The Idaho volleyball team began a four-match road trip with a 3-1 loss Thursday against the Long Beach State 49ers at Long Beach, California. The 49ers won the first two sets before Idaho took the third set. Long Beach State closed out the win with a 25-20 fourth set.
Meredith Coba had 41 assists and defensive specialist Terra Varney had 21 digs for the Vandals (1-3). Idaho lost 25-18, 25-22, 23-25, and 25-20.
Long Beach State had a balanced attack with four players hitting 10 or more kills compared to Idaho’s one.
“I think as a team, we had too many service errors,” Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said. “We had a specialty server coming in to serve and make that play. That’s something we definitely have to make better.”
Idaho’s bench players helped take some pressure off the starters, as freshman outside hitter Becca Mau had seven kills and a .353 hitting percentage. Buchanan said Idaho needs to spread the offense instead of consistently setting the
outside hitters.
“I thought Becca Mau did a great job coming off the bench,” she said. “Kate’s (Peterson) numbers were fairly good. We’ve been setting her too
many balls.”
Buchanan said Stephanie Hagins got better as the match went and got everybody going as a team.
The Vandals will take on UC Irvine, Utah State and Pepperdine in the UC Irvine Tournament Friday and Saturday.
“We’re just going to take it one match at a time,” Buchanan said. “We’ve got to keep playing our game before we get too worried about these
other teams.”
Conor Gleason can be reached at [email protected]