PORTLAND—The Vandal strikers closed the North Harbour Marriott Invitational on a high note Saturday with a sweep of St. Francis, 25-18, 25-17, 25-15. Redshirt freshman Kaela Straw powered Idaho with a match-high 13 kills.
Idaho (2-7) enjoyed its most successful offensive showing of the season against the Terriers. The Vandals hit a season-high .383. Idaho's previous best was .248 against UC Irvine. Another positive for the Vandals was the reduced services errors. Idaho had been stung by errors in the previous two tournament matches. The Vandal servers did committed just six errors on the afternoon after posting 27 combined in the two previous matches.
Straw posted the top Idaho attacking average of the season with her .611 performance (13-2-18). She also was strong at the net defensively with three blocks. Tineke Bierma recorded 10 kills and a .450 hitting percentage, adding three digs and a block to her line. Katelyn Peterson and Torrin Crawford both recorded six kills. Freshman Natalie Jensen led Idaho with 22 assists. She finished the tournament with an Idaho-best 56 assists.
The Vandals were slow to start in the first stet. Idaho need a 3-0 run to cut the St. Francis lead to 11-9. A 4-0 Idaho streak made it 14-13 for the Terriers. Leah Zitting put St. Francis back up 15-13. The Silver and Gold got rolling with a Staw kill that got the offense going on a 12-3 run to close the set. Straw and Becca Mau both had three kills over the stretch.
Idaho carried the momentum into the second set. A Crawford kill tied the match at four. A St. Francis error followed by a Mau kill put Idaho up for good at 6-4. Separate 3-0 and 5-0 Vandal runs had the Vandals in control at 15-8. A Bierma kill put Idaho at set-point and a Terrier error put the Vandals up by two in the match.
A 9-2 start to the third for Idaho solidified the set early on. A late 5-1 run for the Vandals gave Idaho a 24-13 advantage. St. Francis fought off two set-points before a Bierma kill ended the match at 25-15.
Peterson and Terra Varney both hit the 700 career dig milestone. Peterson finished the match with five digs, while Varney totaled eight. Jenna Ellis led the match with 10 digs.
Idaho will head back out on the road next week with three matches at the Golden Eagle Invitational hosted by Tennessee Tech. Idaho will face Western Carolina on Friday, Sept. 18 and play two against Towson and Tennessee Tech on Saturday.
For more information on Idaho Athletics, visit GoVandals.com. Fans can also follow Idaho volleyball on Twitter, @IdahoVolleyball.
