MOSCOW, Idaho—Simply put the University of Idaho volleyball team is on a roll. The Vandals earned their second sweep in as many days with a 3-0 (25-10, 25-13, 25-21) win over Montana State on Friday night. Friday marked the third sweep in a row for the Vandals. The team has now won its last nine sets and 17 of its last 20.
The win moves Idaho to 6-2 in Big Sky play and evens its overall record to 10-10. Montana State drops to 1-7 in conference play and 4-17 overall.
“We are trying to slowly put all the pieces together,” senior Alyssa Schultz said following the win. “Every week we are working on something else. We are trying to hit our peak in these coming weeks. We have just been working on spreading the offense, being in the right spots on defense and we have worked a lot on serving. If we win in three, then we win in three and it is great.”
The Vandals were relentless on the attack the entire night. Idaho opened the match with a red-hot first-set hitting percentage of .593 (17-1-27), its second best offensive set of the season. Schultz totaled five of her nine total kills in the opener. Schultz recorded her eighth errorless match of the season on Friday, hitting .643 on the night (9-0-14). Junior Katelyn Peterson add five kills towards Idaho's cause. Peterson would finish the match with her fifth double-double of the season, adding 10 digs to her line.
“I thought we played two solid sets,” head coach Debbie Buchanan commented. “We just pushed through and had the tempo of the match. We set the tone. Now we need to take that 10 minute break, comeback and take [tone] that into game three. We are putting great stretches together. We are getting better, making those pushes and changes. I thought tonight we executed a lot of things really well.”
Idaho cooled off per say in the second and third set compared to the opener. The Vandals finished the match hitting .394 and .333 in the last two sets. Overall Idaho totaled its second-best hitting percentage of the season. The Silver and Gold bested the Bobcats, .424-to-.152 on the attack. The Vandals committed a season-low six errors on the night, while Montana State racked up 15.
Defensively, Idaho outblocked MSU, 9-6. Schutlz and setter Meredith Coba tallied five block assists each. Schultz passed former Vandal Brittany Van Haverbeke for fourth on the career block assists list. She now has 429. Idaho outdug the Bobcats, 51-39. Defensive specialists Jenna Ellis and Terra Varney flew all over the mat on Friday, combining for 24 digs.
Seven different Vandals recorded kills on Friday night. Coba handed out 43 assists on the night also adding four digs and a kill of her own. Ali Forde recorded 10 kills on the night. For Forde it was her 11th match with double figure kills. Stephanie Hagins found the mat nine times against MSU. She finished the night hitting .500 in 16 swings. Becca Mau (six) and Jessica Hastriter (2) also got into the action.
NOTES
Thursday marked win No. 225 for Coach Buchanan…Idaho's streak of nine consecutive set wins matches a run from Sept. 28-Oct. 3, 2013. Idaho beat Bakersfield 3-1, winning sets 2-4, before consecutive sweeps against Grand Canyon and Texas-Pan American…Idaho has not won 10 straight sets since Sept. 2008.
