2021 Idaho State Volleyball Spring Preview

ISU vs University of Montana - Live Stats | Watch | Listen

POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State women's volleyball team begins its 2021 spring season Thursday, Jan. 21 against Utah Valley University in an exhibition game at 3 PM (MST) in Orem, Utah. Then the Bengals return home to host the University of Montana on Sunday, Jan. 24 at 2 PM and on Monday, Jan. 25 at 6 PM.

The games against Montana will feature Live Stats, Video, and radio coverage brought to you by KISU radio. All platforms are accessible on isubengals.com.

Big Changes

When the Bengals take the court at home on Sunday it will have marked 428 days since their last official match.  

Coming into the spring 2021 season Idaho State only returns 26% of all offensive contributors that were on the 2019 roster.  That 26% is mostly made up of Taylor Meeks and Reagan Kunz (formerly Steiner, who was married in the summer of 2020!)

The pair though, were highly ranked at the end of the 2019 season. Meeks ended 2019 ranked No. 4 in the conference in hitting % at 32.7%. Kunz finished the season with 226 Kills, second on the team and just missing the top-10 list for the conference.

Eight of the 13 faces on the team will be new this year as Head Coach Sammi Stuart grows her team. 

To see an updated roster for the ISU team click here.

Interview with Head Coach Sammi Stuart

Mark Liptak, voice of ISU women's basketball, and radio for volleyball sat down with Idaho State Head Coach Sammi Stuart to discuss the upcoming season and the challenges the team has faced.

 -What did you learn from last year, your first as a head coach?

"I learned that as a head coach you have a lot of meetings!" Seriously it was an awesome experience. You have to surround yourself with people that you enjoy being with since you spend so much time with them. ISU is a great place to work. I also learned how tough the Big Sky Conference is, there are a lot of very good programs here."

 -You lost two keys players in Haylie Keck and Brooke Pehrson, who replaces them?

"Those two brought a lot of calmness and experience to the team. They'll be hard to replace, but I think you can look to players like Taylor Meeks, Andri Dewey and especially Kennedee Tracy to step in."

You are an analytical coach, statistics mean a lot to you, can you give us a few "key" stats that you look for during a match to give you a sense of how the team is doing?

"One is "Kills Per Set." Last year UNC which won the conference had a little over 13 a set. We were around 11. That difference doesn't sound like much but that put us eighth or ninth in the league last year. We're trying to get that up to 14 or 15 this season. Another is "Receive Errors", how do we handle serves and what do we do with them."

 -How about an overall look at the conference?

"With COVID issues it's really hard to tell right now. Northern Colorado, Weber State and Northern Arizona were good last year and I don't think they lost a lot of players. After that there seems to be a bunch of schools in the middle."

 -Because of COVID are there any rule changes for this season?

"Only ones I can think of are we won't be switching sides after every set and high fives won't be allowed around the net after a play. Other than that, the match is still best of five, each set is to 25 points, have to win by two and if you go to a fifth set that is to 15 points. It's the second year for replay, which I like a lot and you get three challenges, if I remember right and your match goes to a fifth set you pick up an additional challenge."

 

Big Sky Conference Preseason Poll

Big Sky Conference officials released the 2020 Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll in July of this past year, selecting Idaho State to finish 10th. 

Reigning champions Northern Colorado (100) were selected as the unanimous favorite to win the conference in 2020. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team. Northern Arizona (86) received a first-place vote while tying for a second place position with Weber State (86).
 
Montana State (69) finished just ahead of Sacramento State (64) for fourth and fifth place respectively. Idaho (50) earned a sixth place prediction.
 
Portland State (40) and Montana (40) are head-to-head for a seventh place seating while Southern Utah (38) finished ninth.

Idaho State (19) and Eastern Washington (13) rounded out the poll.


2020 Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll
1.       Northern Colorado (10)        100
T2.     Northern Arizona (1)             86
T2.     Weber State                          86
4.       Montana State                       69
5.       Sacramento State                  64
6.       Idaho                                      50
T7.     Portland State                        40
T7.    Montana                                  40
9.      Southern Utah                         38
10.    Idaho State                              19
11.    Eastern Washington                13

 

2021 Spring Schedule

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Big Sky Conference adopted a spring conference schedule for its volleyball programs. One of the changes that was made to assist in player safety and travel costs was to schedule conference doubleheaders. Because of this, ISU will be hosting four home series this season.

 

*Bold Denotes Home

Jan. 21                  at Utah Valley University (Exhibition) 3 p.m. MST

Jan. 24                  vs Montana 2 p.m. MST

Jan. 25                  vs Montana 6 p.m. MST

Jan. 30                   at Sacramento State 6 p.m. MST

Jan. 31                   at Sacramento State 1 p.m. MST

Feb. 6                    vs Idaho 6 p.m. MST

Feb. 7                    vs Idaho 6 p.m. MST

Feb. 21                  at Montana State TBA   

Feb. 22                  at Montana State TBA

Feb. 28                  vs Northern Colorado 2 p.m. MST

Mar. 1                   vs Northern Colorado 6 p.m. MST

Mar. 6                   at Southern Utah 6 p.m. MST

Mar. 7                   at Southern Utah 6 p.m. MST

Mar. 13                vs Weber State 3 p.m. MST

Mar. 14                vs Weber State 3 p.m. MST

Mar. 19                 at Portland State 6 p.m. MST

Mar. 20                 at Portland State 1 p.m. MST

Mar. 31 – Apr. 2                Big Sky Tournament