Debbie Buchanan is Idaho volleyball’s longest tenured coach for a reason — or 200 reasons. Buchanan became the first coach in program history to reach 200 wins on Thursday night with a come-from-behind 3 – 2 victory at Boise State in the first match of the Bronco Volleyball Classic.
Idaho took the second set 28-26, fourth set 25-22 and the final set 15-13.
It was the first meeting between the two in the Black and Blue match since Boise State left the Western Athletic Conference after the 2010 season. The win was Buchanan’s 17th career win over Boise State.
Redshirt freshman Ali Forde drew Idaho one point away from the historic win with a kill making it 14-10 in the fifth set, but the Broncos didn’t want to go quietly. That was until Boise State’s Casey Rose gave Idaho the win on a service error.
Junior Jessica Hastriter led the way for Idaho in her homecoming to Boise with 16 kills. Alyssa Schultz contributed 12 kills with a .385 hitting percentage, while sophomore Meredith Coba led all players with 47 assists.
The Broncos were the ones off to a quick start in the game, taking the first set comfortably 25-16. It was Idaho’s ability to hold on in the second set which set the tone for the rest of the game, trading points until Coba put it away for Idaho 28-26.
The Broncos were dominant again in the third set, taking a 2-1 lead in the game.
Then Forde came up big in the fourth set with four kills, with the team hitting .34 to force the fifth set.
The two final sets went down to the wire, despite Idaho leading the entire way through both sets. Idaho led the fourth set by as many as five before Boise State made it close, but Idaho closed it out at 25-22, setting up the tight fifth set.
The win snaps a three game losing streak for Idaho, from the Northern Arizona Fiesta Classic last week. Idaho will take on Sacramento State this afternoon and North Texas tomorrow morning to close out the Bronco Classic.
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]