MOSCOW, Idaho.—The Vandal volleyball team opens up the home conference season on Thursday against North Dakota (7 p.m. PT). The return to Memorial Gym begins a stretch of four home-matches. Leg two of the homestand welcomes in Northern Colorado.
Idaho (6-8, 1-1 BS) enters the weekend after a 1-1 split on the road with Montana State and Montana. THe Vandals defeated the Bobcats, 3-1, before falling to the Grizzlies in five sets.Sophomore
Sarah Sharp led Idaho 31 kills on the weekend, including a career-high 20 at MSU.
Quotable: "Any time we can play at home is a benefit for us right now. We are still trying to fix things we were not able to do on the road. Those are just systematical things that we have to get better at. We are trying to work on some things this week and continue to reduce our errors; add a little more to our offense and play a bit more consistent." - Head coach
Debbie Buchanan
Milestone Watch: Terra Varney needs 20 digs to tie Mandy Becker (2001-04) for fourth in school history with 1,184 career digs.
Conference Rankings: Idaho ranks sixth in the conference with a .200 hitting percentage. The Vandals are fifth in the Big Sky with 1.97 blocks per set.
Closing Out: Idaho holds a 6-1 record when leading 2-1 after three sets this season.
Youth Movement: Idaho boasts a young roster in 2016 with 12 underclassmen (seven freshmen, five sophomores).
Preseason Poll: Idaho was picked to finish sixth in the conference by the Big Sky coaches.
Postseason Streak: 2015 marked Idaho's 11th consecutive conference postseason tournament. The Vandals won Big Sky championships in their final four seasons in the Big Sky, 1992-95, before returning to the conference in 2014.
About North Dakota: The Fighting Hawks opened Big Sky play with a 1-1 record last week. UND earned a 3-0 win over Southern Utah, before falling 3-0 to Northern Colorado. Chelsea Moser leads North Dakota with a .376 hitting percentage, averaging 2.72 kills per set. UND leads ranks 37th in the NCAA with 139 total blocks. The Fighting Hawks are averaging 2.28 blocks per set, second in the BIg Sky. UND and Idaho have played five total times, with four of the matches going all five sets.
All-Time Series: UND, 4-1, Last Meeting: Idaho, W, 3-2
About Northern Colorado: UNC split last week week with Northern Arizona and North Dakota. The Bears fell in four sets to NAU and swept UND. Senior Makenna Meier earned the Big Sky's Defensive Player of the Week. She recorded a career-best 31 digs against NAU, totaling 46 on the week. Meier leads teh conference in digs this season with 6.57 per set. The Bears are second in the conference with 16.35 digs per set.
All-Time Series: UNC, 3-2, Last Meeting: UNC W, 3-1
FOLLOW: Links to the live stats and online streams are available through GoVandals.com. All Big Sky matches are streamed on WatchBigSky.com and the Big Sky app. Fans can also follow along live on Twitter, @IdahoVolleyball.
