The Vandals have taken every advantage of the season’s longest home stand so far. A pair of matchups against Idaho State and Weber State to close out the two-week home stretch should provide a couple of great opportunities to tune up for the last leg of the Big Sky season.
Idaho (14-8, 8-2 BSC) is currently riding a six-match winning streak in which it has lost a total of three sets. The team has not lost since its previous matches with Idaho State and Weber State during a road trip at the end of September. The Vandals lost both matches 3-1, but the current Big Sky leaders have plenty of momentum coming into the rematches.
Another edition of the Battle of the Domes will kick things off when Idaho State (12-11, 6-4 BSC) comes to town on Oct. 25. The Bengals dropped their last two matches in Pocatello to one of the best (Northern Arizona) and worst (Southern Utah) teams in the conference. In their last matchup with Idaho, the Bengals took advantage of an especially sloppy Idaho performance in the second and third sets before escaping a back-and-forth fourth set with a win. The Vandals committed 27 errors in the match, their highest total of the season.
Idaho State is led by senior outside hitter Abby Garrity, who averages 3.87 kills per set and has recorded 337 kills overall, both good for third in the Big Sky. Garrity would probably attribute most of her success to a highly effective setup game, led by sophomore setter Chelsea Johnson. Johnson is second in the Big Sky with 11.16 assists per set and she leads the conference with 993 assists.
Redshirt freshman Donnee Janzen prepares to serve during a conference game against EWU Tuesday in Memorial Gym.
Overall, the Bengals rely on Garrity and Johnson to pace an attack that can come in fits and spurts. Idaho State also matched the Vandals block-for-block earlier in the season, but that is unlikely to happen again in Moscow. The Vandals should be able to follow the same formula that has put them on their current run of success: dominate at the net and control the tempo of the match.
Weber State brings somewhat of a different challenge to the table. The Wildcats (12-7, 7-3 BSC) recently dropped matchups against two of the conference’s three best teams in Sacramento State and Northern Arizona before getting back on track against Southern Utah. The Wildcats have a pair of explosive presences at the net in senior outside hitter Andrea Hale and junior outside hitter Megan Gneitling. Both are averaging over three kills per set and Hale is fourth in the Big Sky with 3.55 kills per set.
During their last matchup, the Wildcats took advantage of another uncharacteristic performance from Idaho and won three sets to one after the Vandals continued to hamper themselves. After putting up a season high in errors in the previous match, Idaho failed to adjust and committed 26 errors in Ogden. The Wildcats pounced on the opportunities given to them, hitting .258 over the course of the match and as high as .407 in the first set.
Much like with Idaho State, Idaho will need to continue its recent run of better execution to correct the mistakes made the first time against Weber State. The Vandals have also played remarkably well at home, going 6-1 in the confines of the Memorial Gym so far. Expect them to continue their recent run of success against both teams and avenge their only conference losses.
Jonah Baker can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @jonahpbaker