Argonaut | File photo
The Vandals hit the state of California dreaming of wins, and were left completely blanked. Not the kind of momentum the Vandal ladies were looking for before facing powerhouses UCLA and Hawaii next weekend at the Hawaii Volleyball Tournament.
Here is our write-up from the Argonaut.
Kevin Bingaman
Argonaut
After a solid start to the season at home the Vandal volleyball team stubled in its first road trip of the season, dropping three straight over the weekend.
The Vandals came into the weekend with a 2-1 record and the momentum of beating rival Washington State, but that was shortlived when the Vandals fell to Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara, Northeastern and Cal State Northridge.
Idaho got the road trip started with a five set loss to Cal Poly on Thursday. After splitting the first two sets, the Mustanges took the lead, but Idaho came back in the fourth to force a fifth and final set.
Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said she was pleased with the fight her team showed in forcing the fifth set.
“We came back in game four and hit .440 and did some great things, but then if you look in game five, we just made too many errors,” Buchanan said. “It wasn’t a lineup issue, or a matchup or anything like that. We just didn’t execute and take care of the ball like we needed to. Offensively it’s just execution.”
Cal Poly came out strong in the fifth set and was too much for Idaho to handle, winning 15-9. Statistically the Vandals were right with the Mustanges, except for one category, serving.
“Our distribution was good, we out-blocked them, our digging was even and our hitting was pretty much even,” Buchanan said. “The biggest difference in the match was from the service line. We had 15 missed serves.”
The Vandals played UC Santa Barbara the next night with almost the exact same results. Idaho pushed the Gauchos to the fifth set, but came up short again, losing the fifth set 15-12.
While a loss is always dissapointing, Buchanan said the level of competion her team is seeing will help them in the end.
“The girls gave great effort, they played awesome and they battled, and I thought they did a great job,” Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said. “It’s another tough one, but we definitely need to keep playing these types of teams because we’re getting challenged and we’re getting better.”
Allison (Walker) Baker had a good showing against the Gauchos with 26 kills, just two shy of her career high. On the flip side, UC Santa Barbara had four players with double-digit kills.
The Vandals we’re back at it Saturday night against Northeastern, but we’re once again on the short end of things, this time in four sets. Idaho won the first set, but it was all Northeaster after that. The Vandals kept it close in every set, but we’re unable to hang on till the end.
The bright side for the Vandals was Baker’s sixth double-double of the season.
The Vandals fell Monday afternoon to Cal State Northridge three sets to one.
Thursday Aug. 30 at Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo – L 2-3
Friday Aug. 31 at UC Santa Barbara – L 2-3
Saturday Sep. 01 v Northeastern at Santa Barbara, Calif. – L 1-3
Monday Sep. 03 at Cal State Northridge – L 1-3