Utah Tech volleyball continued its hot streak Friday night with a third consecutive five set win over Idaho State.
What Head Coach Camilla Hafoka said: "Defense and grit is what carried us through tonight. I am incredibly proud of our girls. They trusted each other and it resulted in a great win."
How it happened: Idaho State got an early 8-3 jump on Utah Tech in the first set. Then the Trailblazers went on a 7-1 run to take a 10-9 lead. The Bengals leaped ahead of the Trailblazers to take a three point lead. Later in the set, Utah Tech had a 20-17 lead but Idaho State surged at the end to push for a 25-23 first set win.
Utah Tech jumped out to a big 12-4 lead to start the second set. Controlling the pace of the set, the Trailblazers pushed on for a 20-7 lead and finished the second set out with a kill by Bridgett Talia for the 25-11 win.
The Trailblazers jumped to a 10-4 lead in the third set.The Trailblazers maintained the lead for the majority of the third set until Idaho State tied it up at 21-21. Utah Tech got two points thanks to a kill by Talia and a Bengal error. At set point, Taela Laufiso and Whittnee Nihipali came up with a block to give UT the 25-23 third set win.
In the fourth set, Utah Tech jumped out to a narrow 10-8 lead. Idaho State answered with a 9-2 run to take an 18-13 lead. ISU outscored UT 4-1 in the final points of the set to claim the fourth set 25-19, forcing the Trailblazers into a fifth set for the third consecutive match.
Utah Tech and Idaho Started the fifth set off tied 7-7. The Trailblazers hit the halfway point first thanks to a kill by Talia. Idaho State quickly made a jump and put themselves at set point. UT tied it up at 14-14 forcing the fifth set to go into extra points.
A Bengal error and two big Blazer kills by Nihipali and Chayse Daugherty gave UT the 17-15 fifth set win and overall five set victory over Idaho State.
Killin' It: Talia led the Trailblazers with a career high of 16 kills from a career high of 45 attacks. She ended the night hitting .244. Nihipali also recorded double digit kills with 14 on the night while Daugherty had 12.
Laufiso ended the game with a career high of 53 assists. This is her third match this season with 40 or more assists in a game.
In total, Utah Tech ended the match with 68 kills from 226 attacks with 24 errors for a .195 percentage.
Diggin' it: Utah Tech had four Trailblazers with double digit digs. Daugherty led with a career high of 31 digs.
Mykenna Nelson had 29 while
Emma Ricks posted a career high of 24 digs. Laufiso rounded things out with 11 digs for UT. In total UT had 115 digs.
Blockin' it: Nihipali and Laufiso each recorded four blocks for UT while Nihipali added one solo. Kate Hardy added two block assists and two solo blocks to the Trailblazer defensive efforts.
Notes to know: Utah Tech is now 6-2 overall on the season. The Trailblazers have now played in three five set matches this season and came out victorious in all three. Laufiso now leads the team with five double doubles on the season. While Daugherty has recorded four.
Next Up: The Trailblazers will host UNLV, Saturday Sept. 17 before hosting Utah Valley in the Old Hammer Rivalry on Thursday, Sept. 22.
