Nov. 11, 2008

Complete Volleyball Match Notes: Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona

Quickly
Idaho State is on a solid winning streak posting four victories, two of which came in Big Sky Conference play over Weber State and Sacramento State. The Bengals are now 4-8 in conference play, keeping their chance alive to attend the Big Sky tournament. The last time ISU defeated the Hornets was in 2004 and the Bengals have not seen a four-match winning streak since 2003 which also included a victory over Montana-Western. Idaho State has four more matches before the regular season ends as they travel in their final road trip of the season to take on Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona. The regular season will be finished at home when ISU hosts Montana State and Montana.

About Idaho State
Idaho State posts a 9-17 overall record giving the Bengals three more victories than last season and their 4-8 conference record is up two from last season as well. The Bengals hit nearly 12 kills per set and maintain a .151 attack percentage while their opponents have edged them out with a .180 percentage in total. ISU has recorded 90 blocks this season 16 are solo efforts. The defensive effort continues as ISU has posted 671 digs in conference play.

The Juniors Have It
Idaho State has seven upperclassmen of which five are juniors. Though this means a large returning class for next season, it will certainly be a welcomed returning class as three juniors have been within the top-ten Big Sky categories for play excellence this season. Junior Emily Waldron leads the Big Sky Conference with 0.34 aces per set. She has posted 31 aces over the season, 10 in conference alone. She is not the only Bengal to fair well among the conference. In conference play junior Ashlyn McDowell posts the second-most blocks per set with 1.31 while redshirt junior Paige Palmer posts the third most digs per set with 4.74 in conference play.

Glance toward the Sky
Portland State, Eastern Washington and Northern Colorado have already clinched their spots in the 2008 Big Sky Championship. Portland State leads the conference after they knocked off Northern Colorado, then Eastern Washington pounced on the injured Bears to push them into third place in the standings. Idaho State will need to sweep Northern Arizona by 12 points and sweep Montana by 10 points to win any sort of tiebreaker scenario.

Loss of Cooper
The Bengal squad lost a significant player when senior right side hitter Brenda Cooper injured her ACL during warm-up against Montana-Western. As she was warming up during an attack run-through she landed awkwardly on her left leg and fell to the ground. Cooper will be out the remainder of the season which marks her senior year. The senior can still be found on the court with her teammates as she has been walking around during practice to improve strength.

The injury caused ISU to switch to a 5-1 formation which is centered around a single setter instead of the 6-2 formation which has two setters and gives more opportunities for everyone to hit. The switch hasn't been a deterrent for the Bengals in fact, quite the opposite giving ISU two of it's last four victories.

Palmer Climbs to up the Record Book
Redshirt junior Paige Palmer has posted 405 digs so far this season tying Chantelle Sharp for the 10th most digs in a season which she set in 1992. She needs to record 87 more digs to overcome the school record of 491 set by Bri Beal in 2006.

Look Out for Waldron
Junior Waldron has recorded 2,640 attack attempts over her career and is closing in on a top-ten spot in the ISU record book as Debbie Masak recorded 2,786 attempts between 1987-90. Waldron needs 147 to overcome the 10th spot and 1,772 attacks to hold the school record which is currently set by Margaret Smith at 4,557 from 1984-1987.

About Northern Colorado Northern Colorado has tabbed a 9-4 conference record and have a perfect 5-0 record at home in conference and are 5-1 overall dropping a 3-1 decision to Colorado State. UNC headed the conference before the weekend when it lost its first place spot when it was swept by Portland State. The team fell to third two days later when it was swept by Eastern Washington marking UNC's worst weekend in conference play this season. The longest winning streak of five by the Bears was also ended with their loss to Portland State. The streak began with a 3-0 victory over Idaho State on October 11.

Though Northern Colorado has dropped its last two matches decisively and underestimate the Bengals even with victories over Weber State and Sacramento State in their four-game winning streak. This could be a golden opportunity for ISU to pounce on a downtrodden Northern Colorado and extend its victories to five in a row.

However, Northern Colorado has had an excellent season and has led the conference for a reason and will surely not go down without a fight. UNC has out hit their opponents recording a .234 percentage, but the Bears also allow .202 from their opponents which keeps them in the match. Though UNC has a solid backrow defense recording 12.1 digs per set that keeps kills from occurring. Their most effective block are in pairs as they record 144 block assists, but only 15 solo blocks. The Bears can get around paired groupings as their opponents have only recorded 132 blocks, but are often found troubled in one-on-one situations as their opponents have tabbed 23 solo blocks.

Norhtern Colorado has three solid hitters that will give Idaho State much trouble as the Bengals are down a solid blocker in senior Brenda Cooper. Northern Colorado's Allison Raguse, Taylor Smith and Kenzie Shreeve post a .307, .301 and .217 attack percentage respectively. Shreeve has recorded nearly twice as many kills as Raguse and Smith giving their opponents a true target to cover which opens up the field for Raguse and Smith.

