The Bengal Sports Staff
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The Idaho State volleyball team was swept this weekend in Fort Collins as the Bengals took on two ranked opponents in its third preseason tournament of the season which was hosted by Colorado State.
Idaho State (3-7) fell to 16th-ranked Michigan (7-2) in straight sets on Friday morning before falling to Ball State (6-4) in four sets in the nightcap. The team then took Saturday off but fell to 25th-ranked Colorado State (8-1) in three sets on Sunday afternoon.
Michigan 3, Idaho State 0:
The Bengals opened the weekend against No. 16 Michigan, falling, 3-0 Friday morning. The Wolverines prevailed with scores of 25-23, 25-13 and 25-22.
Michigan was led by Lambert with a match-high 12 kills while Jenna Lerg posted a match-high 13 digs. MacKenzi Welsh finished with a match-high 28 assists.
The Bengals were led by junior outside hitter Abby Garrity with 11 kills while senior outside hitter, Chloe Hirst, finished with eight. Sophomore middle blocker, Brooke Pehrson, posted a solid performance with five kills off nine attempts with one error to hit .444 to go along with four digs and three block assists. Sophomore libero Haylie Keck finished with a team-high 11 digs.
“I felt like the team played really well,” said head coach Rick Reynolds. “I thought we came out with good energy and that we were competing. I thought we were doing some really good things offensively, and our serve receive was pretty solid. We were serving tough and creating opportunities. It’s a game of inches, and some of the inches didn’t come our way.”
Idaho State struggled the first few plays of the first set but regrouped and battled back with a vengeance. Down 7-3 in the beginning of the set, the Bengals tied the set 13-all off a Michigan error and took their first lead 14-13 following a big kill from Hirst to force a Michigan timeout.
Coming out of the break, freshman middle blocker Taylor Meeks connected for another big kill to put Idaho State up 15-13, and an attacking error by the Wolverines gave ISU its largest lead of the morning, 16-13. Two-straight Michigan kills and a service ace tied the set once more, but Hirst responded with a big kill to break the tie.
Idaho State’s lead was short-lived as the Wolverines put together a 3-0 run to take a 19-17 lead. A kill from Garrity and a bad set from the Wolverines cut Michigan’s lead to one, 20-19, but ISU would come no closer. Michigan held on for the 25-23 first set win.
“I think the key is that anybody can play with anybody for one set,” Reynolds said. “And we showed that. The better team traditionally always plays a little more consistent, and we let them go on too many runs in the second set.”
The second set began with a 2-0 Michigan run on two consecutive Idaho State attacking errors and it quickly turned into a 9-2 advantage for the Wolverines.
A kill from Pehrson and two-straight kills from Garrity cut Michigan’s lead to five, 11-6, but another 5-0 run from Michigan put the Bengals in a 10-point hole. Idaho State would never recover as the Wolverines went on to claim the second set 25-13.
Idaho State bounced back in the third set, starting with two unanswered points with a service ace from Pehrson and a Michigan attacking error. The Wolverines countered with a 9-2 run to claim a 9-4 advantage, but three kills from Garitty and a service ace from Ashlyn Van Every coupled with two Wolverine errors cut Michigan’s lead to one, 11-10.
Another run from the Wolverines put Idaho State down by seven, 19-12, but the Bengals responded, this time with an 8-3 run to cut Michigan’s lead to two, 22-20. An Idaho State service error followed by a Michigan kill gave the Wolverines the 24-20 lead, but a kill from Pehrson and a Michigan attacking error once more brought ISU to within two, 24-22. Michigan closed the set 25-22 and won the match with a kill from Adeja Lambert.
“We let [Michigan] go on a really quick run at the beginning of the third set, and we were a little disheveled looking,” Reynolds said. “We were looking for someone to step up, and then we found a little bit of a rhythm. I felt like as the third set went on, we gave ourselves a chance. But you’ve got to be able to perform over the long haul, and their pressure got to us a little bit there at the end.”
Ball State 3, Idaho State 1:
Ball State bested the Bengals in the second match of the day in four with scores of 25-23, 27-29, 25-21 and 25-21.
In a match that featured 40 ties and 14 lead changes, the entire night was a battle. In the first set, neither team led by more than three points. Late in the set, Ball State put together a 5-1 run to take a 19-16 lead, but three straight points from the Bengals tied the set once more at 19-all. Idaho State was outscored 6-4 to close the set, giving the Cardinals the 25-23 first set win.
Three Bengals finished in double-figure kills, led by Garrity with 18. Hirst finished with 15 while freshman middle blocker Taylor Meeks finished with 11. Idaho State also finished with three players in double-figure kills, led by sophomore libero Haylie Keck while Garrity and Hirst recorded 13 and 11 respectively.
