MOSCOW, Idaho - After traveling to Sacramento and Portland for the next to last road trip of the regular season, Idaho Volleyball returned to Memorial Gym for the penultimate homestand of 2025.

In that span, the Vandals took down Eastern Washington to secure their second conference win since 2022, going 2-0 against a Big Sky foe for the first time in a season since 2020. This week, the Vandals hosted a pair of color-coded rematches with Weber State and Idaho State, coining Thursday's match as "Whiteout the Wildcats" and Saturday's as "Blackout the Bengals".

On Thursday, amongst a cloud of Vandal fans cloaked in white, Idaho took the court seeking a crucial conference win that would go a long way towards securing the program's first Big Sky tournament berth in five years. 

The effort was there from the Brave and Bold, but the Wildcat defense made the hosts earn every point, holding the Vandals as a team to less than 0.08% hitting in all three sets. Freshman Kiana Greer led the offense in kills once again with nine while Sarah Sullivan tacked on eight. Greer also led the Vandals in digs with 16. 

The box score does not reflect the closeness of the contest at times, as Idaho rattled off a run of 5-1 in the first set to take a 13-10 lead before a pair of 5-0 runs by the Wildcats to take the win. In the second, with backs against the wall, the Vandals rattled off a run of 5-1 to climb back to down 20-24 before WSU took it. The visitors started out strong in the third frame and took early momentum. Despite Idaho taking five straight to reclaim the lead halfway through, the Wildcats held their hosts to an even 0.0 hit percentage while hitting 0.31 themselves to walk out of Moscow with the win.

On Saturday, the Idaho faithful returned to Mem Gym matching the black that their Vandals were rocking for an in-state rematch with Idaho State. The Brave and Bold of Moscow starting out hot with the momentum of 464 in attendance and hitting .364 in the first set alone, including multiple kills from Kiana Greer and Koen Makaula. 

From there, the Bengals' nationally ranked defense took hold, holding Idaho to .111 in the , second and an even zero in the third and fourth. Despite this, Greer led the charge on both offense and defense, recording totaling 18 and 13 in kills and digs. Gabi Smith had a strong day defensively, totaling three total blocks at the net, and Csenge Krakoczki led the Vandal offense all the way with a career high 38 assists. 

FINAL NOTES

• Despite the loss to Idaho State (5-7 BSC), who ranks just above the Vandals at eighth in the league standings, Idaho (2-10 BSC) is not mathematically eliminated from advancing to the Big Sky tournament in Greeley, which would be the first such berth in five years. With four matches remaining for each team, the Vandals can advance if they win out and ISU loses out. In the event of a tie in conference record, the tiebreaker would go the way of the Bengals due to the head-to-head results.

• Freshman Kiana Greer eclipsed double-digit kills for the 17th time this season.

  • She has also notched double-digit digs on eleven of these occasions.

• Idaho has now won 35 sets this season after having won six all of last year.

UP NEXT
Idaho hits the road for the final time of the regular season, visiting Montana on Nov. 13 and Montana State on Nov. 15. They will return home for the final home slate of the year, which will include senior day vs. Sacramento State on Nov. 21.

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