Jenna Larson
Idaho State University Sports Information
POCATELLO, Idaho – For the seventh time this season, the match came down to the final set for the Idaho State volleyball team. The Bengals recovered from a 2-0 match deficit to win in five (18-25, 19-25, 26-24, 28-26 and 17-15), at Weber State Saturday evening.
Idaho State (11-14, 8-4 BSC) was led by senior outside hitter Chloe Hirst who finished with a season-high 24 kills hitting .314 to go along with 11 digs for her seventh double-double of the season while junior outside hitter Abby Garrity added 21 kills for her fifth 20-plus kills performance of the season. Sophomore libero Haylie Keck added 36 digs while Makayla Lundin added a season-high 57 assists.
“This was typical battle in the Big Sky,” Head Coach Rick Reynolds said. “I’m proud of the team and their effort. Weber State played really good volleyball, but I thought we responded well and executed in big moments.”
The match was back-and-forth for the entirety of the match, with 25 ties and eight lead changes through four sets. Weber State (6-18, 4-8 BSC) forced Idaho State to hit just .094 and .122 in the first and second sets, running away with the 25-18 and 25-19 first and second sets scores.
The Bengals trailed nearly the entire third set until a service ace from Lundin broke a 20-all tie to give Idaho State its first lead of the set at 21-20. The Bengals rattled off three-straight points to take a 24-21 lead, but a short WSU run tied the set once more at 24-all. A kill from Hirst followed by another service ace, this time from Brooke Pehrson, gave ISU the 26-24 third-set win.
“Our serve receive really picked up in the third set and we had more passes inside the 10-foot line,” Reynolds said. “We were also effective in getting Weber State out of system with our serve.”
In the fourth set, Garrity and Hirst led the Bengals with six kills each, helping ISU hit .229 for 16 kills while forcing the Wildcats to hit .176. Once more, the Bengals came from behind to claim the set win as ISU trailed WSU 18-15 late in the fourth. Idaho State closed the gap, outscoring WSU 4-1 to tie the set 19-all. The set featured six more ties, but a WSU service error gave the Bengals the 27-26 edge. A kill from Garrity sealed the 28-26 fourth set win to force a fifth set.
In the final set, the two squads hit an identical .250, but the Bengals finished with nearly twice the kills with a 12 to 7 advantage over the Wildcats. The Bengals also dug 11 of WSU’s 20 attempts with two service aces. Midway through the final set, ISU trailed WSU 11-8, but three-straight Bengal points tied the set 11-all. The Bengals battled back-and-forth with the Wildcats, tying the set at 13-all, 14-all and 15-all before breaking the tie with a kill from Garrity. Pehrson sealed the win with a big kill to take the set 17-15 and win the match 3-2.
Weber State was led by Andrea Hale with a match-high 25 kills hitting .408 while Amanda Varley added 14 kills. Thamires Cavalcanti added a team-high 16 digs while Ashlyn Power added a match-high 60 assists.
Idaho State continues play on the road next week with stops in Cedar City, Utah and Flagstaff, Ariz. The Bengals kick the week off with a 7 p.m. match at Southern Utah on Thursday, Nov. 2.
