WATCH LIVE STATS NOTES
MOSCOW, Idaho —Idaho volleyball concludes Big Sky play this week, returning home to Memorial Gym for a two-game series against Northern Colorado.
The Vandals and Bears will first face off in Moscow on Sunday, Mar. 21 at 6 p.m. followed by game Senior Night on Monday at 6 p.m.
This weekend's home series is just the third home series of the season for the Vandals as they sit in seventh place in the conference standings with a 5-7 league record. The Vandals are 6-8 overall on the season.
The Vandals are coming off a series split on the road in Cheney. Idaho will look to hold off a hot Northern Colorado team that has won four in a row and sits in third place in the conference standings.
Northern Colorado is 11-3 in Big Sky play on the season and 6-0 on the road. The Bears' last road loss was to Hawai'i on Dec. 6, 2019 in the NCAA tournament.
FOLLOW: Fans can watch the game live on Pluto TV Channel 1060 and follow live stats at GoVandals.com/VBstats. Follow along on twitter @IdahoVolleyball
SERIES HISTORY/LAST MEETING: Idaho and Northern Colorado played twice in 2019 with the Bears winning both games. The all-time series is tied 7-7 but the Bears have won the last two. Idaho's last win over the B AT THE NET: Idaho has had success at the net throughout the season. The Vandals lead the Big Sky in total blocks (154), block assists (252), and blocks per set (2.86). Nicole Ball leads the Vandals in all blocking categories and ranks second in the Big Sky with 1.39 blocks per set.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Kennedy Warren was named the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week on Feb. 2 after a pair of big offensive performances in a series sweep over Southern Utah. On Mar. 2 Warren earned her second Player of the Week nod but this time as the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week. The junior averaged 2.5 digs per set and 1.2 blocks per set in a series split at Montana. Warren totaled 23 digs and 11 total blocks in the series. She tied her career-high with 14 digs in game one and set a season-high with eight total blocks in game two.
FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2013: In game one of last week's EWU series the Vandals fell behind 2-0 to start the match. In the third set Idaho topped the home team 25-17 and in the fourth set overcame a nine-point deficit, 24-15, to beat the Eagles 27-25. The Vandals would go on to win 15-10 in the fifth set. This marked the first time since 2013 the Vandals have won after being down 2-0.
STARTING STRONG: The Vandals are 3-2 on the season when winning the first set and on the contrary are just 3-6 when losing the first. Idaho lost the first set in game one to EWU but came back to win 3-2. Idaho took the first set in game two but fell 3-1.
BOUNCING BACK: The new format this season features back to back games against all opponents. In the series' the Vandals have only been swept one time. On three occasions the Vandals have dropped game one and bounced back for a win in game two.
LEADING THE WAY: Kennedy Warren leads the Vandals and is second in the Big Sky with 211 kills on the season, averaging 3.46 per set. She had 12 in the loss to EWU last time out.
DEFENSE WINS: Idaho is sixth in the league in opponent hitting percentage. Opponents are hitting just .191 against the Vandals this year and the Vandals are 5-2 when holding opponents to this mark or lower. In addition, Idaho has forced 354 attack errors to their opponents, a league best. ears came in the 2018 Big Sky tournament.
