The momentum for Idaho that came from beating one rival in Boise State didn’t carry over to trying to beat another in Pullman on Thursday, falling to Palouse rival Washington State 3-0 in the Cougar Invite.
The Vandals were right there in each set, as shown by the 10 lead changes and 24 ties during the three sets, but the Cougars were the ones riding the momentum of the Bohler Gym crowd to take the three sets on late runs.
Washington State took the sets 25-22, 25-20 and 25-17.
Idaho hung around each set as the beneficiary of 17 Cougar errors, but Idaho was stagnant on the attack with only 34 kills to Washington State’s 48.
“I just think we were, deferring a lot,” Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said. “An easy ball that normally we’d play, we’d look for someone else to make the play instead of stepping in and running the offense like normally we have. We were just a little off and we need to fix that going in to our next match.”
The attack for most of the night was mostly passive. Idaho hit .175 overall, including a dismal .091 hitting percentage in the third and final set.
Junior Jessica Hastriter was able to give Idaho energy in the later sets, earning 10 of her final 13 kills in the final two sets, but nobody else was able to get into double-digits to support the attacking effort.
“I just don’t think we were aggressive like we normally have been,” Buchanan said. “We acted like we were freshman and we have to have to have more maturity and discipline than that and not have every little thing affect us. We didn’t have a lot of leadership going on tonight.”
It started in the first set, despite the Cougars’ best efforts to hand Idaho the set with nine overall errors. The Vandals were able to come out at the midway point to take advantage of WSU errors to lead 15-12. Washington State took a timeout and came out with energy, going on an 8-2 run to take control over the set. Sophomore setter Meredith Coba was active around the net with 11 assists in the first set but no Vandal could come up with any more than three kills.
Hastriter probably thought she had the energizing kill to turn the set around when she sent the ball rocketing toward the Cougar side. Instead, Washington State energized the Bohler Gym crowd with a near miraculous save. The ball was kept alive for another 30 seconds before Emmy Allen hit the deflating kill, giving WSU the 15-13 lead. Washington State never looked back winning the set 25-20, despite Hastriter scoring five of Idaho’s last seven points to try and get the Vandals back in it.
The final set was a mirror image of the first two, with Idaho jockeying for momentum, at one point leading 14-13. But just like the first two sets, Washington State found the energy play. Idaho sent the ball over for what seemed like a sure kill at the net, only to see it be saved by the Cougars and subsequently served for a kill by Washington State’s Camryn Irwin.
The third set tells the story of the game with seven of WSU’s 17 errors coming in the final set, but only eight of Idaho’s 34 kills coming in the final frame.
“We told the girls, this is a Pac-12 team, we’re kind of the underdog, and we have to come in and we have to battle,” Buchanan said. “No one is ever going to give you a match, no one is ever going to let you have points, you have to earn them.”
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]