GREELEY, Colorado – Abby Garrity became a human wrecking ball as Idaho State (15-12, 9-5 BSC) rebounded from a first set loss to defeat Northern Colorado (12-11, 8-6 BSC) in four frames (19-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-13) Saturday night. The senior posted another double-double to help Idaho State extend its winning streak to three matches.
"This was another great team effort," said Head Coach
Rick Reynolds. "We were able to get some big kills in big moments by everyone tonight. This allowed Abby to have a lot of space to hit into."
Garrity accumulated a career-high 25 kills on just 53 attacks. The Bears struggled to find an answer for number four as she hit.377 and added 13 digs. Garrity also tallied two assists, an ace and three block assists in the win.
Haylie Keck continues to be a constant force in the back line. She turned in 35 digs and three assists. The junior is beginning to take a stronghold on the single match records list for digs. This was the 11th match in her career Keck surpassed 30 digs.
Chelsea Johnson continued to feed the hot hand and collected 46 assists in the process. She contributed two kills, four digs and a block.
Mahala Bradburn's stat line only contained one's as she collected 11 digs, one ace and one kill.
Brooke Pehrson and
Taylor Meeks combined for 14 kills and nine blocks at the net.
Raegan Steiner also added four block assists.
"Our defense created a lot of transition opportunities and we terminated well," Reynolds said. "Our defense really picked up in sets two through four."
The Bengals held the advantage in almost every major category except for digs where they trailed by two. They tallied more kills (54-52), assists (52-51), aces (4-2) and blocks (9-7). They also kept the sheet clean with fewer attacking, service and reception errors than UNC.
Idaho State never held the lead in the first set and trailed by as many as nine with UNC leading 16-7 and 22-13 later on. A five-point run brought ISU within four at 22-18, but UNC held them off in a 25-19 win.
Northern Colorado started fast again in the second as they claimed a 3-0 lead. A streak of UNC errors followed, fueling a 6-0 run by Idaho State as they jumped to the lead 8-5. The Bears trailed by just one at 9-8 before
Nicole Lee, Meeks and Steiner were able to restore the buffer.
ISU led by eight at 22-14 before surrendering three-consecutive points. The Bengals responded with a 3-0 run of their own to even the match at 1-1 with a 25-17 win.
Neither team could shake the other in the third. The largest lead was two points before three different attackers put ISU up 16-12 during a four-point streak. Another attack of four put the Bengals up 20-13.
The Bears battled back and were able to tie the set at 23-23. Garrity gave Idaho State set point and Steiner put the Bengals ahead 2-1.
Garrity earned three early kills as ISU surged to a 6-1 lead to start the fourth set. A trio of UNC errors extended the ISU lead to seven, and three straight kills from Garrity put ISU up 16-7. Idaho State pushed the lead to a double-digit figure as they reached 20 points and
Alexis Simmons served an ace to clinch the victory for ISU.
After a long two weeks on the road, Idaho State returns to Reed Gym with some momentum. The Bengals host Portland State Thursday and Sacramento State Saturday in Reed Gym.
"We are looking forward to being home this week in front of the best fans in the conference," Reynolds said.
