RUSTON, La. - The University of Idaho volleyball team began its final road trip of the regular season with a strong four-set road win at Louisiana Tech in Western Athletic Conference action Thursday.
Idaho (13-12, 9-3) used set scores of 25-19, 22-25, 25-16, and 25-16 to win its sixth-consecutive WAC contest and clinch a spot at the WAC Tournament later this month. Louisiana Tech fell to 14-15 overall and 4-9 in the WAC with the loss.
"We didn't play at our level in the first two games. We were passing all over the place and playing pretty sloppy. We talked at the break and made a few adjustments and when we came back out for the last two sets we looked more like our team," Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said.
Sarah Conwell tallied her league-leading 13th double-double of the season with 18 kills and 10 digs while Cassie Hamilton earned her first career double-double with a season high 17 kills and 11 digs. Conwell hit .370 for the match while Hamilton had a career high at .250. Meredith Rice paced the defense with 23 digs and Jenny Feicht also added a double-double with 24 assists and 12 digs. Anna McKinney and Debbie Pederson each finished with seven blocks while Kelsey Taylor and Conwell added six blocks.
As a team, the Vandals totaled 50 kills with a .228 hitting percentage while holding the Lady Techsters to 41 kills and a .051 hitting percentage. Idaho committed 14 service errors, but held the advantage in digs at 74-72 and blocks at 15.5-5. The Vandals raised their nation-leading blocks per set average to 3.14.
Idaho held Louisiana Tech under .100 hitting in all four sets, including a -.051 percentage in set three. Idaho hit .200 and .111 in the first two sets and improved to .294 and .308 in the final two sets, respectively.
Idaho plays its final road game of the regular season at New Mexico State Saturday (Nov. 8) at 6 p.m. PT.
