Idaho State volleyball earns first postseason win, tourney berth in over half-decade

POCATELLO — The Idaho State University volleyball team, by any measure, is in the midst of its best season in several years.

The Bengals’ 20-9 regular season record is the best mark for the program since 2015, as is their 13-3 conference record. With a 3-1 win over Northern Arizona last Wednesday, ISU recorded its first playoff victory since 2018. And all that earned the program its first tournament invite since 2013.

ISU followed up its first-round victory over the Astrojacks falling in straight sets to host school Sacramento State — the eventual Big Sky Tournament champions.

Head coach Sean Carter has had the program on a steady rise since he took over the helm in 2022. He spoke, after ISU’s victory over Northern Arizona, about how proud he has been with the effort his team has put forth all season.

“When we took over, we were the bottom of the barrel in the league,” Carter said. “Now, we got the two-seed and we got our first win against an amazing NAU team.”

On Sunday, the Bengals announced via social media that they had accepted an invite to play in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship.

The Bengals will take on Wyoming (15-12) at Wyoming in the first round. The match is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start Thursday.