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POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State volleyball team won its seventh-straight match Saturday evening, besting Northern Colorado in five sets at Reed Gym. The Bengals won with scores of 25-18, 25-22, 24-26, 23-25 and 15-12.
"[Tonight] was part of the process of continuing to grow and continuing to find our rhythm," Head Coach
Rick Reynolds said. "I think the players have responded well in trying to develop their identity and we are becoming a more complete team."
Junior
Chloe Hirst dominated for ISU, tallying a career-high 28 kills off a career-high 73 attempts while hitting .315. Hirst also added a 16 digs on the night for her 11th double-double of the season. Five Bengals finished with double-digit kills led by freshman
Haylie Keck with a match-high 30. Senior
Hayley Farrer continued her solid play with 14th double-double of the season tallying 46 assists and 17 digs.
"Every single person did their job tonight, and did it to the best of their ability," Hirst said. "We couldn't have asked for a better team effort tonight."
Northern Colorado (13-9, 7-3 BSC) struck first as Kim Weissmann finished for the early 1-0 lead, but that would be the only lead the Bears held over the first two sets. Three straight Bengal kills, two from Hirst and one from junior outside hitter
Marissa Todd, gave the Bengals the early 3-1 lead. Hirst was on fire in the first set, registering eight kills off 16 attempts to hit .375. ISU never looked back, forcing the Bears to hit just .022 in the set and cruised to the 25-18 win.
The Bengals kept rolling in the second set with a monster kill from Todd to open play. Five ISU kills over the next few plays mixed with a few UNC errors gave the Bengals the 8-4 lead and forced the Bears to call a timeout. Following the break, two consecutive UNC attacking errors and a service ace courtesy of Farrer put ISU up seven, 11-4. ISU maintained that comfortable seven-point lead until an ISU attacking error cut the lead to six, 19-13.
Northern Colorado put together a 4-1 run to cut ISU's lead to three, 20-17, but Idaho State kept the Bears at bay to win the set 25-22 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Coming out of the break, Idaho State took an early 4-1 lead, but UND outscored the Bengals 7-4 over the next few plays to tie the set 8-all. A subsequent UNC service error gave the advantage back to Idaho State, and the Bengals maintained the lead until a UNC service ace, coupled with an ISU error and a UNC kill gave the Bears the 19-17 lead.
The Bengals were unable to close the gap until a Bears attacking error and a kill from sophomore outside hitter
Abby Jensen tied the set at 23-all. Yet the Bengals were unable to retake the lead, and UNC held on for the 26-24 third set win.
The Bengals struggled to get going in the fourth, falling behind 16-5 early. Yet Idaho State refused to allow Northern Colorado the easy set win. Reynolds made a few personnel changes and the Bengals slowly chipped away at the Bears' lead. Two-straight attacking errors from UNC midway through the set cut the Bears' lead to eight, 21-13. Over the next few plays, Idaho State continued to cut into UNC's lead with two kills from Hirst and another from Jensen to bring the Bengals within five, 22-17.
A 5-0 run propelled by two Hirst kills and back-to-back-to-back errors from Northern Colorado brought ISU two within one, 23-22, yet that is the closest the Bengals would come. UNC finished the set with two kills and an attacking error for the 25-23 win.
Despite the fourth set loss, the momentum was in favor of the Bengals. ISU started with a kill from Todd and never trailed, rolling to the fifth set win 15-12 to take the match 3-2. The Bengals hit .241 in the final set for 10 kills and dug 13 of UNC's 27 attempts to thwart the Bears' last comeback attempts.
"[We] are full of heart, [we] are full of fight and [we're] gritty," Reynolds said. "They're hungry, and we want them to be hungry. We train them, and ask them in training to be hungry. It's an everyday requirement to be a Bengal is that you have to be hungry for more.
Idaho State is back in action Oct. 27 and Oct. 29 with matches on the road at Idaho and at Weber State.
NOTES
- ISU's seven-match win streak is the longest since the Bengals won nine in a row last season from Sept. 18 to Oct. 15.
- Hirst posted new career-highs in kills (28) and attempts (73) for the second time this season. Previously she recorded a then- career-high 24 kills at Montana on Oct. 6 and tallied a then- career-high 58 attempts at Sacramento State on Sept. 23.
- Farrer's 46 assists on the night give her 3,485 career assists, 29 assists shy of fifth all-time in ISU history. Her 17 digs gives her 1,138 which moves her into 10th all-time in ISU history.
