During Idaho’s senior night, the volleyball team will take on the leader of the Big Sky who has only one loss during conference play so far.
The University of Northern Colorado Bears (13-1) have lost only one game during conference play against Northern Arizona (9-5).
The Vandals had a tough few weeks building up to this senior night game.
Season Recap: The Vandals (9-6) were in a tough battle for the second seat in the Big Sky, but after losses to Sacramento State, Montana State and University of Montana, they now sit in fourth place.
Tuesday’s victory against the Eastern Washington Eagles solidified them a spot in the Big Sky Championship, but they have a tough end of the season to play through still.
“We have been a little up and down lately,” head coach Debbie Buchanan said. “We are ready to go do some damage in the tournament.”
Last week, the Vandal’s home court was taken over by both Montana teams. In a surprise upset, the Montana Grizzlies overtook Idaho in five sets, beating them 2-3.
“We had too many errors where we were not taking care of the ball,” Buchanan said.
Vandal fans were surprised to see the now 4-10 Grizzlies overtake the Vandals.
The momentum against Idaho kept rolling as the Montana State Bobcats swept the Vandals on their home court 0-3 last Saturday. These were the first two games Vandal fans saw Idaho lose in the Memorial Gym during conference play.
Idaho got the ball rolling again with a win against the Eagles this week and have the positive momentum rolling into Friday’s game.
Northern Colorado Bears: Northern Colorado is led by sophomore outside hitter Kailey Jo Ince, hitting 26% with 375 kills and 398 points this season. Idaho needs to work hard to shut down Ince on Friday.
While the Bears have only lost one game during conference play, Idaho had previously beaten the Northern Arizona team that swept them. Idaho
also played a very strong game against the Bears during their first match, with a commanding victory in the first set.
“I think we surprised them the first time we faced them,” Buchanan said. “I think we are better than the first time we played them, but it’s our home court and we need to come out to play.”
Junior outside hitter Avery Housley said the first match was very good and they have what it takes to beat the Bears.
“We need to find that energy that we had in the first set again,” Housley said. “We played great and we played as a unit and we need to come outwith some fire and passion.”
Consistency is the problem Idaho has been facing in the past weeks.
“It takes all 16 of us,” Housley said. “Everyone needs to be ready and we need to have that mindset that we are going to go out and do our job.”
When and where: The Vandals will take on the Bears this Friday at 6 p.m. in Memorial Gym.
Connor Swersey can be reached at [email protected]