ISU Wins UTPA Tournament, Crushes Lamar in Final

ISU won the UTPA Tournament Saturday, beating Lamar 3-1 in the tournament final! This marks the second straight year ISU has won a tournament title, where we won the UniWyo Cowgirl Classic last year to start the season. The first game saw the win against UTPA (University of Texas Pan-American, for those who are totally not in the know) and a dramatic come from behind win over Oral Roberts University, winning the match 3-2 after falling behind 1-2. The set scores of that game were: 25-18, 21-25, 27-29, 25-14, and the 15-7 score that sealed the deal. ISU then played Lamar Saturday for the right to take home the tournament. And now, I'll turn it over to our correspondent, Arthur Wellesley, the legendary Duke of Wellington, for the breakdown!

Other Stuff You Missed Because There Was No Road Coverage (But it's OK because that shit's expensive, yo)

Victory March!!!

Like Soccer, Volleyball shall have a victory march. But it won't be a German march...in honor of our volleyball correspondent, the Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, we at the Wide World of Idaho State have christened "Cock of the North" as the victory march for ISU! Enjoy!



(Enter the Duke of Wellington)



Freshman Abound!

Lori Mendenhall and Jennika Wright, both fresh out of high school playing in their first college games, did not disappoint in the finale of the tournament. Mendenhall, a chip off the old block, brought the fire against Oral Roberts with 51 assists and 10 digs and showed no mercy with 43 assists and 12 digs against Lamar. Wright showed her fire as well, averaging 7 kills (8 against ORU) and made a sizeable contribution to the victory.

Experience Counts

Not to be shown up by the upstart freshmen, the upperclassmen stepped up and began a marvelous siege of the other contenders. Against ORU, Britta Bartschi-Rhodehouse and Haylee Thompson-Brock had game highs of 14 kills apiece and Sarah Carson contributed with 13 kills of her own. Junior Jaclyn Hone, recently engaged (congratulations as well, Lady Hone! What a lucky young man your fiance is!), pelted ORU with a double-double with 12 kills and 13 digs. Jenna Proost had a game high 18 digs as well, making the game sheer overkill. Against Lamar, the upperclassmen (minus poor Karissa LeGeaux, who could not march against the Cardinals because of migraines), Bartschi-Rhodehouse posted a game high 14 kills and making All-Tournament in the process, while Jenna Proost posted a tournament-high 21 kills, making it quite a weekend for our libero. Carson also made Lamar feel folly for starting the battle with 3 solo blocks and 12 assists.

A Stout Defense

ISU held Oral Roberts to a paltry .173 hitting percentage, which means ORU had to work to score against our brave forces. Lamar really felt the brunt of ISU's defense by being held to an incredible .093 overall though Lamar, in the set they won, had a .237 hitting percentage. Their counterattack only served to make our troops fired up by blasting Lamar with cannon regiments and a .448 hitting percentage. Overall, the Cardinals were held to 40 kills on 136 attempts.

Order of Placements

Here are the final standings of the tournament:

1.) Idaho State
2.) University of Texas Pan-American
3.) Oral Roberts
4.) Lamar University

Well that does it for me! But before I turn it back over to our good lad Ross, I should mention that this week is no walk on the Cliffs of Dover. ISU will be playing Cal Poly who is on a 2 game win streak, Brigham Young University, traditionally a strong program and the great behemoth that is #2 Nebraska. A tough weekend to be sure but the regiments are ready! I will see you next week, all! Ta for now!

(Exit Arthur Wellesley)

Well that is indeed it. ISU wins the UTPA Invitational and will be playing in Provo against some very good teams. Let's have a great week of practice and be ready to go!!!