MOSCOW, Idaho – Idaho State (12-12, 6-5 BSC) fell to league-leading Idaho (15-8, 9-2 BSC) in Memorial Gym Thursday night. The Vandals swept the Bengals (25-10, 25-18, 25-16) with an attack that hit .356 on the night.
"What an impressive display of volleyball by Idaho," said Head Coach
Rick Reynolds. "We had a great three days of practice this week leading up to this match. Despite our best efforts tonight, we could not find our rhythm and match the intensity of Idaho. They played at a really high level."
Brooke Pehrson paced the offense for the first time this season with eight kills on 20 attacks. The middle blocker also had three digs.
Abby Garrity finished with seven kills, two assists, a block assist and two digs.
Nicole Lee,
Raegan Steiner and
Taylor Meeks finished with six, five and four kills respectively. Lee and Meeks each contributed on one of ISU's two blocks.
Chelsea Johnson ended the night with 22 assists and five digs while
Haylie Keck collected 15 digs.
Mahala Bradburn also chipped in for seven touches in the back line.
The Vandals limited Idaho State to a .088 hitting percentage for the match with nine blocks and 48 digs.
"The team responded to adjustments we made for set two," Reynolds said. "We lowered our errors and made some big digs. I thought our block was getting good touches. We were missing the finishing touch in our skills and it cost us."
The Bengals had 32 assists on 33 kills and recorded 42 digs and two blocks. The Vandals countered with 44 assists on 44 kills to pair with their strong defensive output.
Idaho State is now 1-1 against Idaho. The team with the home court advantage has made swift work of the other on both occasions.
ISU will look to end a three-game skid against Eastern Washington tomorrow night. First serve is set for 8 p.m. in Cheney, Wash.
"I saw a lot of hunger in the locker room," Reynolds said. "This group will be ready to compete tomorrow."
