POCATELLO, Idaho – The Utah Valley University volleyball team dropped a midweek contest to Idaho State in straight sets in ISU's 2015 home opener at Reed Gym on Tuesday evening (15-25, 18-25, 17-25).
 
The Wolverines fall to 1-3 on the young season with the loss while the Bengals, who won the Big Sky Conference title last season and were picked atop the conference poll again this year, improve to 2-2 with the victory.
 
"We need to continue to get better," said head coach Sam Atoa. "There are some keys of the game that we have not been able to execute as well as we feel that we're capable of. But I along with the team for sure expect that to happen. We've got a lot of work ahead and I know that we can turn this around."
 
With UVU trailing by just four points, at 15-11, midway through the opening set, the Bengals reeled off a 10-4 run to put the first frame away by a score of 25-15.
 
The Wolverines then held the upper hand early in the second set as they jumped out to an 8-6 advantage following a solo block from junior Kiahna Steiner. The set then remained tight from there until ISU pieced together five unanswered points late in the frame to take the game by seven points.  
 
UVU cut the deficit to one in the third set, at 11-10, following a kill from sophomore Madison Dennison, but that was as close as it would get as the Bengals finished off the match in straight sets with a 25-17 win in set number three.
 
Despite the loss, senior Lauren Bakker and junior Macky Fifita pieced together solid performances as they finished with nine and eight kills, respectively. Steiner was next in kills for UVU as she recorded five while putting up a .356 hitting percentage.
 
Tressa Lyman paced the ISU offense with 11 kills while Makenzie Filer added nine.
 
The contest marked the fourth of 11 consecutive road matches for UVU to begin the 2015 season.
 
The Wolverines will continue their 11-match opening road swing at the NDSU Baymont Inn & Suites Classic in Fargo, North Dakota this weekend. There Utah Valley will face Milwaukee on Friday, Sept. 4 and the host North Dakota State Bison and Towson on Saturday, Sept. 5.