After a heartbreaking five-set loss Thursday night at Portland State, the Idaho volleyball team left no doubt to who was going to win the Big Sky Conference match when it took on Sacramento State. The Vandals swept the Hornets 3-0 Saturday night in Sacramento, California. Idaho won 25-23, 25-22 and 25-14.
“Anytime you can win in three is awesome,” Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said. “I thought we came out with plenty of offense and it took the defense a while to get going. I thought by game three we started digging some balls and we were able to transition and get them (Sacramento State) out of system.”
Idaho (8-10 overall, 4-2 Big Sky) plays seven out of its last 10 games at home, including two Big Sky Conference matchups at home this week. The Vandals play Montana (3-15, 3-3) 7 p.m. Thursday and Montana State (4-14, 1-5) 6 p.m. Friday.
Idaho is in second place in the Big Sky North Division, one game behind North Dakota (17-6, 5-1 Big Sky).
The Vandals spread the ball around to lead a balanced offensive attack against the Hornets.
Senior middle blocker Alyssa Schultz and junior outside hitter Katelyn Peterson led the Vandals with 10 kills apiece. Schultz had a .400 hitting percentage and Peterson hit .346
Senior middle blocker Stephanie Hagins added nine kills with a .615 hitting percentage and had five blocks. Sophomore outside hitter Ali Forde added eight kills and senior outside hitter Jessica Hastriter contributed seven kills with a .545 hitting percentage.
Idaho outhit Sacramento State .360 to .235. The Hornets also lost the attacking errors battle as they committed 17 to the Vandals’ nine.
“I thought our defense did a nice job,” Buchanan said. “Some of their errors were just them getting out of system and trying to make something happen. In some ways, those were the breaks they gave us when we needed them, especially in the first two games.”
Idaho won the first set 25-23. Sacramento State led 4-2 in the set, but Idaho proceeded to go on a 6-0 run to make it 8-4 Idaho. The Vandals never relinquished the lead until the Hornets tied the set at 21 and took the lead 22-21. Idaho was able to restore order and finish the set with a win.
The Vandals took the second set 25-22. With Sacramento State leading 16-13, Idaho went on another 6-0 run to take a 19-16 lead. The Hornets cut the Vandal lead to one at 23-22, but a kill by Hagins and an error by Sacramento State sealed the set for Idaho.
The Vandals closed the match out in the third set by rolling to a 25-14 victory. Idaho jumped out to a 10-6 lead. The Vandals pulled away in the middle of the set by taking a 16-9 lead and they never lost their momentum.
Garrett Cabeza can be reached at [email protected]