MOSCOW, Idaho – Idaho volleyball has high expectations heading into the 2018 season, and the team lived up to the bill on Friday night, sweeping Santa Clara, 3-0, in the season-opener in Memorial Gym.
"It was a really good night for us and I think it's just the beginning of what we're going to be able to do," said head coach
Debbie Buchanan. "If this is our starting point and we can only build off of this, it's going to be a pretty fun season."
Senior
Sarah Sharp led Idaho with 15 kills, hitting 46.2 percent along the way. Freshman
Kennedy Warren had an impressive debut, hitting 52.4 percent and finishing with 12 kills.
Haylee Mathis is already in midseason form, finishing the night with 34 assists.
"We did really well collectively as a team and it just felt so fluid and so natural for us," Sharp said. "When our passers are doing an amazing job and our setters are doing a good job, I just get to swing and do what comes natural."
The Vandals took the first set handily, 25-12. It was a slow start for Idaho, eventually drawing level with Santa Clara at 8-8, but then the Vandals took over. Sharp led the way for Idaho with seven kills, while Warren tallied six. As a team, the Vandals hit .538 in the opening set and committed just three errors.
The second set was much of the same. Neither team could find any rhythm early, trading points to get to 8-8. Then, just as they did in the first set, the Vandals turned things on for a big run. Idaho would score the next six points, and coasted from there to take the set, 25-16.
Idaho controlled the third set from the start. The Vandals took a 7-4 lead early after a 5-0 run, and continued to build its lead throughout, eventually taking the set, 25-19.
"We ran a really fast offense," said Buchanan. "The block had a hard time keeping up with us tonight. We did a great job from the service line and defensively we hung in there. It was good."
The Vandals are back in action tomorrow, when they host Grand Canyon at 12:30 p.m. and New Mexico at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale now at GoVandals.com/tickets.
