plus dig match of the season.
The Bengals started off strong as they quickly posted a 25-17 set holding the Eagles to their lowest attack percentage of the match at .085 with 11 kills and seven errors from 47 attempts. ISU posted a .174 attack, their highest of the match with junior Haylee Thompson leading the way with five kills and a .375 percentage. Thompson led Idaho State for the match with 14 kills, she also recorded three digs. Idaho State out-blocked the Eagles 4-to-3 in the first set.
Idaho State continued to hold Eastern Washington out of the match when they held the Eagles to a .100 attack percentage. This time junior Sarah Carson would lead the Bengals with four kills and zero errors for a .800 attack percentage. Carson made one error the entire match after producing eight kills from 21 attempts for a .333 percentage. She also led the Bengals in blocks with five assisted and one solo. In the first and second set the Bengals attack set up easy points as they picked away several balls that floated over into Bengal territory above the net.
Victory was within reach for the Bengals and looked to be a repeat of ISU's last home contest against the Eagles in 2008 that resulted in a 3-0 sweep, but Eastern Washington pulled out all the stops as the team improved their attack percentage to .244 in the third set with Chenoa Coviare and Hills leading with five kills each. Coviare posted a match-high eight block assists. The match steam rolled from the third set as the Eagles would post its best set of the match in the fourth with a .351 attack percentage and out-block the Bengals as a team 5-to-1.
However, as ISU struggled they went to its go-to player senior outside hitter Emily Waldron who posted four and six kills in the third and fourth set respectively, however it was not enough to dig the Bengals out of the hole as she was kept busy on the defensive end as well. Waldron recorded 13 kills in the contest and 17 digs
"I think when you win game one and game two its human nature to ease up. It's not like something you know is going on, it's something that happens subconsciously," said Teichert. "I also think when you get in the middle of a heated battle that is nip and tuck it is easy to revert back to previous behavior patterns and that was some of it."
Idaho State dug deep in the fifth set, and with a 3-1 five-set record from the 2008 season, it was a solid possibility. The fifth set was a battle that consisted of three lead changes and seven tied scores, but a few errors down the stretch allowed Eastern Washington to close out the match 15-13.
"We wanted to stay poised, be aggressive and play smart, but down the stretch we had a couple errors and at game point Jaclyn got a swing on it which was good," said Teichert. "We still need to keep being aggressive throughout the match. It's tough to maintain that kind of intensity for as long as that match lasted, but we have to maintain if we want to see good results."
The contest lasted two hours and 13 minutes. ISU's defense did a good job of holding the Eagle's hitting power at bay as ISU held Hills to one kill in the first set. The sleeping giant gained confidence after the first set and posted five kills in each set thereafter except for four in the fourth. Hills was the go-to power for Eastern in the fifth set. At 10-all Eastern Washington called a timeout, from that point she scored each of the teams three-points to pull them ahead from a tie until the Bengals attack errors put them out of the match.
With ISU's first home match under their belt after an 11-game away stretch, ISU will feel more comfortable on their home court and look to defend Reed Gym when they take on Portland State Saturday, September 26 at 7 p.m.
"Portland State's a very good team," said Teichert. "We just have to better and play the way we did in games one and two today."
Notes: Eastern Washington Head Coach Miles Kydd, who was named Coach of the Year after leading EWU to the regular season title in 2008 in his first season, received a yellow card late in the match ... ISU defeated Eastern Washington at home last season in straight sets (25-19, 25-19, 28-26), the contest was ISU's second home of that season ... Hills received Big Sky Player of the Week Honors the previous week.
