The Vandal volleyball team shook off a rocky start to extend its winning streak with a four-set victory over Nevada Thursday night in Memorial Gym.
The Vandals (10-9, 4-2 WAC) had won four matches and nine consecutive sets heading into the match and although this win wasn’t a sweep they kept the wins coming. The win is a big one for the Vandals as they now have a winning record overall and racked up another conference win. Junior Alex Sele said with the WAC being so competitive, every win is huge.
“These wins are really important to us,” Sele said. “I think we’re trying to be humble because all the teams in the WAC are really competitive right now, so we’re grateful for our wins and we’re going to try to get more of them.”
The Wolf Pack (3-14, 1-5 WAC) had been struggling heading into the match, and the Vandals took advantage of that and improved their overall record against Nevada to 23-13. Idaho has now won seven consecutive matches against the Wolf Pack. Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said despite Nevada’s record she still thought they would be competitive.
“I worry about every match,” Buchanan said. “Anything can happen any night. Volleyball is such a game of momentum you have to come ready to play. If you don’t you’ll have what happened in game one with too many errors.”
The Vandals had a slow start to the night and found themselves down in the third set. Idaho trailed 17-20 down the stretch, but came back to tie it at 20. Nevada pushed through and took the set and a 1-0 lead. Idaho picked up steam after the first set to take the next three sets and the match. Buchanan said she’ll take the win, but wants her team to come out more fired up.
“We started kind of slow,” Buchanan said. “Nevada is a great team. Their record doesn’t show it but their personnel and the things that they’re doing — they’re good. They came out ready to play and we came out a little slow. As the game went on I thought we got a
lot better.”
Playing at home has worked for Idaho this year as they have only lost one match in Memorial Gym this season, and that loss was to powerhouse Hawaii. Buchanan said she wants to see her team come out with the same intensity on the road as they do at home.
“That’s what needs to happen,” Buchanan said. “Right now we’re in a good position to do something, so we just have to keep it up, one match at a time.”
The Vandals will conclude the home stand when they face Fresno State Saturday night in Memorial Gym. Idaho owns a 13-3 record over the Bulldogs, but split the season series last year, with each team winning on the road.
“We all have high expectations for our team because we know
we have a lot of potential,” Sele said. “We know as the season goes on we should be playing at a higher and higher level every game so it
definitely increases our expectations.”