The Idaho State women’s volleyball team has the deepest roster since Sean Carter took over as coach three seasons ago.
The challenge now becomes filtering through all those options, and fitting the pieces that go together best.
“I think based on who we play and certain matchups, we have more options than we’ve ever had,” said Carter after the Bengals dropped a four-set exhibition match against the Mountain West’s Utah State in Reed Gym Saturday afternoon. “But sometimes that can be a worry too, because you don’t settle into something. But I think we have an idea of what we’re probably going to go with, and then we can fine tune it a little bit as we get into the season.”
The “fine tuning” starts for real this weekend, when the Bengals host San Diego State, Seattle University and CSUN in the Idaho State Tournament in Reed Gym, beginning on Friday. Saturday’s exhibition match with Utah State, which has won the Mountain West Conference regular season title in two out of the last three seasons and was picked to finish second in the conference preseason poll, gave Carter and his team a good warmup for the tournament.
“Utah State is really good,” Carter said after the Aggies held off ISU, 25-20, 19-25, 25-18, 30-28. “There’s a reason they’ve won or been close to winning the Mountain West for the last several years. ... The one encouraging part is seeing we were right there. That very easily could have been a five-setter. ... That’s exactly what I hoped to get out of these. Because I think for some of our new girls, as far as intensity is concerned, it’s like ‘Whoa, this is totally different than in practice.’”
The Bengals actually had two set point opportunities in the fourth set that could have sent the match to another frame, before the Aggies finally closed things out.
Carter, whose team finished 8-20 overall last season, and eighth in the Big Sky at 6-10, returns all but two players who saw significant action last year. He also has what he believes is an excellent recruiting class with six incoming freshmen. He feels like he’s close to nailing down a starting lineup, but he’d like to see some of the contenders for playing time solidify their roles with their play in this weekend’s tournament.
The Bengals went with a starting lineup of sophomore Chloe Heimlicher, senior Jamie Streit, freshman Tana Howard, redshirt sophomore Marci Bell, senior Asiah Sopo’aga, twin sister Aliyah Sopo’aga and sophomore Jayden Watts on Saturday. They played well despite losing the first set, and Carter stuck with them, with appearances off the bench by junior Meline Robarge and senior Sadie Bluth, in the second set, which ISU won handily.
“And then I was like, ‘OK, we’ve got to change it up a bit in set three,’” said Carter. “So that one got away from us a little bit.”
True freshmen Ashlyn Smith, from Pocatello, and Jenna Werbelow made their ISU debuts in the third set, and senior middle blocker Peyton Michaelson also got on the floor. In set four, Carter largely went with the same personnel he used to start the match.
The Bengals return a lot of experience, including Streit, a second-team all-conference selection who led the team in kills (283), total attempts (814) and points (312). Aliyah Sopo’aga topped the team in assists (650) and was second in digs (234). Asiah Sopo’aga was third on the team in digs (233). Bluth led in service aces (32) and was second in points (307). And rounding it all out is Watts who was second in blocks (25).
Among the newcomers, Howard, a 6-foot-2-inch setter from Gilbert, Ariz., stands out.
“She was our best setter today and she’s a 6-2 girl,” said Carter. “She was great in her setting piece, now if we can get her on the scoreboard as a hitter too, then I’ll be really pumped.”
He’d like to redshirt most of the freshmen class, but they are pushing hard for playing time.
“We have some young people that we’d like to redshirt and then train them up a bit and then let them wreak havoc for the next four years, but we’ll see,” said Carter. “Because our young people are maybe a lot closer to our older people than maybe we would have guessed.”
The field for this weekend’s tournament looks to be fairly evenly matched. Both CSUN, who finished 6-23 overall and 4-14 in the Big West, and Seattle U, who was 8-19 and 3-13 in the WAC, have new coaches. San Diego State finished 9-20 overall and 4-14 in the Mountain West. But the Aztecs brought in four Division I transfers to try to get an immediate transfusion of talent. So they might be the favorite going into the tournament.
“I think if we play well, we have three opponents that we have a shot at beating,” said Carter. “If you told me Idaho State goes 3-0 next weekend, I wouldn’t be super shocked. But depending on how things go, we probably could also go 0-3. But I think it will be a very competitive tournament. Everyone will be learning something about their squad. But the great thing is, we get to do it at home in front of our fans.”
Carter said ISU had to pay some guarantee money to get the three teams to come to Pocatello, but he felt it was important that his team got some home matches. Last year, the Bengals started the season 2-10 in the non-conference, playing mostly on the road.
“I think it’s important for our kids to get some matches at home, and hopefully fans will show up,” he said. “We usually have a pretty good environment. The noise was at a pretty decent level for a little old exhibition match today that I don’t know a lot of people knew about. So I’m excited to play at home for sure.”
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