PORTLAND, Ore. – Senior outside hitter Haylee Thompson-Brock and junior outside hitter Jaclyn Hone both notched double-doubles against No. 2 seed Northern Colorado (24-6, 14-2) as the No. 3 seed Bengals (18-13, 9-7) fell 2-3 to the Bears at the Stott Center in Portland, Ore., in the first round of the Big Sky Championship.
“I think the fact that this is the first time ISU has been to the tournament since 2005 and that was when it was a six-team tournament is a great achievement,” ISU Head Coach Chad Teichert said. “They played Northern Colorado in a really good match and I'm very proud of them.”
Thompson-Brock earned her fifth career double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs. Senior outside hitter Britta Bartchi Rhodehouse also notched 14 kills, eight digs and five blocks to bring her career total points to 1,096. Hone tabbed her 12th double-double of the 2010 season and the 26th of her career with 10 kills and 23 digs.
“Haylee has a great arm and has been a great asset to the team the last two years,” Teichert said. “These seniors have really shown a lot of improvement and have had a great attitude and we are really going to miss them next year.”
In the first set the Bengals and Bears battled back and forth as the Bears led by a small margin in beginning. The Bengals tied set at 13-13 and a block by senior middle blocker Sarah Carson and sophomore outside hitter Breanne Van Every brought the score to 21-24. A UNC kill from Julie Stephenson took it to 22-24 but a Van Every kill brought the set home as the Bengals won the set 25-22. In the first set alone, Hone, Van Every and Bartchi-Rhodehouse all had four kills each. The Bengals' defensive effort held UNC to just a .186 hitting percentage while posting a .361.
UNC opened a seven-point lead before the Bengals battled back to bring the score within two at the 22-20 mark. However, it wasn't quite enough as the Bengals fell to UNC 25-21. Thompson-Brock led ISU with four kills in the set.
In the third set, ISU came out and took control of the game, opening 3-1. UNC rallied back to bring the score to 7-3. The Bears led most of the match until the Bengals tied the set at 15-15 and completed a small rally that ended with a service ace by Hone to bring the score to 18-19. An attack error by UNC's Marissa Huges tied the score 20-20 but the Bengals dropped the set 25-23.
The Bengals tied the score at 8-8 in fourth set and a kill by junior setter Karissa Legaux set the Bengals up for a 10-8 lead. UNC tied the game at 12-12 but a definitive kill by freshman outside hitter Jennika Wright brought the score to 15-16 and ISU took control of the momentum to win the set 25-20.
The fifth set was yet another close set, but the Bears went on a 4-1 run in the middle set to clinch a berth into the championship that will be played tomorrow at 7 p.m. against the winner of the No. 1 Portland State and No. 4 Montana match-up.
www.isubengals.com
