POCATELLO, Idaho—Idaho's five-match winning streak came to an end at Idaho State, falling 3-0 on Saturday. Senior Katelyn Peterson led the team with eight kills, surpassing 900 kills for her career.
Idaho (9-12, 6-3) closed out the four-match road trip with a 3-1 record, picking up wins over Montana, Montana State and Weber State.
“We did not really come out and play our game tonight,” head coach Debbie Buchanan said following the loss. “We learned from game one and came out and competed in game two. At the end of the night we just had too many errors overall. We will hopefully face them again at some point and play a better match.”
The Vandals got out hit .321 to .100 on the night. Idaho State totaled 49 kills to Idaho's 33. ISU finished the night with 10 team blocks and 45 digs, while Idaho totaled six team blocks and 40 digs.
Idaho State (17-7, 9-1) opened the match swinging, posting a .412 hitting percentage right out of the gate. The Bengals had a match-high 19 kills in the opening frame with 10 coming from the combination of Tressa Lyman and Bailey Bars. ISU opened an 11-5 lead in thanks to a 4-0 run midway through the set. The Vandals used a late 3-0 run to cut the lead to 21-13. Lyman clinched the set for Idaho State at 25-16.
A solo block from Laine Waters tied the second set at 12, closing a quick 2-0 run for the Vandals. Both sides took turns with the lead. Idaho went up 17-15 with kills from Waters and Sarah Sharp. ISU fought back and regained the lead at 21-20. A Peterson kill and a Bengal error gave the Vandal back the lead at 22-21. Idaho State tied the set at 24 and scored the next two points to take the game 26-24.
Idaho State continued to excel in the third set, using an early 4-0 run to open a 10-6 lead. The Bengals got out to a 12-7 advantage when Idaho burned its final timeout of the set. ISU strung together another 4-0 run to open an eight point advantage, 18-10, Two 3-0 runs for the Vandals cut the lead to 22-18. Three consecutive Idaho errors gave the set to ISU, 25-18, to complete the sweep.
“We will have to go back to the drawing board,” Buchanan added. “We need to tighten some things up technically. We are going to be back home and do not have to travel for two weeks. These next three weeks are going to be important ones as far as Big Sky seeding goes.”
Sharp finished the night with six blocks and a .333 hitting percentage. Waters tallied five kills and three blocks. Peterson added 10 digs to her eight kills, while Meredith Coba led the team with 17 assists. Jenna Ellis, a Pocatello native, finished tied for a match-high with 11 digs.
Makenzie Filer led all players with 13 kills for the Bengals.
The Vandals return to Memorial Gym on Thursday, Oct. 29 to take on Montana State. The team wraps up the month of October against Montana on Halloween night.
For more information on Idaho Athletics, visit GoVandals.com. Fans can also follow Idaho volleyball on Twitter, @IdahoVolleyball.
