The Idaho Vandals finish their season on a three-game road trip, and they began by stopping in Cheney, Washington for their second matchup against the Eastern Washington Eagles. The Eagles defeated UI back in Moscow on homecoming in straight sets and they look for the season sweep and a good seed in the Big Sky tournament sitting at the five seed 7-6 in conference play and 11-12 overall. Vandals at 1-23 and 0-13 have unfortunately been mathematically eliminated from postseason contention so these will be their last three games.
The Vandals thought they had grabbed the first point of the match, but an EWU challenge said otherwise. From there, the Eagles jumped out to a 6-0 lead causing coach Romana to take a timeout. EWU scored their seventh before UI finally got on the board. The Eagles had full control of the opening set, and the Vandals only scored a few more before EWU closed it out 25-4, holding UI to their lowest score in a set this year.
Vandals took their first lead of the night going up 1-0 before the Eagles quickly tied then retook the lead. They scored five straight to go up four, but UI came back with a couple of their own and pulled to withing three before EWU began to grow their advantage. They went up by nine at 13-4 before another timeout was called on the UI sideline. Out of the break the Vandals grabbed a point and after a few rallies the points were going back and forth between sides but eventually the Eagles grew their lead to 13 before another stoppage. UI got a few late but it wasn’t nearly as many as they needed as they fell 25-11 in set two.
EWU scored the first two of the third, but the Vandals responded with two of their own and tied things up. Eagles tried to pull away quick, but UI was not done, and they also won a challenge, so they kept it close and at one point the deficit for the Vandals was only 10-8. After a 5-2 run by the Eagles there was another timeout called. UI came back with a 4-2 run and were back to within three and later in the set even closer at two when it was 22-20. The Eagles got the next two before one final timeout, then as UI was rallying, Madu Fontes hit it a little long and the Vandals fell 25-20, being swept by EWU in six straight sets in their two meetings.
Bri Gunderson led the Eagles in both kills and aces with nine and six. Taylor Brickey also had nine kills for the Vandals. UI falls to 1-24 and continues winless in the Big Sky with just two more opportunities. Their next chance will be in Greely, Colorado on Thursday as they face the number one Northern Colorado Bears at 5:00 p.m. Then they will have their final match of the season in Flagstaff, Arizona against the Lumberjacks on November 23 at 5:30 p.m. Both games can be seen on ESPN+.
You can reach Jackson Hamelund at [email protected]