ATLANTA, Georgia – Idaho State (2-2) took its second 3-2 (25-17, 25-20, 17-25, 20-25, 15-12) victory of the day, defeating Abilene Christian (2-2) in O'Keefe Gym in the final match of the Hyatt Regency Invitational. The Bengals improved to 2-2 on the season after defeating the Wildcats and the Winthrop Eagles earlier in the day.
Idaho State had three hitters reach double-digit kills with
Abby Garrity leading the way once again at 20.
Taylor Meeks and
Brooke Pehrson had 14 and 12 respectively with Meeks hitting at a career-best .571 percentage. Pehrson also anchored the blocking with nine stuffs as the Bengals collected a season-high 13 redirects.
The team hit at a match-best .253 clip, recording 64 kills as a team on 150 attempts.
Idaho State carried momentum from the Winthrop series, hitting .333 in the first with 12 kills on 30 attempts. The defense stifled the Wildcats with five blocks and limited ACU to a .026 hitting percentage. The set was tied 10-10 before ISU took off on an 8-1 run sprinkled with ACU errors. The Wildcats came no closer than four points as
Nicole Lee gave the Bengals a 25-17 win with back-to-back kills.
The second set followed a similar pattern with the Wildcats struggling after reaching ten points. Garrity couldn't miss as she harassed the back line with nine kills and a .692 swing rate. ACU hit just .100 and Garrity closed the action at 25-20.
The Bengals were challenged once again coming out of the intermission. While Abilene Christian hit .292, Idaho State had its worst output at .029. After tying the game at 13-13, ISU allowed ACU to sprint to the finish with a 12-4 run to cap a 25-17 victory.
The Wildcats forced a fifth set as they continued to hit at a higher clip, recording a match-high .389 hitting percentage in the fourth. The Bengals hit a reasonable .268, but were unable to overcome a seven point run by their opponents that put them down 11-19 at the timeout. Their rally came too late as ACU evened the series with a 25-20 victory.
The deciding set was a one-point affair until the scoreboard read 7-7. After the teams switched sides, Idaho State took control, forcing two ACU timeouts as they completed the victory with a 15-12 win. Garrity and Meeks both converted on every attack in the fifth for perfect 1.000 hitting percentages, and every ISU attacker with more than two attempts finished .333 or better.
Abilene Christian was led by Katelyn Meuller who tallied 19 kills, eight digs and five service aces. Jacey Smith and Marybeth Sandercox also reached double-digit kill counts with 11 and 13 respectively.
Idaho State led head-to-head matchups in kills (64-54), hitting percentage (.253), assists (61-51), digs (58-50) and blocks (13-11).
The Bengals return to Pocatello, Idaho with a 2-2 record after dropping matches to Georgia Tech and Georgetown and defeating Winthrop and Abilene Christian. The team has a single match against Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah on Tuesday before hosting Boise State, Milwaukee and UC Riverside in the Idaho State Invitational next weekend.
The tournament runs Aug. 31-Sept. 1 with three games each day. For more details click here.
Bengal Records
Haylie Keck moves to #7 on the all-time digs list with 1,254.
Bengal Milestones
Haylie Keck eclipses 1,250 career digs.
Nicole Lee reaches 25 career blocks.
Brooke Pehrson collects her 125th dig.
New Match-Highs
Chelsea Johnson – Attacks:8 | Assits:57
Nicole Lee – Blocks:4
Taylor Meeks – Kills:14 | Attack percentage: .571
Alexis Thompson-Smith: Kills:8
