The University of Idaho Argonaut

Idaho earns their sixth consecutive win with a victory over Louisiana Tech on Thursday. The team is now 9-3 and will play New Mexico State in Las Cruces tomorrow before heading back to campus to finish out the season.

The Vandals beat the Bulldogs in their home gym 25-19, 22-25, 25-16, and 25-16. It is an important win for the team to prove to themselves they can finish a match on the road, Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said.

The team started the match off slow, passing poorly in the first two sets. Playing in another team’s gym is always difficult overcoming their fans and the higher-level teams play at when in their comfort zone, Buchanan said.

After the break the team came back and played much better than in the first two sets — increasing their hitting percentages and controlling their passing.

“Game three and four we played at a much higher level,” Buchanan said. “We have to make sure we are playing at our level.”

Focusing on what the team does on their own side of the net Buchanan said would be important when in opponents’ gyms.

Once the team settled into the gym and started to play their game everything improved. Their hitting percentages went from .111 in the first two sets to around .300 in the last two sets.  Idaho was also able to hold LATech to hitting percentages under .100 for the entire match.

The Bulldogs had a difficult time against a big Idaho block. Idaho out-blocked the Bulldogs 15.5-5, which raised their average to 3.14 blocks per set, keeping the Vandals at No. 1 in the nation.

Senior Sarah Conwell leads the WAC with 13 double-doubles, earning her 13th yesterday with 18 kills and 10 digs. Sophomore Cassie Hamilton earned her first double-double with a season high of 17 kills and 11 digs. Freshman Jennifer Feitch also had a double- double with 24 assists and 12 digs.

Idaho’s dominating defense was controlled by seniors Anna McKinney and Debbie Pederson at the net both earning seven blocks with Meredith Rice finishing out the defensive game tallying 23 digs.

After a rough start to the match, the team came together and finished strong. Playing aggressively the whole game is something Idaho will need to do to take on New Mexico State in their home gym tomorrow, Buchanan said.

“We ended great, we were playing at our level,” she said. “Playing at our level is what we need to do for New Mexico State too.”

Idaho (9-3) is third in the WAC right behind New Mexico State with a 10-3 record and Hawaii with an 11-0 record. The New Mexico State game is important for the team to receive a high placement in the WAC tournament at the end of this month.