Bengals Defeat Griz in Straight Sets for 20th Win and Senior Night Victory

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POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State volleyball team closed out its regular-season home schedule in style, defeating the visiting Montana Griz in straight sets for its 20th victory on Senior Night. The Bengals recorded 42 kills with a .309 hitting percentage and cruised to 25-15, 25-21 and 25-20 set wins.

Senior outside hitter Tressa Lyman led the Bengals with 12 kills, while fellow senior Makenzie Filer added eight kills with a .462 hitting percentage to go along with four digs and four blocks. Senior libero Kaitlyn Johnson finished with 16 digs in her final match at Reed Gym.

"I think here at Idaho State volleyball we have a standard of excellence," Lyman said. "We expect that we're going to go out and work hard and we're going to win. You know every single player on our team expects us to win because that's how we practice...Look in everybody's eyes; we want to win."

"For sure you want to send them out on the high they deserve," said Head Coach Rick Reynolds. 'These guys, that's their 89th victory and that's awesome. They've earned the right to go out winners."

The Bengals (20-9, 12-3 BSC) started off hot in the first set, racking up 11 kills with a .292 hitting percentage. ISU claimed the first two points of the set and never looked back, capitalizing on five Montana receiving errors and playing solid defense at the net with five total blocks. Montana (7-20, 3-12 BSC) was unable to make much of an offensive push, and the Bengals cruised to the 25-15 first set win.

In the second, ISU again claimed the first point following a block from Filer and junior setter Hayley Farrer, but the Griz responded and capitalized on two consecutive Bengal errors to take the 2-1 lead. The second set was the cliché back-and-forth battle, featuring 12 ties and four lead changes. Neither team led by more than three points until ISU broke a 17-all tie and capped a 5-2 run to claim the largest lead of the set at four, 23-19. ISU finished with two kills from Lyman to counter two Griz kills and took the second, 25-21.

After the break, the back-and-forth play continued, starting with the first point awarded to the Griz following an ISU error. Neither team took a sizeable lead until the Bengals broke a 12-all tie and went on a 9-2 run to lead 21-14. Several Griz errors fueled that Bengal run, but ISU strengthened the blow with four kills of its own. The Griz finished the set on a 6-4 run, but ISU was able to handle the push and held on for a 25-21 third set win and the 3-0 sweep for its 20th win of the season.

With the win, the Bengals move back into second place in the South Division following a 3-1 Sacramento State loss at Northern Arizona Thursday evening. With the win, Northern Arizona clinched the regular-season title and the right to host the Big Sky Championships next week in Flagstaff, Ariz.

"The target is still on our back," Reynolds said. "We were the team that was chosen to win this thing, and we haven't changed our tune since day one. Our job is to go out and win this thing, and that's what we're going to do."

ISU travels to Ogden, Utah for its final regular-season conference match against Weber State Saturday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m.