SEATTLE, WASH. – Idaho State (5-7) fell 3-2 in the opening match of the Redhawk Invitational to Seattle University (6-4) Friday night.
"This is a tough loss against a good team," said Head Coach
Rick Reynolds. "There were some stretches of the match Seattle's serve receive and execution were really good. We answered back, and it created a fun match to play in."
Abby Garrity led the team in kills with 15 and hit .175 for the match. The senior also earned her second double-double of 2018 with 16 digs.
Nicole Lee and
Brooke Pehrson had 14 and 11 kills respectively. Pehrson led the team with a .292 hitting percentage.
Chelsea Johnson added 47 assists and
Haylie Keck had 27 digs.
The Redhawks jumped to the lead to start the match, playing in front of their home crowd for the first time this season. A Seattle University error gave Idaho State the lead at 7-6 and Johnson extended it with a service ace to force a timeout from the home team.
A service error by Keck and two Redhawk errors extended the lead to four at 13-9, but Seattle stormed back with a 7-0 run fueled by ISU errors, and the Bengals were unable to recover. They trailed for the remainder, losing the first 25-17.
The second set began with a kill from Pehrson, but ISU lost the lead two points later. The Bengals didn't regain the advantage until an attacking error from SU put ISU in front 18-17. The action was tied four times in the final 11 points, but it was Idaho State that broke the 23-23 tie and won the set 25-23.
The Bengals had six blocks in the first two sets to help create offensive opportunities.
"I thought our middles did a great job of terminating," Reynolds said. "Haylie and our floor defense made some solid digs and created a lot of opportunities for our offense."
The third set remained close until a 7-7 tie. After that, the Redhawks used several small runs to build an advantage over the Bengals. Idaho State brought the game back within a point at 19-18, but Seattle was able to maintain a buffer and won 25-21.
Seattle started the fourth with a 5-0 run looking to put Idaho State away. Lee and Garrity responded on the outside with each tallying a pair of kills to even the set at 10-10. The Bengals surged ahead on a 9-4 run, forcing an SU timeout at 19-14. The Seattle comeback was stifled by Garrity, who tallied the final three kills for Idaho State. The Bengals forced a deciding set with a 25-22 win.
Seattle started hot once again in the fifth, putting Idaho State in a hole with a 7-1 run to open play. The Bengals trailed by five or more points for the remainder of the set as Seattle rolled to a 15-8 victory to win the match.
Four Seattle players had double-digit kill totals, and Rachel Stark and Julie Queiroz recorded double-doubles. Stojanovic was a tactician on the court, posting a .560 hitting percentage with just one error and 15 kills.
Seattle had just eight more kills than Idaho State, but hit .206 to ISU's .113. The Redhawks and Bengals both reached double-digit blocks with SU holding a 16-10 advantage.
"We saw a lot of improvement in some areas we have been emphasizing in practice," Reynolds said. "Our defense at the net and on the floor did some really good things. Our serve at times was really dictating the match."
Idaho State returns to the court to play Tennessee Tech tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. See volleyball's schedule for the link to live stats.
Career Milestones
Nicole Lee reached 200 career kills.
Brooke Pehrson reached 300 career blocks.
Season Milestones
Brooke Pehrson eclipsed 100 kills.
Season Highs
Mahala Bradburn – Digs:7
Chelsea Johnson – Attacks:10
