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MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Idaho State volleyball team dropped its first match of the 2017 season in a five-set battle against Virginia Tech at the Pepsi Panther Invitational, hosted by Milwaukee. The Bengals hit .290 and recorded 10.0 blocks in the match but were unable to counter the Hokies precise hitting as they finished with 75 kills hitting at a .392 clip.
The Bengals were led by senior outside hitter
Chloe Hirst with 19 kills to go along with a .347 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter
Abby Garrity also reached double-figure kills with 15, while senior setter
Makayla Lundin finished with 49 assists.
"I thought we did some things really well," Head Coach
Rick Reynolds said. "We served tough, moved the ball around offensively and transitioned well to be available on offense. We need to do a better job of taking care of the little things like sealing the block, pushing the tempo offensively and expecting the ball more. We will take this knowledge and be prepared to grow more tonight."
Idaho State (0-1) started off strong in the first set, hitting .273 for 15 kills while limiting Virginia Tech (1-0) to hit just .242 for 13 kills. In her freshman debut, middle blocker
Taylor Meeks was solid at the net, recording two block assists while hitting .333 for four kills off six attempts with two errors. Seniors
Marissa Dance and Hirst also came up big for the Bengals in the first set with four kills each to help ISU cruise to the 25-21 first set win.
In the second set, Idaho State kept the pace with a 4-1 start to put the Hokies in a hole. The Bengals were unable to keep their lead, however, as Virginia Tech's Kaity Smith rattled off four kills to go along with four ISU errors to tie the set at 10-all. Four-straight Hokie points put ISU behind 14-10 and the Bengals were unable to close the gap. Virginia Tech went on to take the set 25-20.
A hot-hitting Hokies squad took control in the third set, rattling off 21 kills at a .581 clip to best the Bengals 25-17. But Idaho State rebounded in the fourth set, hitting .394 for 15 kills. Both Garrity and Hirst finished with five kills apiece, with Garrity posting a .714 hitting percentage to lead the Bengals. Solid defense at the net also prevented the Hokies from finding a rhythm as ISU finished with three total blocks, let by Meeks with three block assists. The Bengals forced a fifth set with the 25-22 fourth-set victory.
In the fifth set, Hirst got things started for ISU with a big kill, but the Hokies would outscore ISU 8-3 over the next few plays to take an 8-4 lead. A 6-3 Bengals run, capped by a kill from Dance, brought ISU within 1, 11-10, but Idaho State was unable to regain the lead. Virginia Tech closed the match with four kills to put ISU away and take the fifth set, 15-11.
The Hokies were led by Kaity Smith with a match-high 30 kills hitting .451, while Ester Talamazzi added 14 kills and Stacey Christy finished with 11. Rhegan Mitchell added a match-high 65 assists.
Idaho State continues play this evening, Aug. 25, against the host of the Pepsi Panther Invitational, Milwaukee. The match is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. MST.
