Irvine, CA - Idaho State Volleyball took their talents to Irvine, CA for the first of three nonconference road slates. In a round-robin format, the Bengals squared off against each other opponent over three days, first in evening matchups vs. Portland and UC Irvine, followed by a mid-morning matinee against Bradley.
To describe the weekend as "competitive" might be an understatement, as the first two outings against Portland and UC Irvine took five sets to determine a victor and the third against Bradley went to a fourth. The Bengals came out on top in the latter two of those contests.
The Portland Pilots came to play on Thursday night in Orange County, winning the first two sets 25-18 and 25-22 against ISU, but the Bengals were undeterred by the deficit and rallied back to win sets three and four (25-17, 25-21) to force the fifth. The reverse sweep would unfortunately slip from their grasp in a 15-17 nailbiter, but head coach Sean Carter gave his team credit for an impressive rally in the face of defeat.Â
"The girls were great not giving up and (they) got to where we had a chance to win the match being up 14-12, but just didn't execute when we needed to down the stretch. Portland was great offensively and we just couldn't slow them down enough." quoted Carter regarding the first match.Â
The Bengals were led offensively by Meline Roberge with 14 kills. Reigning Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week Marci Bell tacked nine blocks, and Aliyah Sopo'aga did her part with 39 assists on day one.Â
Evidently, the orange and black took the defensive struggles against Portland to heart and came out with a renewed vengeance against the host UC Irvine Anteaters on Friday Night. In a matchup broadcast on ESPN+, ISU took advantage of Irvine errors to win a competitive first set 25-23. After a 14-25 second set lull, the Bengals were back in attack mode with a 25-18 burner to take a 2-1 lead.
ISU left no doubt as the match went on. Sadie Bluth and Meline Robarge shifted into new gears, and seemingly every other time you looked, one or the other had made a play.Â
This would end up being the second match in as many days to go to a fifth set, but this time, it was all Bengals. Two separate 6-0 runs orchestrated primarily by Bluth, Robarge, and Jaydin Watts led to a 15-7 runaway to win the night.Â
"With Meline Robarge and Marci Bell having great production, it helped us keep pace. In the end, it was Sadie Bluth's performance that stood out the most and carried us along with our blocking, especially in set 5 to close out the match," remarked coach Carter.Â
That blocking was a major catalyst in getting the W for the orange and black, as they recorded nineteen team blocks to just six by the Anteaters. Watts led the way with ten solo blocks. Sadie Bluth was a weapon for the Bengals with an impressive 18 kills on Friday.
Lastly, the tournament concluded for ISU with a mid-morning matchup against the Bradley Braves.Â
In what coach Carter described as the team's "best offensive performance of the year by far," Jamie Streit was nearly unstoppable with a team-high 20 kills, doing so without recording an error across the board. Asiah Sopo'aga was a defensive anchor for the Bengals, holding down the back row with 16, 17, and 18 digs in three matches.Â
Streit's textbook offense and the Bengals leading the Braves in nearly every team stat led to a strong 3-1 victory (25-16, 25-17, 24-26, 25-14) to close out the weekend in Irvine.
Up Next
The Bengals will stay a bit closer to home this time, competing in the Boise State Classic next week on Sep 13-14. The tournament will also feature talent from CSU Bakersfield, Gonzaga, and the host Broncos.
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Bengal Bites
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Marci Bell topped the stat line that earned her her second career Big Sky Player of the Week award. The redshirt sophomore recorded 25 blocks in three matches, two more than last weekend.
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Jamie Streit led the Bengals with 41 kills over three matches. Just behind her was Sadie Bluth with 39 in the same span.
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Asiah Sopo'aga was stout on defense with 51 digs
