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POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State volleyball team fought, clawed and battled its way to a five-set win over visiting North Dakota Friday evening at Reed Gym. After dropping the first two sets 26-24 and 25-22, the Bengals claimed the last three sets 25-18, 25-14 and 16-14 for their first five-set match win of the season.
"I thought we played good volleyball for five sets," Head Coach
Rick Reynolds said. "Are there moments that we could play better? Yes, but I thought we played five good sets offensively. Defensively, we were good enough to do the things we needed to do at the net, which created opportunities for us to dig. To have three players with at least 20 digs is pretty nice. Teams are trying to start to go away from Haylie [Keck], and our other kids are stepping up defensively, which is what you want."
Freshman
Haylie Keck led the digging effort on the night with 24, but senior setter
Hayley Farrer and junior outside hitter
Chloe Hirst each posted career-high digs with 20 and 22 respectively. Farrer was two kills shy of a triple double with eight in addition to a match-high 55 assists. Farrer along with three other Bengals posted double-doubles on the night; sophomore outside hitter
Abby Jensen finished with a match-high 18 kills to go along with 13 digs, junior middle blocker
Marissa Todd added 17 kills and a career-high 18 digs, while Hirst added 16 kills to her 22 digs.
At the start of the match, North Dakota (15-9, 7-2 BSC) had the upper hand from the get-go. It started with an ISU attacking error, and Idaho State (11-11, 6-3 BSC) would never take the lead. After tying the match 24-all following a UND attacking error, the Fighting Hawks finished with two consecutive kills from Ashley Brueggeman to take the first set 26-24.
In the second set, the Bengals started with some force with a big kill from Todd, but UND responded and had the edge midway through the set, 13-10. ISU would never close the gap and fell 25-22 to head into the break facing a 2-0 deficit.
After the break, the Bengals emerged a changed team. It started with two-straight kills from Hirst followed by an attacking error from UND's Julia Kaczorowska for the 3-0 lead. Add in four more ISU kills and soon the score was 7-2, forcing the UND timeout. The Bengals continued to hammer the Fighting Hawks and hit .300 for the set; soon the Bengals had extended their lead to 10, 16-6 midway through the set. The following blow from Todd gave ISU the 17-6 lead and forced North Dakota to take another timeout.
UND stopped the bleeding with three kills for its own, but Idaho State maintained a healthy lead throughout and took the third set 25-18.
"At the break, we just told them, 'We're playing good volleyball,'" Reynolds said. "'Trust that our rhythm will keep coming, and you'll find holes. We don't need anything 'wow' here. We just need to keep executing and take what they are giving you.' Nothing earth shattering. I'm just in there telling them to trust what we do, trust what we execute every day in practice and know that it'll compete with anyone."
In the fourth set, North Dakota claimed the first point, but the Bengals continued to ride their momentum from the third set and raced out to a 10-5 lead. Both Farrer and Todd were clutch for ISU in the fourth; Todd connected on five kills off eight attempts for a .625 hitting percentage, while Farrer hit .667 with two kills off three attempts and no errors. Midway through the set, ISU extended its lead to 10, 20-10 and traded point-for-point with the Fighting Hawks to finish the set. Todd slammed the final ball for her fifth kill of the set to give ISU the 25-14 set win.
The Bengals cooled off a bit in the final set, hitting just .095, yet defense kept ISU alive. The Bengals dug 15 of UND's 24 total attempts and made big plays at the right time. The Bengals took the early 3-1 lead, but a 4-1 run from the Fighting Hawks put UND on top 6-4. North Dakota kept control of the lead until two-straight kills from ISU tied the match 12-all. A kill from UND put the Bengals behind 13-12, but two-straight UND attacking errors gave ISU the upper hand 14-13 and forced UND to call the timeout.
With the match point on the line, Idaho State suffered an attacking error which tied the set once more. But the Bengals responded with two straight kills, one from Todd and another from Hirst, to finish the set 16-14 and claim the match 3-2.
North Dakota was led by Tamara Merseli with a team-high 16 kills to go along with 14 digs, while Alivia Fraase led the defensive effort with 24 digs with shared match-high honors with Keck.
The Bengals have a quick turnaround and face Northern Colorado Saturday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. at Reed Gym.
"It's a proven fact that people rise to a challenge," Reynolds said. "The cool part is that every match in the Big Sky is a challenge, and we've got to turn around and rise up."
NOTES
- Idaho State's 105 digs are the most since the Bengals dug 106 in a five-set win at Sacramento State on Nov. 11, 2011. It is also the first time the Bengals have posted triple-digit digs since that Nov. 11, 2011 five-set win.
- This is the first time the Bengals have come from two sets down to win in five since defeating Eastern Washington in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference tournament on Nov. 19, 2015. ISU trailed EWU 2-0 and won three straight to advance to the semifinals.
- The Bengals posted 70 kills in the win, a season-high.
- With her 55 assists, Farrer now has 3,439 career assists, 75 assists shy of fifth place all-time in ISU history. Her career-high 20 digs gives her 1,121 career assists, 11 shy of 10th all-time ISU history.