“It was good to see our offense terminate at a high level, even though our offense was not playing at the level it’s capable of competing at,” Reynolds said. “I thought our left backs played great defense and pick up some good balls. I thought we blocked really well, but we have to take care of the ball better offensively.”
The battle continued in the second set with nine ties and four lead changes. Idaho State struck first with a big kill from Garrity, but Ball State tied things up with an ISU attacking error. This back-and-forth play continued throughout the match until a Cardinals ace and three-straight Idaho State attacking errors gave Ball State a 14-10 advantage. The Bengals closed the gap, 14-13, but the Cardinals maintained the lead until a late-match surge tied the set 23-all.
The squads traded kill for kill, until a kill from Garrity gave Idaho State a 27-26 advantage. The Bengals finished the set with a big kill from Pehrson to take the set 29-27 and tie the match 1-1.
In the third, the back-and-forth play continued with 10 ties and two lead changes. Garrity led the Bengals with five kills off 10 attempts with no errors to hit .500. With the set tied 19-all, Ball State went on a 6-2 run to take the set 25-21 and earn a 2-1 lead in the match.
Idaho State struggled to terminate in the final set, connecting for 13 kills off 39 attempts with nine errors. Though Ball State recorded just one more kill with 14, it was more efficient in its hitting, committing four errors off 35 attempts to hit .286. With the set tied six-all, four consecutive Bengal hitting errors gave the Cardinals the 10-6 lead, and Ball State extended that lead to as many as six midway through the set.
The Bengals put together a 6-2 run to cut Ball State’s lead to two, 22-20, but the Cardinals finished on a 3-1 run to claim the set 25-21 and win the match 3-1.
Ball State was led by Emily Holland with 10 kills off 22 attempts with one error to hit .409 while Amber Seaman finished with 42 assists.
Colorado State 3, Idaho State 0:
The Idaho State volleyball team fell in three sets to No. 25 Colorado State in the final match of the Colorado State Tournament in Moby Arena.
Hirst led the Bengals with 12 kills while Garrity added nine kills with eight digs and one solo block. Freshman setter Chelsea Johnson recorded 29 assists and five digs in her first match as a starter for the Bengals.
“I thought we had great composure today,” Reynolds said. “When the score gets to 16-16, and great teams separate themselves. I wouldn’t say we lost our composure against them there, but I think we allowed [Colorado State] to go on some easy runs. I told the girls, I felt like we let them earn too many breaks.”
Idaho State battled throughout the match with Colorado State as there were 18 ties and eight lead changes throughout the match. In the first set, Hirst came out on fire for ISU with six kills of 13 attempts with two errors to hit .308.
Midway through the set, a kill from Hirst tied the set 10-all, and the Bengals kept trading Colorado State point-for-point. The Rams gained some separation with three-straight kills to lead 18-15, but an Idaho State kill courtesy of Nicole Lee cut the lead to two. Idaho State struggled to retain its momentum, committing four errors in the final four plays to give Colorado State the first set win, 25-17.
In the second set, it was Meeks who stepped up at the net, finishing with four kills to lead the Bengals. Both Hirst and Garrity were close behind with three each, but it wasn’t enough to offset Colorado State’s Jasmine Hanna’s five kills and Breana Runnels’ four kills.
The Bengals continued to hang around for the entire set, challenging the Rams for every point. Trailing 21-18, Garrity connected for a big kill to bring the Bengals within three, 21-18, but Colorado State finished on a 4-2 run to take the second 25-20 and earn a 2-0 lead in the match.
“I was proud of our fight,” Reynolds said. “I thought our serving was really tough late in the match. It came back on us a little bit and we were able to earn some points.”
Two of Idaho State’s four service aces in the match came in the third set, both courtesy of Keck. With the Bengals trailing 14-9, Keck stepped to the service line to deliver back-to-back aces, forcing Colorado State to call a timeout. Two plays later, Garrity terminated for a kill to bring Idaho State within three, 15-12, but Colorado State put together another run to lead 21-15 late in the set. The Bengals couldn’t put together a late rally and the Rams took the third set 25-18 and the match 3-0.
Colorado State was led by Runnels with a match-high 13 kills while both Sanja Cizmic and Jasmine Hanna had 10 kills apiece. Katie Oleksak added a match-high 43 assists, while Amanda Young finished with 18 digs.
Idaho State continues play on the road for the fourth-straight week next week as it heads to Boise State for the Boise State Classic. The Bengals open tournament play with Oregon State Friday at 7:30 p.m.
