Box Score
Portland, Ore. – The Idaho State Bengals swept the regular season Big Sky Champion Portland State Vikings 3-0 on their home court to claim their first Big Sky volleyball title since 1990.
Makenzie Filer was named Big Sky Tournament MVP and she showed why with 12 kills and four block-assists for a match-high 14 points.
Filer ended the tournament with 41 kills, ten blocks and five aces in 11 total sets.
"Makenzie played a fabulous match and had such a great weekend," Head Coach
Chad Teichert said. "She came back this August and she was an entirely different player. She worked so hard in the offseason and she didn't stop there, she kept working and got better every match."
The Bengals continued where they left off Friday night and set the tone early with a dominating 25-18 win in the first set.
Alydia Fields-Grimm had four kills in the first set and Filer had three kills and two block assists to help ISU make an early statement.
The second set was far more competitive. ISU fell behind 12-9 but were able to tie it up at 14-14 with a kill by Fields-Grimm. Portland State then won four consecutive points, topped off by an errand set by ISU to give the Vikings an 18-14 lead.
Idaho State stormed back and took their first lead at 25-24 on an error by Portland State's Jaklyn Wheeler. After a back-and-forth battle that included four Idaho State set-points, the Bengals closed out the 29-27 win with an attack error by PSU's Kaeli Patton.
Idaho State was in the same situation last season at Northern Colorado. The Bengals were up 2-0 against the tournament host school and fell 3-2. With that match on their mind the Bengals took the floor for the third set.
"We remembered what it was like to lose in five last season but we didn't allow ourselves to over-think it," Filer said. "We were relaxed and played this match like we did all year."
ISU battled through every point in the third set and played step-for-step with Portland State. There were 10 ties and four lead changes in the final frame but ISU took a 16-15 lead on a Filer kill and never trailed again as they Cruised to the 25-20 win with the final point coming from a Fields-Grimm kill.
"The girls worked so hard this season and they competed very well today against a very good team," Teichert said. "I am happy for our team and I think they deserved the championship."
Fields-Grimm led both teams with 13 kills and seven digs while
Tressa Lyman scored a double-double with 11 kills and 13 digs. She had 27 kills for the tournament.
The 2012 Big Sky MVP
Lori Mendenhall-Lee was named to the All-Tournament team. She had 39 assists, four kills and seven digs on the night. For the tournament she had a tournament-high 127 assists for the weekend.
Mendenhall-Lee was the lone senior on the championship team and a huge part of ISU success over the past two seasons.
"It is a testament to how good of a player Lori has become," Teichert said. "She has been such a key component to this team over the last four years and it has been an honor to coach her and to get this conference championship while she is still with us. She is a great college setter"
Kylee Searle-Sessions tallied match-high 24 digs; she had a tournament high 64 for the weekend and was named to the All-Tournament Team.
"It was unbelievable how well Kylee played tonight," Tiechert said. "She had some great digs she passed the ball very well. That really helped our attack be where we needed to be."
Portland State's Garyn Schlatter, Leigh-Ann Haataja, North Dakota's Ronni Munkeby and Northern Arizona Janae Vander Ploeg round out the all-tournament team.
The Bengals will find out their fate tomorrow evening at 7:30 p.m. with the NCAA selection show on ESPNU. Fans are invited to watch the selection show with the team at Buffalo Wild Wings in Chubbuck.
We Are Your Big Sky Champions
