A sea of blue and gold filled Shroyer Gym for JJ Riley’s first match roaming the sidelines for a home match at Montana State. The majority of the men’s and women’s basketball teams cheered from the stands as well as a good portion of the football team as MSU kicked off its homecoming weekend. But Idaho State came to Bozeman with an agenda to start something the Bengals could not finish last fall.
Idaho State’s Tressa Lyman
A season ago, Idaho State cruised through the Big Sky, losing just one conference match. But the Bengals fell short of the NCAA Tournament, losing to Northern Colorado in the Big Sky tournament championship game on their home floor. On Thursday, the Bengals spoiled Riley and the Bobcats’ home opener and took the first step toward redemption.
Reigning Big Sky MVP Tressa Lyman notched 14 kills, including the match-clinching point as Idaho State posted a 25-17, 25-20, 30-28 sweep in front of nearly 900 fans on Thursday night.
“It’s always motivation to come back from a loss like that that is heartbreaking but this is a completely different team and honestly, we didn’t talk about last year at all,” Lyman said after hitting .194 for the evening. “We know talking about last year won’t help us accomplish what we want to this year. We want to come out strong, make our first match like it’s the championship.”
The win boosts the Bengals to 1-0 in league, 9-6 overall. With the loss, MSU is 0-1 at home and in the Big Sky, 2-7 overall.
“They applied the pressure constantly,” said Riley, a highly successful assistant on the men’s and women’s sides with stops at USC, Pepperdine and Utah before landing his first head coaching gig at MSU. “The only thing that happened to us — I thought we played with them — but we let about three or four strings of points go. They kept the pressure on us and our minds were racing in the wrong direction instead of focusing on the task at hand. That got us in a little bit of trouble.”
JJ Riley addresses his team during a timeout
With senior standout outside hitter Eli Svisco on the bench with a sprained right ankle, Montana State hit just .176, including just .094 in the first set. Lyman notched six kills in the first set before the Bobcats adjusted their block as the Bengals hit .394 as they ended the frame on a 7-2 run.
“I thought our team came out and did a good job in the first set, played competitive, put a lot of pressure on them,” first-year ISU head coach Rick Reynolds said. “We took our foot off the gas a little too much. But I also thought Montana State recognized what was going on so hat’s off to them. JJ and his staff will do a great job.”
In the second two sets, MSU limited ISU’s hitting by adjusting its block and limiting Lyman. ISU hit .227 in the second set and .158 in the third set. ISU totaled 12 errors over the last two frames, including nine in a third set that Montana State stretched with a furious rally.
“Blockers did a really good job of focusing on the tendencies a little but, putting some pressure on (Lyman), not letting her get too many clean kills,” Riley said. “Numbers wise, we held her pretty well but obviously some of the other kids on the team stepped up. That’s what good teams do: they have role players stepped up.”
ISU junior Bailey Bars proved to be the key role player for the Bengals. The southpaw, who doubles as a javelin thrower on the Idaho State track team, pounded four kills each in the second two sets, including a pair of consecutive kills in the second set that set the tone. The first Bars kill scalded MSU libero across the face Kasey Altman, causing a stoppage while she got her right eye examined. When play resumed, Bars blistered another down the line.
Idaho State
“It’s a huge team effort and she a big part of our team,” Lyman said. “Everyone came out and did their job right and Bailey did hers. The back row was giving her good balls, (setter) Hayley (Farrer, who had 32 assists) was giving her good balls. It was a combined effort an everyone executed tonight.”
Junior Loni Kreun notched 15 kills on .462 hitting but committed four service errors, including a service fault with the third set tied at 27. Freshman Natalie Passeck notched 10 kills but hit just .143 and senior Natalee Godfrey notched seven kills but hit just .167 as MSU totaled 23 errors and nine service errors.
“We were close for a while but we have to learn how to be consistent when things get a little bit fast,” Riley said. “If we make a couple of errors, we have to refocus and stop the bleeding so to speak. The girls are fighting and competing. The more situations we get in like that, we will keep gaining confidence.”
Following the game, Reynolds mentioned he was frustrated despite his team’s sweep. The last two sets were sloppy and unfocused, he said. In the end though, his Bengals took the first step toward redeeming themselves.
“At the end of the day, we have 16 matches here in the Big Sky and we are going to focus one by one,” Reynolds said. “It’s a 16-round battle and we just won the first round.”
