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POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State volleyball team fell in straight sets to Northern Arizona Thursday evening at Reed Gym. The Lumberjacks overpowered the Bengals 25-18, 25-19 and 25-15.
Senior outside hitter
Chloe Hirst led the Bengals with a match-high tying 12 kills, while senior setter
Makayla Lundin finished with a match-high 23 kills and sophomore libero
Haylie Keck added a match-high 14 digs.
"I thought NAU played a really good game," Head Coach
Rick Reynolds said. "I thought [Heaven Harris] played really well, was really efficient and played at a high level. I thought we game-planned well for them and we did some of the things that we wanted to do. On our side, we just have to execute a little bit better and terminate at a little higher level."
Idaho State (3-13, 0-3 BSC) struggled to terminate throughout the match, finishing with a .091 hitting percentage for 29 total kills. Northern Arizona (6-8, 2-1 BSC) fared a bit better offensively, hitting .269 for 38 total kills.
Northern Arizona took control of the first set early, racing out to a 4-1 lead following a kill from Kaylie Jorgenson, but the Bengals quickly responded with a 3-1 run to cut NAU's lead to one, 5-4. Yet the set turned in favor of NAU once more following multiple Idaho State hitting and service errors, giving the Lumberjacks a 14-8 advantage. Senior
Marissa Dance responded for Idaho State with a big kill to ignite a 4-0 Bengal run that brought ISU within two, 14-12. Yet the Bengals were unable to close the gap, and NAU pulled away to win the first 25-18.
In the second set, Idaho State struggled with serving, suffering four service errors in the second set alone. But the Bengals started the set strong, rattling off three unanswered points behind a kill each from Hirst and Lundin in addition to an NAU hitting error. The Lumberjacks battled back, and three plays later the set was tied 3-all, the first of three ties in the set. The squads traded point-for-point until a kill from NAU's Abby Akin broke a 5-all tie to give NAU the 6-5 lead.
Idaho State kept the set close, trailing 11-10 midway through the set. But Northern Arizona continued to capitalize on ISU errors and terminated at the net to run away with the 25-19 second-set win.
"We've been trying to serve tougher and try to get our opponent out of system," Reynolds said. "At moments tonight we did a good job, and at moments we didn't."
Northern Arizona took off in the third set, hitting .324 for 15 kills. Idaho State battled defensively, digging 13 of its 36 total digs in the third set alone, but the Bengals were unable to terminate effectively finishing with just seven kills off 33 attempts with six errors to hit .030. With the set tied 6-all, NAU's Harris connected for four-straight kills to put ISU in a four-point hole, 10-6. The Bengals could not recover, and NAU went on to win the set 25-15.
"Offensively, we took 100 swings tonight," Reynolds said. "There were balls that we hit out-of-bounds and there were balls that we didn't terminate. It's up to us to create ways in practice for us to execute at a higher level and terminate more."
Northern Arizona was led by Harris with 12 kills hitting .611 while Jorgenson added 11 kills. Abby Stomp led the Lumberjacks in assists with 16 while Sydney Lema finished with a team-high 11 digs.
Idaho State continues play at home Saturday, Sept. 30 against Southern Utah. The match will start at 7 p.m. in Reed Gym.
