MOSCOW, Idaho – It was a Senior Night to remember for Ashley Christman, who led the Idaho volleyball team to a 3-1 win over Seattle U with career-highs of 18 kills and 13 digs, and her first career double-double, to boot.
"She was determined before the match," Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said of Christman, who hit a team-high .353 in the match. "You could tell she was definitely motivated and it does mean something when it's your last game, so for her it was a special night."
More importantly, the Vandals jumped the Redhawks in the Western Athletic Conference standings, improving to 8-5 in the league and 15-10 overall while Seattle U falls to 8-6 in WAC play and 11-18 overall. Idaho is now fourth in the WAC -- a half-game behind Bakersfield -- with three matches to play before the conference tournament Nov. 25-27.
Idaho junior Jessica Hastriter added 12 kills and hit .333 for the Vandals and junior Alyssa Schultz added nine kills and four blocks while hitting .350. Katelyn Peterson had eight kills and tied a team-high with 14 digs, and Meredith Coba tallied 40 assists in the match.
Jenna Ellis also had 14 digs for the Vandals and added two aces, and Michele Brown had three of Idaho's eight aces in the match. Senior Taylor Wilkinson, who also played her final match in Memorial Gym on Friday, finished with two kills, three blocks and a dig.
"We served them well, especially towards the end," Buchanan said. "Offensively we didn't really run what we wanted to, and as the match went on we got a lot better, especially the last two games."
After splitting the first two games with a 25-15 Idaho win and a 25-19 Seattle U win, the Vandals clinched the match with 25-18 and 25-16 wins in the final two sets.
The Vandals hit .232 in the match and held the Redhawks to a .110 percentage. Idaho's eight aces were one more than Seattle U served up, and the Vandals had a 65-59 advantage in digs.
Idaho wraps up the regular season with matches at Chicago State and Kansas City next week and Grand Canyon the following week before the WAC tournament begins. Idaho has already clinched a berth in the six-team field, but could still end up seeded anywhere from third to sixth.
"We've been really up and down, and we've got to try to get consistent as we make this push," Buchanan said. "We have less than two weeks until the conference tournament. There's not very much time left and we have to capitalize on every moment that we have."
