Idaho volleyball team sweeps Montana State, won five out of last six
The Idaho volleyball team came into Friday night’s home game against Montana State having won four out of its last five games, with all four wins coming in 3-0 sweeps. The Vandals continued the trend by sweeping the Bobcats (25-10, 25-13, 25-21).
George Wood Jr. | Argonaut
Becca Mau slams a spike into the opposition in the second set of the Montana State University game last Friday.
Idaho continues its home stretch Thursday with a match again Weber State at 7 p.m. in Memorial Gym.
“We’re really coming together as a team right now,” sophomore outside hitter Ali Forde said. “All the little pieces that weren’t necessarily put together in preseason, we’re putting together now, and the fact that we played a harder preseason has really helped us.”
Forde had 10 kills with a .450 hitting percentage in the win. She also contributed nine digs.
“Well, I think the kids are pretty motivated right now,” Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said. “They have a goal in mind. They want to really be able to host (the Big Sky Conference Tournament) at the end of the year.”
The team that has the best conference record hosts the Big Sky Tournament.
After Northern Colorado beat North Dakota Saturday, Idaho (11-10 overall, 6-2 Big Sky) and North Dakota (18-7, 6-2) are tied for first in the Big Sky North Division.
The Vandals play two conference home games this week, starting with Weber State (6-16, 2-6) 7 p.m. Thursday and Idaho State (13-8, 7-1) 7 p.m. Saturday at. Idaho State leads the Big Sky South Division and has the best conference record between the two divisions.
Idaho has a chance to overtake ISU with five out of its last eight games at home.
“We love the support of all of our fans,” Forde said. “It’d be great to get them to come out.”
As the scores indicate in Friday night’s game, Idaho took control in the first two sets.
Idaho won the first set 25-10. The Vandals led 15-9 and finished the set on a 10-1 run.
“Game one we only had one (error),” Buchanan said. “In my 15 years we’ve had one perfect set, so we came close.”
The Vandals rolled to victory in the second set with a 25-13 win. Again, they built a comfortable lead and didn’t allow Montana State to get back into the game. Idaho jumped to an 8-3 lead early and extended it to 19-10, before finishing the Bobcats off on a 6-3 run.
The Vandals dominated in every facet of the game after the first two sets, including blocks and errors. Idaho totaled seven team blocks to Montana State’s one and the Vandals committed three attacking errors to the Bobcats’ 10 after the first two sets. Idaho had nine team blocks to Montana State’s three by the end of the three sets.
George Wood Jr. | Argonaut
Alyssa Schultz receives a reassuring ‘good game’ pat from teammate Meredith Coba in the second set of the game against Montana State University.
“Our goal is can we put together matches and stay focused for longer periods of time, make bigger pushes?” Buchanan said. “Tonight I thought we played two solid sets straight through and then game three we let off a little bit. So the challenge is … Can you come back out and stay focused, can you stay on it, adjust to the changes that they’re making?”
With a 2-0 deficit, Montana State came out of the 10-minute break trying to avoid the sweep. Idaho took an early 6-3 lead in the third set, but Montana State tied it at nine. After back-and-forth scoring, Idaho grabbed a 13-12 lead and managed to fight to a 25-21 victory.
The Vandals led a balanced offensive attack, with four players contributing at least nine kills for the night.
“If we can spread and distribute to all of our hitters, I think that’s our goal right now,” Buchanan said. “And for Meredith (Coba), it’s really figuring out which hitters are hot, how they’re blocking those hitters, so what’s working in each rotation, and once they start keying on that, then we’ll switch it up and do something different. So I think the hitters have been ready for that.”
Junior setter Coba set up many of the kills as she had 43 assists.
“I always try to be a consistent player,” Coba said. “Just set my hitters, spread the offense as well as I can, and it’s easy when you have hitters that are all putting the ball down and all working hard to get the job done.”
Junior outside hitter Katelyn Peterson led the Vandals with 11 kills on a .370 hitting percentage and added 10 digs. Senior middle blocker Alyssa Schultz had nine kills, hitting .643.
“All my hitters are awesome and they’re getting it done in the front row, so you can count on everyone,” Coba said.
Garrett Cabeza can be reached at [email protected]