Idaho win in straight sets over conference foe Montana
The Idaho volleyball team took care of business in quick fashion Thursday night against conference-foe Montana. The Vandals swept the match 25-15, 25-19 and 25-17.
Brandon Miller | Argonaut
The Vandal volleyball team cheers after another victory against the University of Montana Thursday in Memorial Gym. The Vandals will next play Montana State Friday at 6:00 p.m. in Memorial Gym.“We haven’t hit our peak yet, but anytime you can win in three is great,” Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said. “For us right now it’s just one match at a time and everything’s going to happen and fall into place.”
Idaho has won its last four of six games, and will look to continue the stellar play against Montana State 6 p.m. Friday in Memorial Gym.
The win over Montana propelled Idaho to a 5-2 record in the Big Sky. The Vandals play seven of their final 10 games at home, including a game against conference-leading North Dakota on Nov. 13.
“You always play better when you’re at home,” Buchanan said. “We don’t want to look too far ahead to where we don’t respect our opponents. Right now it’s all about Montana State.”
In each of the three sets Idaho jumped out to a big lead, but each time Montana always found a way to claw its way back.
Junior setter Meredith Coba said they tried to limit those runs as much as possible.
“Obviously we’re not perfect,” she said. “When we get those and see those coming, we just got to put a stop to it a little quicker and I think tonight we did a good job just coming back and getting the points back that we lost.”
Coba led all players from both schools with 28 assists.
Another standout player was junior outside hitter Katelyn Peterson. She led all players with 10 kills and added eight digs.
In the last two sets, Idaho won by way of a Montana service error. It was an anticlimactic finish to a game where the Vandals looked to be the more athletic team on the court.
“We are a very athletic team,” Buchanan said. “We recruit a little bit different then some of teams in the Big Sky. We look for long, athletic, physical players and that’s the type of program we want to be … it should be an advantage as long as we have ball control.”
Brandon Miller | Argonaut
For a game that had high implications, Idaho took care of business rather easily. Coba said the team was just ready to play.
“We were firing on all cylinders and it felt good,” she said. “That’s what we aim to do every night and it hasn’t worked out for us in some games this season, but we were on and took care what we needed too.”
This marks the first win for a busy Homecoming Weekend for Vandal athletics. Along with Volleyball, the soccer and football teams will both be in action.
Korbin McDonald can be reached at [email protected]