MOSOCW, Idaho - Over 1,000 Idaho volleyball fans in Memorial Gym erupted when Idaho's 93rd point touched the floor Saturday night, clinching the Vandals' 50th all-time win over Boise State, 25-12, 16-25, 25-23, 27-25.
With the 3-1 win in front of 1,011 fans, the Vandals got redemption for their five-set loss to the Broncos in Boise on Sept. 29. Idaho improves to 6-7 on the season and 2-2 in Western Athletic Conference play, while BSU falls to 14-4 on the year, and 2-2 in the WAC. Idaho is 50-30 against the Broncos all-time.
"We were so excited to play them that we wanted to go after every ball and be scrappy and fight for it," Idaho sophomore setter Jenny Feicht said. "We just wanted it really bad tonight, especially since they just beat us. It's exciting, I don't even know how to explain my feelings right now, I'm so happy."
Feicht finished the match with 37 assists, eight digs, three kills and two block assists. Alicia Milo had six kills, five aces and four blocks on the night, while Allison Walker led the Vandals with 17 kills and added six digs and three blocks. Kelsey Taylor had eight kills and hit .333 on the night, and added seven digs and seven total blocks, including two solo blocks.
"All of our hitters are really good, so I can set anyone and I feel really comfortable with all of them," Feicht said.
Alex Sele finished with seven kills and hit .417 for the match and added three blocks. Rylee Walker provided a spark for the Vandals in the final two sets with five kills and four blocks, and Cassie Hamilton led Idaho with 13 digs.
"We had a lot of energy, I think the kids were pretty amped up," Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said. "When you have that high energy, you have to keep it going. I like it when we're scrappy and don't give up. Boise is a good team, they're a really good team."
The Vandals hit .212 for the match while BSU hit .210. Idaho held a 14-7 advantage in total blocks and a 57-54 advantage in digs. BSU had 59 kills while Idaho had 48, but six service aces and six fewer attack errors helped Idaho edge the Broncos.
With the match tied 1-1, the Vandals looked to be in trouble as they trailed 18-13 in the third set. But Idaho chipped away at the lead until it was 20-16, before storming to take five straight points and a 21-20 lead down the stretch. BSU would come back to tie the set at 23-23, but an Allison Walker kill gave Idaho set-point, and a block by Milo and Rylee Walker sealed Idaho's 25-23 win to go ahead 2-1 in the match.
The Vandals fell behind again in the fourth set as BSU jumped out to a 4-0 lead and built an intimidating 22-18 lead late in the set. The Vandals trailed 23-20 before they tallied three consecutive points to tie the match at 23, but Boise State would win the next point to earn set-point with a 24-23 lead. Back-to-back kills from Allison Walker gave the Vandals a chance to seal the match, but BSU responded to tie the score at 25. A kill by Feicht caught the Broncos off guard to give the Vandals a 26-25 edge, and a BSU attack error would give the Vandals the exhilarating 27-25 set victory to win the match 3-1.
Idaho will stay busy this week with four home matches in seven days as the Vandals play host to San Jose State on Oct. 4, Utah State on Oct. 6 in an ESPNU nationally televised match, and Nevada on Oct. 9. The Vandals are 3-1 at home this season.
"We have a great opportunity this week, it is a lot of volleyball, shifting gears from one team to the next," Buchanan said. "This week was kind of nice because we just played Boise, we know what they were going to run, and it was pretty easy to see the things that we did well against them and the things we needed to do better. Now we've got to get ready for the next one."
