Lucas Gebhart
Sports Editor
Idaho State opened its 2017 season last weekend in a tournament at Milwaukee-Wisconsin. The Bengals lost to Virginia Tech and UMW by scores of 3-2 but beat South Dakota State 3-1 to begin a season that the team hopes will be better than the previous one as ISU had its worst season since 2009, going 16-15 overall and 10-6 in conference play.
This season, Idaho State was picked to finish sixth in the Big Sky Conference with 71 points by league officials. North Dakota was picked to win the conference 120 points, including 10 first place votes. The other two first place votes came from Northern Colorado who pulled in the second place slot with 102 points.
“On paper, we lost more offense than anybody in the country coming into last year,” said head coach Rick Reynolds before the season began.. “I thought 16-15 was a good representation.”
Last season, the team was without their biggest offensive asset in outside hitter Tressa Lyman, who in 2015, led the squad in kills with 488, attacks with 1350, in points with 559 and ranked second on the team in digs with 332. Lyman also led the Big Sky in double-doubles with 18, which ranked 24th nationally, ranked 34th in the nation in points-per-set, 39th in attacks-per-set and 41st in kills-per-set.
That same 2016 team also lost Makenzie Filer, who led the team and ranked 28th nationally in blocks and libero, Kaitlyn Johnson, who started all 33 matches as the defensive specialist, who lead the team in digs.
The schedule didn’t help either, as two of the Bengals six NCAA opponents, Missouri and Brigham Young, made quarterfinals appearances in the national tournament.
“We did the same thing again, we went after it,” Reynolds said on this season’s schedule which features two top 20 teams in the American Volleyball Coaches Association preseason poll. “We want to be a team that is going to win the Big Sky but also be the team that when you get past winning the Big Sky you are prepared for the first round of the NCAA tournament. We have some first round type opponents on our schedule.”
Big names on this year’s schedule include, Minnesota, who is ranked fourth in the nation as of August 9 and received two first place votes in the preseason polls. Michigan is also on the schedule and is ranked 16th in the country, while Colorado State and Boise State are both receiving votes.
“We have to redefined ourselves,” said senior Chloe Hirst on improving off the 2016 season. “Redefining who we are and recreating the culture in the gym and who we want to be.”
The Bengals lost Bailey Bars to a season-ending injury two matches into last year’s season and middle blocker Marissa Todd saw action in 18 matches after hitting the floor 33 times in 2015. When healthy, ISU had a roster of 13 last season, this season it’s 15, meaning more depth.
“With the injuries last year, we had to step into new roles,” said senior Marissa Dance. “It was hard but we had good players all around that could fill in.”
Idaho State will return five starters and seven lettermen from last season, including sophomore Haylie Keck, who broke the school’s single-season dig record as a freshman with 599, including a season-high 33 digs against Sacramento State.
“That extra depth that we didn’t have last year will give us that edge this year,” Dance said.
Entering his third season, Reynolds has established his culture, which has been built off of former head coach Chad Teichert.
“We expect what we accept.” Hirst said. “We set that standard in [the practice gym] and then we accept it. We are the ones that made that culture.”
The Bengals will play one home non-conference game on September 4 against Utah Valley before traveling to Fort Collins and Boise for a pair of tournaments. Idaho State opens conference play on the road by traveling to Sacramento and Portland State on September 21 and 23 and then will host a four-game home stand starting September 28 against Northern Arizona.
“We truly believe that we can step into the gym with any team in the country and have an opportunity,” Reynolds said. “There is a net and six on each side of the net and there is a ball. We have a chance to compete.”
