You could call it the “commissioner’s curse,” if you’d like.
The Idaho State women’s volleyball team came roaring out the gates this season, off to its best start as a program since 1987, and taking down a very tough Northern Colorado team on the road on its way to an 11-3 start, 2-0 in league play.
Then Big Sky Commissioner Tom Wistrcill named them his conference “team of the month” for September. And then the Bengals blew a big first-set lead to Montana State at home, losing that set 30-28, and eventually losing the match in five sets Thursday night.
“We were coming off a really tough loss to Montana State where we really felt like we let one slip,” said ISU coach Sean Carter after the Bengals rebounded with a four-set win over Montana in Reed Gym Saturday. “Where we were the better team for most of the match, but a couple of key elements we let slip.”
The Bengals’ response to letting Montana State sneak out of town with a win was to beat a Montana program that was undefeated against Carter and his Bengal staff since they arrived in town three years ago.
“So now we just gotta get the Bobcats and the Hornets of Sacramento State and then we’ll have beaten everyone at least once,” said Carter after the Bengals’ 25-19, 25-21, 24-26, 25-16 victory over the Grizzlies.
Montana came into Reed Gym 5-9 overall, and 0-3 in conference play, but the Grizzlies gave preseason conference favorite Weber State all it could handle before falling in five sets in Ogden Thursday night.
The Bengals came out hot, hitting a smoking .478 percentage and never trailing on the way to a first-set win. They cooled off a bit in the second, but still hung on for a 25-21 win. Then in the third set, things got dicey.
Paige Clark, a 6-foot-1-inch senior outside hitter from Idaho Falls’ Thunder Ridge High School, started asserting herself inside, and the Bengals mis-hit a couple of key serves to allow the Grizzlies to pull out a 26-24 third set win.
“I mean she (Clark) was dominating for the most part,” Carter said of Clark, who came into the match second in the conference in aces and points per set, and third in kills. “The fact that we were up two sets on Montana and she was hitting like 70% on kills — that’s not normally going to happen. We did a pretty good job on everyone else.”
Having let the Griz back in the match, the Bengals went back to basics to reassert control in the fourth set.
“We try and calm down in moments like that,” said Bengal setter Aliyah Sopo’aga, who led ISU with 40 assists. “Everything starts to get tight and intense, so we’re trying to take a deep breath, go back to the basics, start with a pass, then a set, and going for high hands. Not so much like a bounce or a kill, but trying to keep the ball in play so it’s them making mistakes.”
The Bengals shot out to a 10-4 lead in the final set on a block by Jaydin Watts, one of her team-leading eight for the day, and were never really threatened after that. They claimed the fourth set 23-16.
“We got them (Montana) to err a bit more and I’m thankful our block showed back up again,” said Carter. “We had a bit more stuff blocks that we’ve kind of been used to.”
ISU, who came into the weekend as the number one team in the nation in total blocks and blocks per set, added 17 more against Montana.
“I think we started off strong with the blocks, and the momentum just kept us going on,” said Watts, a sophomore from Lancaster, California.
Watts came into the match ranked 10th in the nation in blocks per set at 1.44.
Statistical leaders for the Bengals included Watts with 12 kills, and Jamie Streit and Meline Robarge with 11. Robarge added seven blocks and Marci Bell six. Asiah Sopo’aga led ISU with 14 digs and Streit had 11. Montana’s Clark led all players with 15 kills on the match.
The win moves Idaho State to 12-4 overall, 3-1 in league play, with what Carter calls “shark week” lying ahead of them. That would be Weber State, the defending league champion, which will be coming into Reed Gym Friday night at 7 p.m. The Wildcats were 3-0 in league play going into their match with Montana State Saturday night.
“We know what they’re going to do, they know what we’re going to do,” said Carter. “They’re trained really well. I think we will be the same. Weber is always at the top of the table. So we’ve gotta prove that we’re kind of that team. They’re always arguably the best defense and blocking team in the league. So that’s the title we want to take from them. So we’re going to have to go out there and prove that we can do that.”
Carter won’t have to give his team any pep talks to get them ready for the Wildcats either.
“I want them bad,” said Watts. “Real bad.”
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