The Idaho State volleyball team is now at the top of the Big Sky standings after sweeping the Portland State Vikings and Eastern Washington Eagles this past weekend in Reed Gym.
On Friday the Bengals swept the Vikings in three sets. They narrowly won the first set 25-22 but turned it up in the second set and won 25-17. The Bengals finished off the Vikings in the third 25-14 to win the match.
On Saturday ISU beat Eastern Washington 25-20 in the first set but dominated the next two sets, 25-17 and 25-16 to earn their second straight sweep.
The Bengals have now won 15 of their last 16 games and are on a five-game winning streak.
If this team continues to play with the killer instinct it showed when Portland State came to town it shouldn’t have any problem winning the conference.
Not only is the present looking bright, the future looks even brighter. The aforementioned depth at ISU comes from a combination of sophomores and freshmen.
Makenzie Filer has been able to step in as a true freshman and provide a spark on ISU’s front line. ISU head coach Chad Tiechert has used a combination of Filer and Whitney Bartschi up front.
“Every single day you have to compete if you want to see the court during the game,” said Filer. “Whitney and I push ourselves to be better every day.”
When Filer does come in she leaves everything on the floor. Filer has shown flashes of brilliance whenever she comes into the game. She brings so much energy and has a ton of raw talent; it will only be a matter of time before she becomes a stronghold for ISU.
“There have been times when Makenzie has came in and things started really going well for us when she comes into the match,” said Tiechert.
While Filer has yet to establish herself as the starting middle blocker, she is taking full advantage of playing with seniors like Breanne Van Every and Jaclyn Hone-Hawkins.  If she soaks up as much as she can it will only be a matter of time before she can provide that consistent presence for ISU.
Filer was recruited to ISU by teammate Lori Mendenhall and was offered a full ride scholarship, and the rest is history.
“Lori said that she loves it and the coaches are super-nice and really helpful,” said Filer. “She knows how good I can be, so she helps me play my game.”
The Bengals will be starting a 4-game road trip against Southern Utah on Oct. 18 and will not return home until Nov. 2 when they play Montana State at Reed Gym.