Bengals sweep Grizzlies in Pocatello

Thursday, November 12

Pocatello, Idaho

7:00 PM

Montana

7-20, 3-12BSC

Idaho State *

20-9, 12-3BSC

Montana

Idaho State

11/12/2015 10:04:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Idaho State hit .309 and rolled to a 25-15, 25-21, 25-20 victory over the Montana volleyball team Thursday night at Reed Gym in Pocatello, Idaho.

The Bengals (20-9, 12-3 BSC), who will be either the No. 2 or 3 seed at next week's Big Sky Conference tournament at Flagstaff, Ariz., reached 20 wins for the fourth straight season with the victory.

The Grizzlies (7-20, 3-12 BSC) will wrap up their season with a home match against Montana State (3-20, 1-14 BSC) on Saturday.

Montana hit just .125, its lowest hitting percentage in nine matches, and sided out at 53 percent.

"Idaho State is a very good team and did a great job against us," said first-year coach Brian Doyon. "They played well, and we weren't able to get anything going.

"At times we were able to play with them and do some nice things, but we struggled with our ball-control, so we weren't in system a lot and able to get our offense going."

Tressa Lyman had 12 kills on .375 hitting to lead the Bengals, who had 11 more kills than the Grizzlies. ISU's five non-setter starters all had between six and 12 kills and all five hit .250 or better.

Hannah Sackett had a match-high 14 kills for Montana, and Lia Gaogao added nine as Montana's left-sides combined to hit .254. The rest of the team had eight kills on a negative hitting percentage.

"We tried to get the matchups we wanted, but we weren't able to slow down their hitters," said Doyon. "And because we weren't passing well, we couldn't diversify our offense and get anybody except our left sides going."

Montana, which hit .000 in the opener, came out slow and was never in the first set. The Grizzlies improved their hitting percentage as the match moved along, to .152 in the second and .178 in the third, but they couldn't match the Bengals, who hit .292, .312 and .316.

Trailing 16-13 in the second set, Idaho State scored seven of the next eight points to take control. ISU used a 6-1 run in the third set to break away from a 12-12 deadlock.

Montana will host Montana State Saturday at 7 p.m. in the West Auxiliary Gym in the final match of the season for both teams. The Bobcats lost their 13th straight match Thursday night, falling 3-0 at Weber State. MSU hasn't won since beating Montana 3-1 in the teams' first matchup in Bozeman on Sept. 26.

"We talked in the locker room after the match and told them we have to let this match go and prepare for Montana State," said Doyon. "I think they're all excited to play again and see if we can wipe this one off the books and close the season with a good match against Montana State."