SACRAMENTO, Calif.— Trailing 0-2, the Idaho women's volleyball team needed five sets to come back and defeat Hornets, 3-2 (21-25, 17-25, 25-19, 15-6) Saturday night in Big Sky match inside the Nest at Sac State.
Saturday night's win marks the first 10-match winning streak in head coach
Debbie Buchanan's tenure at the helm of Idaho volleyball. The five-setter win also snapped Sacramento State's 31 regular season game winning streak at home in Big Sky competition, a streak that has been held since the 2015 season.
Teamwork is what lifted the Vandals past the Hornets in the five-set battle. "It was teamwork, and if everyone focus on doing their job, trust one another and communicate, we play really well," said head coach
Debbie Buchanan. "We have layers built in to do things, and I felt like we were trying to make some adjustments, but we weren't doing a great job of listening and making those adjustments. Then we finally started to do that. We broke them down and just made some changes in what we were doing. So, overall good team effort. We're going to celebrate this tonight. I'm really proud of how we battled all the way through"
The Vandals dropped the first two set, 25-21 and 25-17. The Hornets hit .382 in the first set and capped the Vandals to a .045 hitting percentage in the in the second set as they took a 2-0 lead in the match.
In a win-or-go-home scenario, the Vandals showed resilience in the third set fighting back from a two set to none deficit. Idaho jumped on an early 10-7 edge after an ace by
Shannon Casale. Two kills by
Sarah Sharp, and
DeVonne Ryter kept the Vandal two-points ahead of the Hornets. Fueled by a 6-1 run extended the score to 22-15. Sacramento rallied back, but the Vandals were one a roll as a kill from Sharp ended the set 25-21
Idaho led for the majority of the fourth set by as much as five points. As fatigued set in, the Hornets couldn't find a way past Idaho. At set point, 24-18, a Hornet error settled the set and gave Idaho its second win to tie the match 2-2.
The Vandals dominated the fifth set. Idaho jumped out first in the deciding set, 5-1. The Hornets struck down two kills to come within two points of the Vandals, but a 5-0 run sparked by Hornet errors keep Idaho ahead.
VANDAL NOTABLES
Senior Sharp had another big night as she recorded team-best 21 kills on a .283 hitting percentage. Ryter followed behind with 12 kills on a .500 clip, and added three service aces, three digs and assisted on three blocks.
Kaela Straw was the last to get double-digits in kills (10) while tacking on five digs in the win.
Reece Carman collected nine kills, and
Haylee Mathis delivered 48 assists.
Alycia Wodke had a big night on defense with 29 digs while
Nikki Ball was clutch in the front row assisting on four blocks.
Up Next
The Vandals return to Memorial Gym to face Montana on Thursday, November 8, at 7 p.m.
Fans can stay up-to-date on all things Idaho volleyball by following the team on Twitter and Instagram, @IdahoVolleyball.
For more information on Idaho Athletics, visit GoVandals.com. Fans can also find Idaho on Twitter and Instagram, @Idaho_Vandals, or on Facebook by searching Idaho Vandals.
