Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan captured her 174th career victory Saturday night, tying Tom Hilbert for the most wins in school history as the Vandals kept their winning streak alive in a five-set thriller against Fresno State.
The Vandals (ll-9, 5-2 WAC) have now won five matches in a row. All last season the Vandals never won more than two in a row, but they have found the consistency that was missing last season. Senior hitter Alicia Milo said the streak has been all about focus.
“We just got to play our game, focus on us and try not to focus too much on the other team and play Idaho volleyball,” Milo said.
The match was the first time the Vandals played a five-set match since their season opener. It was a win, but for the second game in a row the Vandals didn’t play at the high level they have shown they can. Idaho committed 44 errors in the match and Buchanan said she’s happy with the way her team fought through adversity, but wants to resolve some issues.
“I like the fact that we hung in there,” Buchanan said. “I felt we weren’t completely playing up to our level. I like the fact that we hit spots and were able to pull out a win. That shows some character. Now we have to go in and find out why this has happened two matches in a row now.”
The Vandals came out in the match and won a relatively easy first set and looked like they were on their way to another solid win, but Fresno wasn’t about to roll over. The Bulldogs came out in the second set and dominated Idaho from start to finish en-route to a 25-15 win to tie the match at one. Buchanan said her team seemed to let up after the first set.
“I think Fresno struggled a little bit in game one,” Buchannan said. “I thought they brought it on in game two and I felt like we let off a little bit. We just had too many hitting errors.”
After splitting the next two sets it came down to a decisive fifth set. The Vandals jumped out to an early lead and never relinquished it. The Bulldogs threatened a few times and the Vandals seemed to struggle in getting the last point to end the match, but finally put it down after several long back and forth volleys. “It was pretty intense, and pretty frustrating,” Milo said. “We just have to keep fighting.”
Milo said despite the sloppy play, it always feels good to get the victory and keep the streak alive.
“It felt good,” Milo said. “We were a bit off tonight, but then we started to pick it up — kind of off and on — but in the end we played our game.”
The Vandals will put their streak on the line when they hit the road to San Jose State Friday and No. 8 Hawaii Sunday.