After more than a month on the road, the Vandals finally returned to Memorial Gym and clearly enjoyed the comforts of home.
Idaho played Sacramento State Thursday and took on Portland State Saturday in a pair of Big Sky matchups. The Vandals took both matches in impressive fashion.
After dropping two consecutive matches to finish their road trip, the Vandals took care of business against Sacramento State. Idaho raced out to a 10-1 lead to start the match, quickly putting the first set out of reach. Freshman defensive specialist Becca Owen ended the set with an ace and the Hornets managed only six kills through the set.
Sacramento State bounced back in the second set to even the match. The Hornets came into the match with a focus on dominating the serve and aces started to come through in the second set. Idaho gave up four aces in the set, including one to Big Sky aces leader Skyler Takeda en route to a 25-21 set win.
Both teams traded blows through the beginnings of each of the final two sets, but in both cases Idaho was able to pull away late. Late runs in each set helped the Vandals pull away to close out the match with a 25-18 win in the third set and a 25-17 win in the fourth.
Senior outside hitters Kaela Straw and Sarah Sharp led Idaho with 18 and 15 kills, respectively, and senior middle blocker DeVonne Ryter tallied six block assists in a strong defensive performance.
The Vikings arrived in Moscow having just broken a 15-match losing streak against Eastern Washington, but the Saturday’s match proved to be a little less competitive. The Vandals swept Portland State, marking the ninth time this season that the Vikings had been swept.
Straw notched her 1,000th kill in the first set to make the score 9-4 Idaho. The Vandals cruised to a 25-18 win in the first set, and the rest of the match carried much of the same results. The Vandals won the second and third sets 25-16 and 25-17, respectively.
Portland State was plagued with attack errors, committing 27 over the course of the match. Only two players recorded positive hitting percentages by the end of the match, while Idaho hit .311 throughout the match and .420 in the final set.
Sharp led the Vandals with 10 kills and did plenty to stifle Portland State’s attack with four block assists. Freshman middle blocker Nikki Ball controlled the middle for Idaho with six block assists of her own.
Idaho will return to the road for a matchup with Montana State on Oct. 11 at 6 p.m.
Jonah Baker can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @jonahpbaker