BOZEMAN, Mont. – Idaho State (18-12, 12-5 BSC) swept Montana State (11-17, 6-11 BSC) in its final regular-season road match of 2018 Thursday night. The Bengals had a balanced attack with six players recording seven or more kills.
"I thought we put together a solid effort tonight," said Head Coach Rick Reynolds. "Chelsea did a great job of getting the ball to Raegan, Brooke and Taylor throughout the match. They executed and played really efficient."
Abby Garrity and Taylor Meeks led all players with 12 and 10 kills respectively. Meeks reached double figures on just 17 attempts for a .471 hitting percentage and added four blocks.
Raegan Steiner tallied seven kills on 13 attempts and was errorless for a career-high .538 hitting percentage. She tied Meeks for the team-lead in blocks at four. Brooke Pehrson added three stuffs, two service aces and eight kills, and Nicole Lee added another seven. Chelsea Johnson recorded 39 assists and Haylie Keck led the team with 13 digs.
The Bengals hit .286 while limiting Montana State to a .099 attacking percentage. Idaho State led the battle in assists (42-31) and blocks (8-5) while both teams collected 39 digs. MSU had one more ace than ISU with four in the match.
"Our defense did well creating opportunities for our offense and we were able to terminate in transition at a high percentage," Reynolds said.
The Bengals started the night with a 4-0 run and forced a Bobcat timeout at 9-3. Montana State came within one at 12-11, but two kills from Meeks and an ace from Keck restored the buffer. An attacking error from MSU gave ISU set point and Garrity sealed the 25-19 win.
Montana State took its first lead of the night at 12-11 on an ace in the second set. They extended the lead to 15-13 before Lee and Steiner each had a pair of kills during a six-point run that put Idaho State up 19-15. Pehrson had the next three kills for Idaho State and Garrity put an end to the set at 25-21.
The two teams traded the lead early in the third set before a kill from Steiner put the Bengals on top for good. Back-to-back errors caused MSU to take a timeout down 12-8 and the Bengals kept rolling. Pehrson stretched the lead to six and ISU completed the sweep with a 25-19 win.
MSU's Natalie Passeck and Hannah Scott equally contributed to a combined 16 kills to lead the Bobcats. Allyssa Rizzo led all players with 20 digs and though she had just four attempts, setter Carina Lehto was the only MSU player to hit above .120.
This was the 10th sweep of the season for Idaho State and its sixth against a Big Sky opponent. The Bengals return to Reed Gym to host Montana in the final game of the regular season Saturday night. A win against the Grizzlies would give ISU a victory over every conference opponent this season.
"We are looking forward to celebrating our three seniors on Saturday," Reynolds said. "Look forward to having a great crowd in Reed Gym for our last home match."
