Hadley Bodell
Staff Writer
Stacked with junior twins as a setter and outside duo and a star freshman middle blocker, the Lady Bengals show up ready to take on the NAU lumberjacks Thursday night at 7 pm in Reed’s Gym.
Students, families, and alumni gathered in Reed’s Gym Thursday night for the volleyball game at 7 p.m. Free for ISU students to attend, the theme of this Thursday’s game was Pink-Out, supporting breast cancer awareness month. The Lady Bengals sported bright pink jerseys, with libero Lily Liekweg wearing white.
The first set of the match was incredibly close, with a finishing score of 25-23. After a battle of a set with timeouts taken by both teams, freshman middle Jaydin Watts made the game-winning kill. Watts also contributed two huge blocks for the team during the set.
Set Two brought more action to Reed’s Gym as the crowd roared for junior setter Aliyah Sopo’Aga as she tipped or pushed the ball a total of five times during the match for a kill against NAU. The Bengals are lucky to have an offensive setter like Sopo’Aga, who not only sets up her hitters, but takes matters into her own hands and gets kills of her own.
Sopo’Aga’s twin Asiah also contributed during the set with two huge blocks, shifting the momentum further to the Lady Bengals. NAU took two timeouts during the set – the second one when ISU was up 18-12. With some incredible hits and coverage by the NAU defense, the team pushed back to 22-16, but the Bengals had too much momentum, and ended up taking the set.
In the third set, middle blocker Marci Richins and right-side hitter Sadie Bluth put up more massive blocks together, pushing the Lady Bengals further ahead for a start to the set at 7-3. The crowd roaring, attackers Bluth and Jamie Streit tied their stats with 9 kills for the game and helped the Lady Bengals take the set 25-13.
The Lumberjacks have won each meeting with the Bengals dating back to 2018. Before Thursday night, NAU had a three-match winning streak against ISU in Reed’s Gym. Dominating over NAU in 3-0 straight sets, ISU students and attendees of the match reveled in the pink-out game win.
Junior setter Aliyah Sopo’Aga commented on how the team pulled through for the big win tonight, saying, “The energy on the court, from our sideline, as well as the fans was contagious.”
The team has obviously put in work both on and off the court to create a special bond to help them feel connected as a team. The players each have a personal film breakdown after games with the coaches and work with an athletic trainer to be able to go out and play at their best.
Each player contributed to the win Thursday night, especially taking extra care with their communication, Sopo’ Aga stating, “On our dead time (in between plays) we were very vocal with each other reminding where certain hitters were!” The team’s communication and connection proved useful against the Lumberjacks, and the team is hopeful it will continue to bring them success throughout the rest of their season.
The Lady Bengals will take the court again Friday night, October 20th at 7 p.m. against the University of Northern Colorado for another Big Sky Conference Game in Reed’s Gym.
