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POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State volleyball team fell to visiting Portland State in straight sets Saturday night at Reed Gym. The Bengals fell 25-19, 25-23 and 25-20 in their final regular-season match of the season.

Idaho State (11-18, 8-8 BSC) was led by junior outside hitter Abby Garrity with a match-high tying 11 kills to go along with seven digs, one solo block and one block assist. Senior outside hitter Marissa Dance added 10 kills off 24 attempts with just one error to hit .375 to go along with seven digs, one solo block and two block assists.

"As a team, we battled and we did the things…the old Dennis Green answer: they are who we thought they were," Head Coach Rick Reynolds said. "We didn't win the game, but we did some things so well tonight. We brought probably three-and-a-half, four skills tonight instead of all six skills that you need to be successful."

The Bengals opened with a service ace from sophomore libero Haylie Keck, but the momentum shifted quickly in favor of Portland State (20-8, 11-5 BSC) as the Vikings rattled off three straight kills to take a 3-1 lead. Idaho State responded and tied the set three times over the next few plays. With the set tied nine-all, PSU went on a 5-1 run to gain a 14-10 advantage, but Idaho State responded, outscoring the Vikings 7-3 to tie the set 17-all. Yet the Bengals went ice cold to close the set as PSU capped an 8-2 run to take the first set, 25-19.

The second set was a battle from the beginning with 13 ties and six lead changes. With the set tied 4-all Portland State started to pull away, putting together an 8-3 run to lead 12-7. Idaho State once more responded, this time with a 7-2 run to tie the set 14-all. The teams would deadlock six more times in the set, with the final tie coming after a Portland State hitting error to even things up at 22-all. But two consecutive ISU errors put the Vikings in position for the set point, and a Viking kill sealed the second set win 25-23.

The third set began as the first, with a service ace courtesy of Keck, and as the first two sets the third was a back-and-forth battle with eight ties and three lead changes. Late in the set, the Bengals found themselves down four, 18-14, but two Bengal kills coupled with two PSU errors brought ISU within one, 19-18. Yet that is the closest the Bengals would come as PSU finished the set on a 6-2 run to win 25-20 and earn the 3-0 match sweep.

"We didn't really snatch the momentum and keep it on our side like I think we normally do," Reynolds said.

Portland State was led by Sarah Brennan with 11 kills and two block assists while Erin Clark finished with a match-high 37 digs.

Idaho State will enter the Big Sky Conference tournament next week in Sacramento, Calif. as the No. 6 seed and will face No. 3 Idaho in the quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m. MST.