Defensively UNC is lead by Brean Vandermost in the backrow as she has 4.55 digs per set. The frontline is controlled by Smith who has posted 45 blocks only four solos for her team.

Northern Colorado Leads Series
Northern Colorado leads the series 10-1 with Idaho State posting their only victory in 1982 under Jim Cherniss. On September 23 in a Brigham Young tournament ISU defeated the Bears 2-1 (12-15, 16-14, 15-12).

Bears and Bengals Last Meeting
Idaho State fell to Northern Colorado in straight sets in its last meeting as ISU was out hit by the Bears when they posted 48 kills with 12 errors from 121 attempts for a .298 attack percentage while Idaho State recorded 35 kills with 18 errors from 113 attempts for a .150 percentage. Northern Colorado solidly attacked in each set as they posted .325 in the first set, .289 in the second and .278 in the third. Idaho State posts it best attack in the first set as they recorded .189 from 12 kills and posted two tied scores and three lead changes.

Freshman Jaclyn Hone stepped up in the challenge as she posted 12.5 points. Hone's performance was the first time in the season a player other than junior Emily Waldron lead the Bengals in points. Hone record 11 kills with only four errors from 29 attempts for a .241 attack percentage. However, Waldron recorded the team-high attack percentage of .304 with eight kills and only one error from 23 attempts.

Both teams posted five team blocks with eight block assists and one solo each, but UNC recorded two block errors as they made contact with the net to stop Idaho State from making at attack. Senior Brenda Cooper recorded three block assists and three kills for the Bengals.

About Northern Arizona
Northern Arizona is 5-8 in Conference play holding the seventh place spot just ahead of Idaho State. The Lumberjacks started off the season strong posting a six match winning streak, but have faltered late in conference play. NAU has had two three-match losing streaks only broken up by Montana State who trails the conference in ninth place. The Lumberjacks have only captured six sets in their last seven matches. Comparing the two teams NAU took a started the conference season on an upswing and have been slowly losing momentum dropping their last three matches while ISU started the season struggling and has risen to success posting a four-match winning streak.

NAU has been out hit by their conference opponents .204 to its .165 as NAU posts 9.4 kills per set and allows their opponents 11.2 kills per set. Though not the most offensively minded team, the Lumberjacks have been able to rely on their service and passing game to set up their attack as they have recorded 43 aces and tabbed only 36 serve reception errors. NAU keeps their opportunities alive by getting the ball to the setters to make a play. NAU has had difficult time stopping attacks as they have been out blocked in conference 107 to 92 producing 1.6 blocks per set and a high 30 blocking errors.

NAU is led by Lexi Sullivan who produces nearly four kills per set and posts a .171 attack percentage. The most consistent hitter is Emily Osiadacz with .226 percentage posting nearly three kills per set. NAU also uses a single setter formation surrounded around Jana Mays-Robinson who has recorded 466 assists in conference play. The Bengals will need to hit through Osiadacz and Katie Bailey as they post 46 and 34 blocks respectively and will prove to be an obstacle for ISU. Brittany Stowers sets up the attack an strips the opposing team of kills as she has recorded 295 digs in conference play posting 6.41 digs per set.

Northern Arizona Edges Series
NAU leads the bragging rights as they edge over Idaho State 27-26 in the series. Idaho State had its last victory against the Lumberjacks just five matches ago in 2006 under Mike Welch. The victory was a tough 3-2 fight (30-26, 30-25, 28-30, 28-30, 15-8) with the Bengals dropping the third and fourth sets.

Jacks and Bengals Last Meeting
It was a straight sweep that gave NAU 26-24, 25-18, 25-22 victory over ISU in the last meeting. NAU out hit and out blocked ISU when the Lumberjacks posted a .229 attack percentage and five blocks to ISU's .140 and four blocks.

In a hard fought first set, where the score reached 17 ties and the lead changed eight times, the Bengals recorded their best set attack percentage of .213 with 17 kills and seven errors from 47 attempts. Junior Emily Waldron recorded five of her 9.5 points for the Bengals in the first set alone.

Waldron recorded nine kills for the Bengals with only two errors from 27 attempts for a .259 percentage. She also had seven digs and one block assist. NAU's Emily Osiadacz posted the match-high percentage as she recorded 10 kills with only two errors from 19 attempts for an incredible .421 percentage.

Idaho State saw new starters in the match up in junior Ashlyn McDowell and freshman Jaclyn Hone. McDowell had an impressive match as she recorded five kills for the Bengals with only one error from 10 attacks for a team match-high .400 attack percentage. She also posted the only solo block for the Bengals as well as the team-high two block assists. McDowell earned seven points for Idaho State.

Hone posted eight kills with eight errors from 34 attempts. The outside hitter recorded 17 digs, the team match-high, and earned eight points for the Bengals. Freshman Karissa Legaux and senior Blakely Peppinger both recorded double digits in assists with 15 and 17 respectively.