Edinburg, Texas – The Idaho volleyball team got its second straight sweep and seventh win in its last nine matches with a 25-22, 25-23, 25-23 victory at Texas-Pan American on Thursday night.
The Vandals hit .252, their Western Athletic Conference-leading season average, while out-blocking the Broncs 7.0-1.0 in the win. Idaho improves to 10-6 on the season and 3-1 in the WAC with the win while UTPA falls to 10-9 overall and 0-3 in the WAC.
Idaho junior Jessica Hastriter, who entered the match without a service ace in her career, served up four aces for Idaho, tied for the team lead with 10 kills and added six digs. Sophomore Katelyn Peterson also had 10 kills or Idaho and came one dig shy of her second double-double of the season, finishing with nine. Alyssa Schultz had eight kills and three blocks while Taylor Wilkinson added five kills and four blocks in the middle for Idaho. Meredith Coba had 32 assists and seven digs, and Jenna Ellis led all players with 18 digs.
Despite Idaho's second 3-0 victory in a row, head coach Debbie Buchanan wants to see her team play much better when it takes the court against preseason WAC favorite New Mexico State.
“I feel like we didn't keep the enthusiasm up, we didn't really play as a team tonight,” Buchanan said. “When you're on the road you have to create the energy for your team. We were pretty flat tonight and I think we were lucky to walk out of here with a 3-0 sweep.”
After a 25-20 victory in the first set, Idaho stole a set-two victory to take a 2-0 lead in the match. UTPA led 23-21 in the second set before the Vandals used a 4-0 spurt to take the 25-23 win. Idaho never led by more than two in its 25-23 third-set win.
Idaho and New Mexico State face off at 11 a.m. (PT) on Saturday, Oct. 5, in Las Cruces, N.M. Live Stats and a live web stream of the match will be available at NMStateSports.com. The Aggies entered Thursday with a 7-8 record overall and a 2-0 mark in the WAC.
“It's going to be a tough match,” Buchanan said. “New Mexico State is playing well and we're a little up and down at times. We're going to have to be a lot better than we were tonight going into Saturday's match.”
