Pocatello, ID – Idaho State volleyball headed on the road for their final two game stretch of the 2024 season. After dropping their previous 3 matches (and one on their Senior Day), the Bengals put it all behind them as they fought tooth and nail for final seeding heading into the Big Sky tournament.
Before this week of games, the Bengals sat at 4
th in conference having dropped pivotal matches against Northern Colorado and Weber State. The Bears locked up the #1 seed, but the second-place spot was up for grabs. Needing a miracle scenario to play out, the stars aligned for Idaho State as everything fell into place.
The Bengals kicked off their quest for the #2 seed last Thursday night in a crucial match versus the SAC State Hornets. The 2023 regular season champions boasted a powerful offense this year with two of the top three hitters in the conference, looking unbeatable heading into the final week of play.
Undeterred, ISU headed to Sacramento looking for their first win in the Golden State since 2014. Throughout the first set, the two powerhouses traded blows back and forth until the home team took an eventual 22-19 lead and the near set 1 victory. But the Bengals would not go quiet, rattling off four straight points to take the lead and eventually the set.
The Hornets put up a fight though, winning the second set soundly (18-25) and tying it at 1 apiece. But ISU would silence the home crowd, winning the 3
rd and 4
th set by a combined 13 points (25-19, 25-18) and sweeping the Hornets in a season for the first time in a decade.
The dynamic Senior duo of
Sadie Bluth and
Jamie Streit led the way in the victory, notching 11 and 10 kills respectively.
Marci Bell and
Meline Robarge returned to form, tying at a team lead of 7 block assists with Robarge scoring the game winning point as well.
Following the strong win, Weber State dropped the match versus Portland, leading the way for the Bengals to reclaim the 2
nd place spot in the Big Sky. All that was needed to clinch that spot was a Weber loss to SAC and a Bengal win against Portland. And win they did.
ISU swept the Vikings in a 3-set match, winning by a combined total of 12 points as Portland State kept things close (25-22, 25-18, 25-23). Both
Jaydin Watts and
Marci Bell recorded double digit kills (11, 10) on a whopping .500 kill percentage with Watts also leading in the blocking category (3 total).
All there was to do was watch as SAC and WSU faced off in an intense final game clash. It came down to a fifth and final set to decide the eventual winner, with the Hornets pulling it out in this classic Big Sky thriller, securing the #2 seed for the Bengals and bumping Weber down to 4.
UP NEXT:
Idaho State will now head back to Sacramento for a consecutive week to compete in the annual Big Sky Tournament as they are slated to kick off Wednesday, November 27
th against #7 Northern Arizona at 5:00 PM. If successful, the Bengals will play the winner of SAC vs PSU.
BENGAL BITES
- The Bengals won in Sacramento for the first time in a decade and hope to build off that success as they compete in the Golden State once again this upcoming week.
- Their #2 finish in the Big Sky is ISU's best regular season seeding since 2014.
- The Bengals finished 3rd overall this season in all of D1 volleyball in team blocks, totaling 334. Jaydin Watts led this stonewall with 149 total blocks and is tied for 12th in the nation.
