Although the excitement from homecoming and the fantastic crowd should have given the Vandals an edge in their homecoming game against Eastern Washington, they struggled out of the gate and couldn’t find a rhythm.
The Eagles kept the pressure up and tried to quiet the raucous crowd, as they won the first set easily 25-13.
The youth of Idaho really showed in the second set as Idaho fought tough, but made some mistakes that cost them points. Idaho tried to fight back and really get the crowd back into the game. The Vandals pushed and pushed but continued to make mistakes. Idaho had eight errors in this set, which led to the Eagles winning 25-16 and taking a 2-0 set lead.
Now down 2-0 it was crucial for Idaho to come out with energy and try and push back Eastern Washington’s attack. They were able to do so, pushing stride for stride until they just couldn’t contain the energy. Eastern went on to dominate Idaho, winning the third set 25-11 and closing out the Vandals in three sets. .
The Vandals are young and inexperienced, but have a lot of promise as freshman outside hitter Olivia Gloeckner leads the team again in kills with nine. Another promising young player is freshman libero Aine Doty. Doty led the team in digs against EWU with 10. She also tacked on a ton of great saves.
The loss puts Idaho at 3-12 overall and 0-3 in conference play. With the loss against the Eagles, the Vandals are now on a three-game losing streak going into the Battle of the Domes against the 9-6 Idaho State Bengals in Memorial Gymnasium on October 6 at 6 p.m.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JaydenBarfuss10