Idaho took the first point of the night and never looked back as the Vandals dominated Utah State from start to finish Saturday night in Memorial Gym.
Utah State (7-11, 2-3 WAC) is the defending Western Athletic Conference champion, but looked far from a championship team when Idaho (9-9, 3-2 WAC) swept the Aggies in a quick match. The Vandals expected a close match but it turned out to be a bit easier. Junior Julia Church said she didn’t expect to win by such a large margin.
“At first it was kind of surprising,” Church said. “We really came out strong.”
The 6-foot-1-inch outside hitter had a solid game for Idaho with eight kills and a career-high .636 hitting percentage. Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said she was happy with the way everyone contributed in the match.
“Julia (Church) got better, she brought some things tonight we needed,” Buchanan said. “We got our middles involved and put up big numbers for middles.”
Big numbers from middle hitters mean less pressure on the outsides to block, Buchanan said. When middles perform well and slide across the net to block attacks, Buchanan said the team is more balanced.
The win was critical for Idaho as the team now has a winning record in conference play and its overall record back
to .500.
“Coming into it, we knew this was going to be a tough match and I was really proud of the way we performed tonight,” Church said.
The Vandals are on a three-game win streak, sweeping La. Tech, Eastern Washington and Utah State consecutively. Idaho struggled with consistency last season, but seems to be settling in after a rough start.
Home matches have been a common factor in Idaho’s success this far. The Vandals have only lost one match at home this year and that was to powerhouse Hawaii. Even in that match the team looked strong. Church said playing at home propels the team to another level.
“There’s nothing better than playing in front of Mem Gym,” Church said. “Our fans are great. We can hear them the whole match and we really appreciate all the support.”
The Vandals will be back home at 7 p.m. Thursday in Memorial Gym when they take on Nevada and again Saturday against Fresno State. Church said Idaho needs to keep its focus and keep improving.
“Our main focus is to eliminate our errors,” Church said. “That’s been our main goal and we’ve been talking about it a lot at practice.”