Lamar Volleyball Falls to Idaho State 3-1

WICHITA, Kan. - The Lamar University volleyball team dropped a another close contest Saturday evening, falling 3-1 to the Idaho State Bengals in their final match of the Best Western Shocker Volleyball Classic at Charles Koch Arena.

All four games were decided by 25-23 scores, but Lamar, who is now 1-5 on the year with the loss, could not find a way to squeak out the final couple of points on three of the four games.

Idaho State began the match by jumping out to a commanding 23-17 lead before the Lady Cardinals made a furious comeback. Lamar charged back to close to gap to a point at 24-23, but the Bengals closed the opening stanza with a kill by Sara Carson.

In game two the two teams battled back and forth for the entire time before Lamar was able to grab the two point win 25-23.

With the match tied at one game apiece, the Bengals again pulled out to a four point lead at 22-18, but LU would not fold. The Lady Cards again climbed back to within a point, but could not finish the rally as Idaho State's Emily Waldron knocked down a kill for the 25-23 win.

In game four the Lady Cardinals appeared as if they might pull away form Idaho State early on, but the Bengals had an answer for every LU move. After they closed an early gap, the Bengals held off the Lady Cards down the stretch for their third 25-23 win to claim the match.

Genevieve Gladle led the way for the Lady Cardinals both offensively and defensively, setting career highs in both kills and digs with a 16 kill, 21 dig double-double performance. Shalayne Blythe and Ali Meyer finished with 13 and 10 kills respectively, while Ashley Todd passed out 51 assists. Andrea Hamilton picked up 19 digs for LU, while Meagan Adams and Courtney Trevino added 16 and 15 digs respectively.

The Lady Cardinals will be back in action next Friday when they tale on Tennessee-Martin at 12 p.m. at the University of Arkansas Tournament in Fayetteville, Ark.