The Vandal volleyball team worked out some of its early season kinks Saturday by knocking off Pepperdine 3-1.
The match was Idaho’s third in less than 24 hours at the UC Irvine Tournament in Irvine, California. The Vandals lost 1-3 in matches against UC Irvine and Utah State Friday.
Idaho returns home this week to face Missouri, Boise State and Portland in the Idaho Nike Invitational starting Thursday at Memorial Gym.
Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said her team is getting better with every match, and the statistics prove her right.
In the final set against Pepperdine, Idaho had 17 kills and just one error with a hitting percentage of .457.
“It was probably our best all around match I would say as far as our passing, offense and the serving,” Buchanan said. “I think we were able to take Pepperdine out of some things. Our tough serving kind of took their middles out of place, so all we had to worry about was their pin (outside) hitters.”
The Vandals started off sluggish in the first match, going down 7-0 in the first set against UCI. They showed resiliency though, and cut the deficit to 9-8. Idaho ended up losing the match 25-14, 25-19, 26-28 and 25-13.
“We definitely have the ability to compete with those teams and for whatever reason, there’s times that we’re starting out a little slow,” Buchanan said. “They’re a good team. They’ve got some heavy pin hitters and those were the kids we just weren’t able to stop.”
Buchanan said the volume of matches played a factor in fatigue for the Vandals.
“You commit to these tournaments not knowing what the schedule is going to be and next thing you know, we have three matches within a 24 hour span,” she said.
Freshman outside hitter Becca Mau made the All-Tournament team, finishing with 34 kills in three matches.
“I think Becca Mau, a freshman, was probably the most consistent on the pin this weekend as an outside hitter for all three matches,” Buchanan said. “It’s a pretty nice honor for a freshman and showing that she’s stepping in and contributing.”
Idaho began its final match by winning the first two sets, 25-23 and 25-12. Pepperdine took the third set 25-21 before Idaho went on a 10-1 run to close out the fourth set and the match, 25-17.
Outside hitter Ali Forde finished with 13 kills and middle hitter Stephanie Hagins had 15 in the match.
Despite a 2-5 overall record, Buchanan acknowledged Idaho’s strength of schedule thus far and said the team is much better than its record indicates.
“Even though our record doesn’t show it, I feel like our team is getting better,” Buchanan said. “The girls are motivated. We’re playing a tough schedule. We’re playing some teams that will finish high up in those conferences and we have to compete to get those wins.”
Conor Gleason can be reached at [email protected]