Sometimes defense is the best offense.

So it was for the Idaho State volleyball team, which struggled to get its offense going but relied on some shutdown defense to earn the Bengals’ second straight sweep to open Big Sky Conference action on Saturday.

ISU blanked Eastern Washington 25-20, 25-17, 25-12 to complete a perfect weekend on the opening road trip of conference play. On Thursday, ISU swept Idaho in straight sets to get things rolling.

Idaho State held the Eagles to a .019 hitting percentage and forced 24 attacking errors in shutting down an Eastern Washington team that beat Weber State to open conference play on Thursday.

“Serving, blocking and defense was as good as we have had in a match all year,” said ISU coach Sean Carter, whose team improved to 10-4 overall. “The offense got off to a rough start, but it slowly got better as the match goes on.”

ISU’s offense wasn’t exactly roaring to start the match, with the Bengals hitting just .111 in the first set. But the Bengals forced 10 Eastern Washington attacking errors and squeezed out a 25-20 first-set victory.

As Carter noted, the Bengal offense steadily improved from there, hitting .229 in the second set with 13 kills, while the ISU defense held EWU to a .000 hitting percentage in that frame on the way to a 25-17 win.

ISU never trailed in the third set, recording 14 kills with a match-best .375 hitting percentage. Defensively, ISU held EWU to just five kills vs. seven attacking errors, which resulted in a -.065 hitting percentage for the Eagles.

Jaydin Watts, the senior Bengal middle blocker, continued her outstanding play, leading ISU with nine kills on .348 hitting. She added three blocks and finished the day with a team-high 11 points. It was the sixth match in which Watts has led ISU in kills, which is highly unusual for a middle blocker.

Outside hitters Abby McClain (seven kills, three block assists) and Mia Walsh (six kills, 10 digs) were significant contributors on the front line. Setters Nora Waddoups (18 assists, six digs) and Kadence Marsh (12 assists, seven digs) masterminded the Bengal attack from the back line.

Freshman libero Aspen Boice led the team with 18 digs, the ninth time in 14 matches the Madison High School product has led the team in that category. Boice, who leads the Big Sky with 4.58 digs per set, was named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Week on Monday for the second time this season.

Boice is one of three former Madison players making an impact for the Bengals, along with Walsh and Waddoups. All three were part of the Bobcats’ 2024 state championship team.

With the win, ISU joins Utah Tech and Northern Colorado as the only teams to start Big Sky play 2-0.

The Bengals will get their first taste of conference play at home when they host defending regular-season champion Northern Arizona at 7 p.m. Thursday in Reed Gym. The Lumberjacks opened their conference slate with a win over Southern Utah before losing a tough five-set match to Utah Tech on Saturday.

The Lumberjacks may be carrying something of a chip on their shoulders after ISU, which went into the Big Sky Tournament last year as the No. 8 seed, knocked NAU out of the tournament with a first-round upset on the way to becoming the first No. 8 seed in conference history to reach the title match.

“I’m very happy for the 2-0 start,” Carter said. “I’m excited to play a very important — big match on Thursday vs. NAU.”