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 University of Idaho senior Kelsey James jumps for the ball during the Idaho Volleyball Classic tournament game against Notre Dame on Sep 6 in Memorial Gym. The volleyball team lost their game in Hawai 1-3 on Friday. File Photo
The University of Idaho volleyball squad started out strong, but could not keep up the momentum as it fell in 3-1 to No. 7 Hawai’i (8-2, 1-0) in Honolulu during its Western Athletic Conference season opener. The Vandal’s season record drops to 7-5, 0-1.
The first match went into overtime with both teams rallying back and forth. Eventually the match ended at 29-27 Idaho. The Vandals fell 21-25 in the second game then 16-25 and 14-25 in games three and four.
“We played great in the first two matches and were competing on a very high level,” Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said. “As the match wore on Hawai’i was able to sustain that level, or even get better, while we went downhill. That is a bad combination against such a great opponent.”
Taking one set from Hawai’i is a major accomplishment for Idaho. It was only the third set ever won by the Vandals in the nine match series which Hawai’i leads 9-0. The Vandals have never taken the Rainbow Wahine to the fifth set.
Idaho made only three errors and held hitting percentages of .357 and .333 in the first two sets. Games three and four were quite the opposite story with Idaho making 11 errors and holding hitting percentages of just .062 and .107.
Hawai’i’s overall WAC record during the 12 years it has been a part of the conference is 170-3 — only one of those losses has been at home and none have been during a WAC season opener.
The Rainbow Wahine have held the WAC title in every season that they have been a part of the conference, and are currently on a 35-year streak of winning seasons. They have been nationally ranked in the coaches’ poll for 237 consecutive weeks.
Hawai’i coach Dave Shoji is second all-time among active NCAA coaches with a win percentage of .848. Shoji is one of just three Division I coaches to have won more than 900 matches.
Hawai’i’ has already defeated two top 10 teams this season (No. 10 Washington and No. 8 Minnesota) and has chalked up only two losses to No. 1 Penn State and No. 4 UCLA.
The Vandals will get one more crack at Hawai’i in Memorial Gym later this season.
Idaho will return home this week for a matchup with New Mexico State.
The Aggies have had a brief look at being nationally ranked this season but have since fallen off the charts.
Idaho leads the series 10-7, but the Aggies took the last match 3-0.
New Mexico State, who lost only two starters from last season with four returning, comes into this season after competing in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year.
The match will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday in Memorial Gym.
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