Headlining the opening weekend of Idaho volleyball in Gainesville, Florida, is a Friday match against SEC powerhouse, No. 10 Florida, which will give the Vandals elite competition right off the bat.
Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
Sophomore defensive specialist Terra Varney tosses the ball for a serve during practice Monday in Memorial Gym. The Vandals open the season Friday at Florida for the Active Ankle Challenge. They play Oklahoma and Florida Friday and Georgia Southern Saturday.
Players and coaches agree that though early season tournaments don’t count much for Idaho’s Big Sky Championship hopes, they’re still important to gauge the team’s performance early in the season.
“We need to give our girls an opportunity to compete at a high level to make sure we are prepared as we continue to go on,” Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said. “We have these opportunities and now those opportunities can help position us in a better spot if we can reach those goals at the end.”
The Vandals begin the Active Ankle Challenge Friday playing a strong Oklahoma team, followed by No. 10 Florida. Idaho will conclude the weekend on Saturday morning against Georgia Southern.
Buchanan said if the Vandals knock off a ranked opponent prior to conference play, the wins are “bonus points” for their RPI ranking. Senior middle blocker Alyssa Schultz said Idaho has to take advantage of the opportunity.
“We can’t take these games as if they mean nothing because in the end, they do help us with seeding,” Schultz said. “So we do have to come out and we have to compete and take every chance that we’ve got. They are tough but we do have to take them very seriously.”
Schultz said she’s happy to play against someone other than her teammates, and is welcoming the challenge of playing Florida so early in the season.
“We’ve adjusted our blocking and our defensive positions in the hopes that it will help us against Florida,” Schultz said. “This weekend we’re gearing up to just compete. We know they are tough teams and the most we can do is play like there is nothing to lose. We’re really excited to play someone other than ourselves. It’s more of just coming out with a lot of energy and finally being in competition mode.”
Starting junior setter Meredith Coba said the match against Florida will be a good test for the Vandals.
“It’ll obviously be a huge test for us to see how well we can compete against them,” Coba said. “If we bring our A-game, there is nothing that can stop us. There are big shoes to fill playing a team of that caliber. It’ll be interesting to see how a team of that ranking plays and plays together.”
Coba said the Vandals don’t have much film on Florida, but can watch the Gators’ first match on Friday against Georgia Southern to observe blocking tendencies and defensive strategies.
vBuchanan told her team to not get distracted at the ranking of Florida, and to take each match one game at a time.
“In our mind, we don’t want to overlook Oklahoma,” Buchanan said. “We’re just trying to talk to our kids about one game at a time. We’re not going to be able to change our game plan completely going into this weekend. We’re really trying to play our game.”
Conor Gleason can be reached at [email protected]