MOSCOW, Idaho—Idaho volleyball returned home to Memorial Gym with its fourth straight win on Thursday. The Vandals closed out Weber State in four sets, 25-21, 25-22, 23-25, 25-14, to match their season-long win streak.

Idaho (11-7, 6-1 BSC) held a 2-0 lead over the Wildcats after the first two sets. The Vandals controlled the play early on and trailed just once after the opening point at the break. The team opened the night hitting .417 percent with 17 kills. Idaho cooled down in the second set as play tightened up. Junior Sarah Sharp recorded the final three points for Idaho, breaking a tie at 22 to close out the stanza. She led the team with 10 kills at the intermission.

Sharp and junior Kaela Straw led the Idaho attack throughout the night. Straw finished with a team-high 16 kills. Sharp wrapped up the match with 14 kills and a .393 hitting percentage. Reece Carman closed with nine kills. DeVonne Ryter came in the later set, closing with a .500 attack percentage with eight kills. She also matched her career-best with eight total blocks.

"Our pins did a great job," head coach Debbie Buchanan explained. "Actually, I felt like the difference in game four was that we were able to get our middles involved. That was kind of our goal. We wanted to get them more involved in our transition game. Weber State was really committed to our pins and I think that was a really good adjustment on our part."



Weber State (4-15, 2-5 BSC) used an early 3-0 run to claim a 6-3 lead in the third. The Wildcats built up their lead to four, 11-7 when Idaho took its first timeout. The Vandals won a long rally at 15-12 to start a 3-0, cutting the WSU lead to 15-14. The Vandals tied the match at 19 off an ace from Haylee Mathis in the midst of a run that put Idaho in front, 21-19. The Vandals got within two points of closing out the set, leading 23-21. WSU fought off the Vandals with a 4-0 run to extend the night.

The Silver and Gold fired back in the fourth. Ryter capped off a 5-0 run that put Idaho in control early, 7-2. The Vandals recorded six team blocks in the final set. The Vandals denied three blocks in an 8-1 run that pushed the Idaho lead out to 21-10. Ryter's final kill gave Idaho match-point, 24-13. Two points later the Vandal celebrated the win.

"I think we were a little ticked off," Sharp commented. "We really wanted to come out and end it in three. We had a little bit of a third-game lull. We came back in the fourth game and just really tried to take control and be in charge of the match."

"I thought our team did a really good job in the fourth set," Buchanan said. "We really tried to dominate. We got more blocks during that game and really took control of that set. Game three we just came out a little slow and made a few errors. You cannot do that against them. Weber State is a really good team. Their record does not really show where they are at."

Weber State entered the match ranked 21st in the NCAA with 2.74 digs per set. The Vandals ranked right behind them at 22nd, outplayed WSU at the net on Thursday. Idaho finished with 11 team blocks, four better than WSU.

Junior Alycia Wodke recorded her fifth match with 20 or more digs this season. She finished with a match-high 25. Mathis continued to effectively run the offense. She handed out 49 or Idaho's 56 assists.

Idaho is back at home on Saturday against Eastern Washington. The match closes out a busy day of Vandal athletics. Fans with a ticket to Saturday's football game will get free admittance to the 7 p.m. match. Saturday is the team's annual Dig for a Cure match. The team will don pink jerseys and will hold an auction during the match that will benefit the Light a Candle Foundation.