The No. 4 seed Vandals will advance to the semifinals after making it look easy with a sweep against No. 5 seed Missouri-Kansas City to knock the Kangaroos off the bracket at the WAC Volleyball Tournament Monday in Phoenix, Ariz.
“We were the first ones to get to five and really make that push, first to 10, first to 15 and we’re really trying to play mini-games within the big game,” Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said.
The Vandals hit .299 as a team and held the ‘Roos to .041 on the match. In both the first and final set the ‘Roos hit .000 committing just as many errors as the team had kills. The Vandals held an overall 51 to 44 dig advantage, 10 to two blocking advantage and committed just seven errors on the match compared to the ‘Roos 27.
Vandal sophomore setter Meredith Coba’s had 33 assists on the night while sophomore Katelyn Peterson led the team in kills for the first time all season with 11 and also contributed three serving aces. The defense was solid with 13 digs each from sophomore libero Jenna Ellis and freshman defensive specialist Terra Varney.
Sophomore defensive specialist Samantha Delmer contributed on defense as well with a career-high eight digs after playing the regular season with her primary role as a Vandals serving weapon. The two middle blockers, junior Alyssa Schultz and senior Taylor Wilkinson, hit better than .400 each and combined for 13 kills.
“We wanted to fly around and play with more passion than we have in the regular season, this is what it all comes down to,” Schultz said.
With the win, the Vandals will go up against No. 1 seed New Mexico State at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the WAC semifinals. The Aggies finished the season 14-2 against WAC opponents. They went 2-0 against Idaho during the regular season sweeping the Vandals on their home court and narrowly and defeated the Vandals at the Memorial Gym for a heart-breaker on Halloween.
After a dominant first match the Vandals will truly be put to the test against their conference rivals in the semifinals. The Vandals also coincidentally faced NMSU in last year’s WAC Championship showdown where the Vandals went home with a loss in four sets which may add some extra motivation in this year’s tournament.
“It’s kind of nice for us because we have nothing to lose. We’re going out there as the underdogs, we have nothing to do but upset them and that’s what we’re going to do,” Schultz said. “We played two games on that court and we’re ready to go I think we have the advantage here.”
If the Vandal underdogs manage to stay alive for the championship match, either Cal State-Bakersfield or Seattle U will be the opponent depending on who wins that matchup at 5 p.m Tuesday. Seattle U defeated No. 3 seed Utah Valley 3-2 earlier on Monday.
“Seattle wanted it more, they were the ones out there fighting and pushing, they have the mentality, they have the attitude,” Buchanan said. “I said that’s what you guys are going to have to have to win this tournament.”
Aaron Wolfe can be reached at [email protected]