FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.—The first one is the most memorable and the Idaho volleyball team picked a good time to get its first win over rival North Dakota on Thursday. For the fourth time in five matches the Vandals and Fighting Hawks played into a fifth set. This time it was the Vandals that prevailed, advancing to the semifinals of the Big Sky Tournament.
The win marked Idaho's first in the Big Sky Tournament since returning to the conference in 2014.
“We knew the chance of North Dakota beating us three times was pretty slim,” head coach Debbie Buchanan said after the win. “It was going to come down to the team that executed the best and not give up plays throughout the match—I thought we did that.”
Kaela Straw led the Vandals with a season-high 18 kills. She was one of four Vandals with double figure kills. Senior Katelyn Peterson recorded her 20th career double-double, finishing with 15 kills and 21 digs. Tineke Bierma closed the match with 15 kills and redshirt freshman Sarah Sharp added 13 of her own.
Idaho (14-15) overcame a hard-fought fourth-set loss by opening the final set with a 4-1 run. UND, after closing the fourth set on a 10-5 run, felt the momentum shift back to the Vandals early in the fifth. The team switched sides with Idaho in front, 8-5. Chelsea Moser closed the gap to three for UND at 9-6. Idaho answered back with consecutive kills from Bierma and Straw to go up by five, forcing the Fighting Hawks to use their final timeout of the set. The Vandals out-killed UND, 4-3, in the final seven points. Straw's 18th kill put Idaho at match-point, 14-9, and an ace from Terra Varney finished it off.
“It was a lot of fun out there [today],” Straw added. “It might be the most fun I have had on the court in a while. We talked [entering the fifth set] about swinging high and hard. I think we did that well in the end.”
The Silver and Gold opened the day strong with 6-4 push in the first. The Vandals used back-to-back blocks, the latter of the solo variety from Peterson to go up 12-8. A Fighting Hawks 3-0 run cut the Vandal lead to 15-14. Laine Waters gave the Vandals a 21-19 lead and kills from Torrin Crawford and Straw helped Idaho to the 25-23 win.
UND (21-13) fought back in the second to tie the match at 11, after trailing 5-3 early on. The Vandals held a 16-14 lead but were unable to shake a 10-1 run from the Fighting Hawks to close the second, 25-17.
The third set went back and forth with both teams jockeying for position. The Vandals gained a 19-17 lead, fighting through 13 ties and two lead changes to that point. A kill from Sharp capped a 5-1 Idaho run to give Idaho a 20-17 lead. UND scored eight of the next 12 points to regain the lead at 25-24. A kill from Straw and an ace from Meredith Coba assisted a 3-0 run for Idaho, closing the frame 27-25.
The Fighting Hawks had separate 6-0 and 5-0 runs in the fourth, helping them overcome an 11-5 Idaho lead. UND took the fourth set by a score of 25-20.
“We had the fourth, that huge lead can almost hurt you,” Buchanan explained. “The team really came out in game five. We had been in that situation numerous times this year. I thought we had a lot of energy and stuck with the gameplan.”
The Vandals hit a season-high 73 kills, totaling 172 attacks in the match—its second highest total of the season. UND out-hit Idaho .274 to .250 percent on the attack, but the Vandals totaled 10 more kills on the day.
Coba totaled 32 assists, one shy of a matching her season-best. As a team the Vandals totaled a season-high 70 assists. Jenna Ellis fell three digs short of a double-double. She finished with a career-high 10 assists and seven digs. Varney recorded a career-high 22 digs on the day to lead the Vandals.
Idaho now awaits the winner of Match #2, between No. 3 Idaho State and No. 6 Eastern Washington. The Vandals will play in the first semifinal of the day on Friday at 3:30 p.m. PT.
For more information on Idaho Athletics, visit GoVandals.com. Fans can also follow Idaho volleyball on Twitter, @IdahoVolleyball.
