ALBUQUERQUE—The Vandals battled through some ups and downs against the New Mexico Lobos on Saturday, closing out their stay at the UNM Invitational with a hard fought 3-2 win (25-27, 25-22, 25-22, 14-25, 15-11). Idaho leaves the tournament with its first 3-0 start to the season since starting 5-0 in 2004.

"I thought this tournament was huge for the growth of our team," head coach Debbie Buchanan said following the win. "For us to get that win and for the girls not to give up was amazing considering how young we are as a team."

Sarah Sharp and Kaela Straw continued to provide the offense for Idaho. Sharp totaled 16 kills and five blocks, while Straw added 13 kills. Sophomore Haylee Mathis finished just shy of a triple-double, recording eight kills, 24 assists and nine digs. She also finished with a match-high .467 hitting percentage. Freshman Tara Eaton enjoyed her best day from the service line, firing three aces.

Senior Terra Varney was all of the court on defense. She closed with a career-high 25 digs. Junior Torrin Crawford continued to stand tall in the middle finishing with six total blocks. DeVonne Ryter added five blocks to go with her eight kills.

New Mexico (2-1) totaled more kills than Idaho, 61-56, but the Vandals were more accurate on the attack hitting .224 to .196 percent. The Lobos, coming off an upset win over Arizona State, were forced into a season-high 29 total attack errors.  

Idaho was resilient throughout the match. The Vandals had their opportunities to win the match in three sets. Idaho twice held four-point leads in the first set. New Mexico came back, gaining its own four-point advantage, 24-20. Idaho fended off each set point, tying the match at 24. UNM outlasted Idaho to claim the opener, 27-25.

"We were in that first game," Buchanan noted. "We watched them [New Mexico] last night win a tough match with Arizona State. We are trying to get our team to understand we just have to come out and play. It does not matter who is on the other side. We have to work on executing the game. We made some tiny errors that killed us in the first set, especially when the game was close."

The Silver and Gold took the second and third sets 25-22 and 25-21, respectively. The Vandals used New Mexico's mistakes to their advantage in the second set. UNM totaled 10 errors to its nine kills in the frame. Both sides hit .267 percent in the third set. The difference was made at the service line. Each team recorded three aces, but New Mexico gave back those points with two service errors.

New Mexico flipped the script on Idaho in the fourth set. UNM set the tone early, opening the set on a 9-1 run. The Vandals could not recover. Idaho totaled eight errors on the attack, while UNM was hitting .406 percent.

The Vandals came out in the fifth set looking for the kill. Idaho was errorless on the attack swinging a match-high .643 percent (9-0-14). Trailing 5-3 early in the set the Vandals ripped off a 7-0 run to gain a 10-5 advantage. Straw handed Idaho match point at 14-10. UNM survived the first match point, regaining the serve at 14-11. Julia Warren's serve sailed just wide of the court, giving the Vandals the win.

"For us to come out and hit .643 in game five with zero errors was huge." Buchanan added. "Overall, I thought we made some good aggressive plays to win that match. We did not back down at all. Things just kept going our way. I could not be more proud of them."

Idaho will next take part in the Seattle U Tournament. The Vandals open play against No. 7 Washington on Sept. 2. That match will take place at UW, before shifting over to play Seattle U and Villanova.

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