PORTLAND, Ore.- Seeking its second conference win of the year after securing the first since 2022, Idaho Volleyball hit the road once again for the next to last time of the regular season, traveling first to sunny Sacramento and the uproarious capacity of all 1,000 seats in The Nest.

Having knocked off the Montana institutions in back-to-back contests the week prior, the Hornets came into the series with momentum to spare. They would capitalize on critical Vandal errors that kept the visitors at bay for the majority of the night, as well as five Sac State players hitting at least a .344 clip on 5+ attempts each in Sacramento. 

Kiana Greer led the way for Idaho with a near-double-double, tallying 10 kills alongside 9 digs and hitting the then-fourth highest percentage of her career with .227.

On Saturday, Idaho returned to action over in the City of Roses, traveling to Portland, Oregon and being one of two Vandal teams facing Portland State that day. Licking their wounds from Thursday's action, the brave and bold came out with renewed effort, as Chiara Gennari and Sarah Sullivan put the pressure on early and the Vikings were unable to respond, committing multiple attacking errors and struggling to land the ball inside the lines, cementing the Vandal set win, 25-14. 

The second set would continue where the first left off, with Gennari picking up back-to-back kills to start off and the Vandals forcing PSU into multiple attack errors and holding them to .158 attacking after a .028 first frame. The Barcelona, Spain native made plays at the net as well, earning four block assists on the final box score as UI won the set with a six-point gap.

The Vikings responded from there, beginning to connect on offense and matching the Vandals' attack. Idaho took a 3-1 lead to start out but Portland State would take the next six in a row and march into the lead. Down but never out, Greer and senior Madu Fontes kept the offense moving, splitting points throughout and keeping the score within three, but the lead was trimmed to 2-1.

The fourth set had some big plays from both sides, but ultimately Portland State kept Idaho from getting into a rhythm, bolstered by two separate 4-0 runs midway through to force a fifth with an eight-point difference. A neck-and-neck deciding frame at the beginning would go the way of the hosts from following the side change at the eighth point, where another run cemented the 2-3 final score in Portland.

FINAL NOTES

• Kiana Greer tallied 10 and 14 kills on Thursday and Friday, respectively. She has now eclipsed double digits in that stat in 15 of Idaho's 21 contests. Nine of those have also featured 10+ digs.

• Idaho had just one service error vs. Sac State, tied for a season low.

• The Vandals also allowed just 29 digs from the Hornets, second lowest total of the year.

• Madu Fontes earned multiple season highs in Portland, tallying 11 kills, four digs, and a service ace.

• Aleina Manaois crossed the 400-assist threshold with a total of 28 to move her season total to 403.

  • The team leader in assists over the last two seasons tallied 305 in 2023 and 329 in 2024. Both Manaois and Csenge Krakoczki (344) have surpassed those marks with seven matches to play in the regular season. 

UP NEXT
Idaho returns home for the first week of a three-match homestand, hosting Eastern Washington for a rematch. They will be searching for the program's first season sweep since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, when the Vandals knocked off then-league foe Southern Utah in back-to-back contests in Memorial Gym.

The following week, Idaho State and Weber State will travel to Moscow to close out the series with the Vandals.

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