The 1-20 Vandals continued their short road stretch from Sacramento, heading up north to Portland, Oregon for their second and final meeting of the season against the 5-15 Vikings. The two played in Moscow back on September 26, with PSU winning 3-1. That one set UI won is the only one they have won in all of conference play thus far.
Vandals grabbed the first point of the match, but it wouldn’t take the Vikings long to respond. Scoring the next six straight before the first timeout was called by coach Romana. UI got their second point after the breather, but PSU would continue to roll after that going up by eight before another Vandals timeout. That would be the closet they were as the Vikings expanded their lead to as many as a dozen. Even though UI grabbed a couple late and got within nine, PSU closed out the opening set 25-14.
PSU began the second going out to a 2-1 lead, but the Vandals scored three straight which put them up a pair before the Vikings quickly evened it. The set was tied again at 5-5 before PSU took over, taking a 7-2 run before another stoppage to regroup. They scored again but then the Vandals grabbed four in a row and were back to within two. PSU kept trying to grow their advantage, but UI wouldn’t give up even getting back to within one at 19-18 before they gave up a 6-1 run to drop the second set.
Third set was all Vikings. It started 1-1 but then PSU scored seven more before the Vandals saw another point. As dominance continued from the PSU side, they maintained a 10-point cushion before eventually blowing it open and taking the final set 25-8. Which marks the lowest amount of points the Vandals have scored in a set all year. Sophomore Naomi White blocked the final attempt UI had. PSU completes the straight sets sweep; season sweep and has now won the last six straight matchups between the two schools.
Vandals fall to 1-21 and 0-11 in Big Sky play. They will return to Moscow for their final two home games. Thursday at 4 p.m. They will host the Montana State Bobcats and at 6 p.m. Saturday night the seniors will celebrate their last time on the Memorial Gym floor against the Montana Grizz. In both first meetings between the Montana Schools, UI fell in straight sets.
You can reach Jackson Hamelund at [email protected]