MOSCOW, Idaho - After a trio of road matches across the street and across the state, Idaho volleyball is on tap to return home to Memorial Gym for the first time in a few weeks and just the second and third conference matches played in the venue for the program.

Idaho (4-13, 1-4 BSC) is coming off of a road slate that included the first Big Sky win for the team since 2022 and first such sweep since the year prior over Eastern Washington in Cheney. The Vandals hung tough with a promising Idaho State squad and made plays against Weber State in Ogden the week prior. 

This week, Northern Colorado travels up to the Palouse for a mid-week matchup on Thursday, Oct. 16, before Northern Arizona enters Moscow for the first league rematch of 2025 the following Saturday.

SCOUTING NORTHERN COLORADO
Approaching the midway point of the conference season, Northern Colorado currently sits at a 7-11 overall record but is tied for second in the standings with a 4-2 Big Sky record. The defending regular season champion Bears notably earned victories over Air Force and Colorado State of the Mountain West and the Big 10's Washington in their non-conference slate. In conference play, it's been a tale of two teams for UNC, as they started off with a 3-0 loss to top-ranked Weber State but have since handed Montana its first conference loss of the year and took down Sacramento State and Portland State in their last two contests.

A two-headed monster leads the offense for the Bears as Alayna Tessena's 236 kills are third-most in the Big Sky and her 3.15 per set of the same is ninth. Zoe Gibbs holds the fifth-best hitting percentage in the conference as well, tallying .378 on 315 attempts. 

SCOUTING NORTHERN ARIZONA
NAU has been one of the top teams in the conference all season long, skyrocketing past their seventh-place preseason projection to the best overall record at 14-5 and a tie for 2nd-place at 4-2 in the Big Sky. The Lumberjacks' preseason slate included a sweep of the Big 12's Texas Tech and they are coming off of a pair of wins vs. Portland State and Sacramento State.

All that being said, the Vandals do have an edge in the competition. The Lumberjacks have a natural advantage on their home court since Flagstaff's elevation of 6,909 feet is the highest in the Big Sky by a wide margin, which makes it tougher to breathe up there if you aren't acclimated to it. As such, all of NAU's five losses have occurred outside the Rolle Activity Center, and they hold an 8-5 record off their home court. 

Hanah Stoddard continues to be one of the Big Sky's go-to offensive playmakers, as she leads the conference in kills with 308 and is second with 4.46/set, both top-20 marks in the country. In the Vandals' last matchup with the Lumberjacks, Stoddard tallied 13 kills, trailed just behind by Gigi Greenlee with a dozen as NAU hit .217 as a team and held Idaho to .052.

BLOCK OUT CANCER
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Idaho's Thursday evening matchup with Northern Colorado will serve as the team's annual pink game. Tabbed "Block out Cancer", fans are encouraged to wear pink to Memorial Gym in support of the millions of men and women across the world afflicted by the disease each year. Idaho will be sporting pink socks for the contest. 

TICKETS
Idaho Athletics has announced that all tickets for football, basketball, volleyball, and soccer are completely free to students for the 2025-26 year. To claim your tickets, click the link HERE.

FOLLOW THE VANDALS 
To stay up to date with Vandal Volleyball, follow the team on Instagram(vandalvolleyball), X(IdahoVolleyball), and visit govandals.com