MENEES TALLIES 40 DIGS, VOLLEYBALL PICKS UP BIG WIN AT IDAHO STATE

9/30/2011

Libero Breanne Menees tallied 40 digs in tonight's victory, the second highest total in school history

POCATELLO, Idaho -- Sacramento State senior libero Breanne Menees tallied 40 digs, and the Hornets limited Idaho State to a .063 hitting percentage on the way to a 3-2 victory (23-25, 21-25, 25-15, 25-20, 15-13) over the Bengals in a Big Sky Conference volleyball match Friday night at Reed Gym.

Sacramento State (7-9, 2-1) won its second straight conference match, and will try to pick up three straight wins tomorrow night at Weber State. For a Hornet squad that went just 1-7 on the road in Big Sky matches last year, tonight’s win was large as Sacramento State was playing its first conference road test of the season. In addition, the win marked the first time since Oct. 13, 2009 (at San Jose State) that the Hornets won a match after dropping the first two sets.

The win came against an Idaho State (8-7, 2-2) team that was making noise in the conference and had won six of its last seven matches heading into tonight.

Menees’ 40 digs were the second highest total in school history, trailing only Jill Haas’ mark of 42, set against Pitt in 1995. The 40 digs easily surpassed her previous career high of 33, and were the highest total in the Big Sky this year.

The Hornets improved to 7-0 when limiting an opponent to a hitting percentage below .165 as Idaho State committed 40 errors (with 54 kills) in 221 attacks. One of the big reasons for the high amount of ISU hitting errors was Sacramento State’s presence as the net as the Hornets posted a season-best 17.0 team blocks. That included eight blocks from Kayla Beal, seven from Maddison Thivierge and six from Kelsey Elston.

Idaho State had more kills (54-50), assists (52-48) and digs (116-109), but the Hornets hit for a better percentage (.119) and had 10 more team blocks than Idaho State (17.0-7.0).

Sacramento State held a lead the majority of the fifth and decisive set, trailing only once during the entire frame at 10-11. However, the Hornets immediately got a Janelle Currey kill, a combo block from Beal and Elston, and a Beal kill to reclaim a 13-11 lead. ISU won the next two points to tie the set at 13-13, but another kill from Currey gave the Hornets a 14-13 lead. Defensive specialist Sydney Kordic then stepped to the service line and ripped a serve than deflected off Danielle Downs’ arms into the scorer’s table for her 13th ace of the season and the match clincher.

Elston finished with 10 kills and a match-best .474 hitting percentage as she had just one error in 19 attacks. Elston is now hitting .394 against conference opposition this season. Both Hornet outside hitters Eryn Kirby (10 kills, career-high 21 digs) and Currey (10 kills, two aces and 13 digs) posted double-doubles while Thivierge had nine kills and a .333 hitting percentage to go with her season-best seven blocks.

Beal added six kills, setter Anna Schoener had four kills, 20 assists and four blocks, and setter Hannah Hettinga posted her third double-double of the year with 23 assists and 12 digs. Rounding out the five Sacramento State players with double figures in digs was Kordic who finished with 16 to go along with two aces.

Idaho State’s Breanne Van Every led all players with 17 kills. However, she was limited to a .095 hitting percentage as only two Bengals hit better than .100 in the match and no ISU player hit better than .235. Like Menees, ISU libero Kylee Searle had a monster match with 39 digs. Setter Lori Mendenhall added 48 assists and 25 digs.