POCATELLO, Idaho – Idaho State (11-8, 5-1 BSC) dismissed Northern Colorado (7-7, 3-2 BSC) 3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 25-23) in the seventh sweep of the season for the Bengals Friday night. ISU improved to 5-1 in Big Sky Conference play with the win as seven Bengals tallied a kill.
"They did a great job of bringing pressure to our opponent tonight," said Head Coach
Rick Reynolds. "Our defense played well and created opportunities for us."
Abby Garrity led the team on the attack with her 10th-straight game of double-digit kills. The senior led all hitters with 14 kills and posted just one error on the night to hit at a .419 clip. She also gathered two assists, an ace, eight digs and a block assist.
Raegan Steiner and
Chelsea Johnson each collected five kills.
Nicole Lee finished with six kills and
Brooke Pehrson was second on the team with seven. Pehrson was errorless on 12 attacks to finish with a .583 hitting percentage and added a block, an assist, two service aces and two digs.
"Brooke and Abby were really efficient offensively," Reynolds said. "I thought one of the differences in the match was our offense in transition."
Six ISU players pitched in at the net with at least one block.
Taylor Meeks was the match leader in stuffs with a solo block and three block assists.
Johnson posted her fourth double-double of the season with 28 assists and 11 digs on the night to pair with two service aces and her five kills.
Haylie Keck finished the match with 18 digs, a service ace and six assists.
Idaho State trailed Northern Colorado in attacks (107-103), but was able to generate 41 kills to UNC's 31. The Bengals had three fewer attacking errors with 15 overall and three more service aces with seven. The Bengals also earned more touches on the defensive half with 52 digs and five blocks to the Bears' 39 digs and four blocks.
Northern Colorado won the first point of the match and remained out front until a four-point run by the Bengals gave ISU a 15-12 lead, sparking a timeout from the Bears. UNC collected itself and won the next five points to regain the lead 17-15. Pehrson, Johnson and Garrity all posted kills during a six-point run that put ISU back in the lead at 23-19, and Meeks recorded a solo block to close the first set 25-22.
The Bengals surged to a 9-2 lead in the second thanks to service aces from Pehrson, Johnson and Garrity. Northern Colorado called a timeout, but the Bengals continued to build a lead with the attack. UNC made runs of three and four late in the set, but fell 25-16 on a kill by Garrity.
"Our serve really picked up steam in the second set and we were able to get seven aces in sets two and three," Reynolds said.
The teams traded the lead five times in the third set with UNC refusing to go down quietly. Meeks and Garrity tallied blocks after an ISU timeout to even the score at 15-15. UNC won the next five points with a kill, ace and three ISU errors as ISU burned its second timeout.
The Bengals won five of the next six points to pull within one point at 21-20. UNC's Kortney Lockey put the Bears up by two once again, but the Bengals responded with a four-point run to put the Bears in a corner down 24-22. UNC won its final point to draw within one before committing an attacking error to seal the sweep for the Bengals 25-23. Idaho State won 10 of the final 13 points to bring the crowd of 593 fans to its feet.
Idaho State hits the road for matches against Sacramento State and Portland State next week before returning to Reed Gym to host Southern Utah Oct. 18.
"This group is hungry to grow and we used that opportunity to emphasize the process and our role in it in every point," Reynolds said.
Bengal Bites
Nikole Cook eclipsed 100 digs this weekend (vs. WSU).
Abby Garrity eclipsed 100 career blocks.
Haylie Keck surpassed 1,500 career digs.
Brooke Pehrson eclipsed 500 kills.
