Box Score PDF
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The Idaho State volleyball team battled No. 16 Michigan before falling 3-0 Friday morning in its first match of the Colorado State Tournament, hosted by Colorado State in Fort Collins, Colo. The Wolverines prevailed in three with scores of 25-23, 25-13 and 25-22 at Moby Arena.
The Bengals were led by junior outside hitter
Abby Garrity with 11 kills while senior outside hitter
Chloe Hirst finished with eight. Sophomore middle blocker
Brooke Pehrson posted a solid performance with five kills of nine attempts with just one error to hit .444 to go along with four digs and three block assists. Sophomore libero
Haylie Keck finished with a team-high 11 digs.
"I felt like the team played really well," Head Coach
Rick Reynolds said. "I thought we came out with good energy and that we were competing. I thought we were doing some really good things offensively, and our serve receive was pretty solid. We were serving tough and creating opportunities. It's a game of inches, and some of the inches didn't come our way."
Idaho State (3-5) struggled the first few plays of the first set but regrouped and battled back with a vengeance. Down 7-3 to in the beginning of the set, the Bengals tied the set 13-all off a Michigan (6-1) error and took their first lead 14-13 following a big kill from Hirst to force a Michigan timeout. Coming out of the break, freshman middle blocker
Taylor Meeks connected for another bit kill to put ISU up 15-13, and an attacking error by the Wolverines gave ISU its largest lead of the morning, 16-13. Two-straight Michigan kills and a service ace tied the set once more, but once more Hirst responded with a big kill to break the tie.
ISU's lead was short-lived as the Wolverines put together a 3-0 run to take a 19-17 lead. A kill from Garrity and a bad set from the Wolverines cut Michigan's lead to one, 20-19, but ISU would come no closer. Michigan held on for the 25-23 first set win.
"I think the key is that anybody can play with anybody for one set," Reynolds said. "And we showed that. The better team traditionally always plays a little more consistent, and we let them go on too many runs in the second set."
It began in the second with a 2-0 Michigan run on two consecutive ISU attacking errors and it quickly turned into a 9-2 advantage for the Wolverines. A kill from Pehrson and two-straight kills from Garrity cut Michigan's lead to five, 11-6, but another 5-0 run from Michigan put the Bengals in a 10-point hole. ISU would never recover as the Wolverines went on to claim the second set 25-13.
Idaho State bounced back in the third set, starting with two unanswered points with a service ace from Pehrson and a Michigan attacking error. The Wolverines countered with a 9-2 run to claim a 9-4 advantage, but three kills from Garitty and a service ace from
Ashlyn Van Every coupled with two Wolverine errors cut Michigan's lead to one, 11-10.
Another run from the Wolverines put ISU down by seven, 19-12, but once more the Bengals responded, this time with an 8-3 run to cut Michigan's lead to two, 22-20. An ISU service error followed by a Michigan kill gave the Wolverines the 24-20 lead, but a kill from Pehrson and a Michigan attacking error once more brought ISU to within two, 24-22. Michigan closed the set 25-22 and won the match with a kill from Adeja Lambert.
"We let [Michigan] go on a really quick run at the beginning of the third set, and we were a little disheveled looking," Reynolds said. "We were looking for someone to step up, and then we found a little bit of a rhythm. I felt like as the third set went on, we gave ourselves a chance. But you've got to be able to perform over the long haul, and their pressure got to us a little bit there at the end."
Michigan was led by Lambert with a match-high 12 kills while Jenna Lerg posted a match-high 13 digs. MacKenzi Welsh finished with a match-high 28 assists.
Idaho State continues play this evening against Ball State at 8 p.m. in Moby Arena.
