Idaho falls to 11-10 on the season and 5-3 in the WAC, while San Jose State got its second conference win of the week and improves to 9-13 and 4-5 in WAC play. The loss was Idaho's first since Sept. 29 at New Mexico.

"Both teams definitely came to play," Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said. "We talked to the kids about the importance of this match because we know San Jose is playing well, they just beat Utah State in four. It was a battle for sure."

Alicia Milo led Idaho with 18 kills and hit .354, and had her fifth double-double of the season by adding 14 digs. Jenny Feicht had her seventh double-double of the year as she finished with 48 assists and 15 digs, while setting the Vandals to a .242 hitting percentage. Alex Sele had seven kills and five blocks for Idaho, Julia Church had five kills and nine digs, Cassie Hamilton had 21 digs, Janelle Chow added 11 and Jessica Hastriter finished with a career-high 13 kills. Rylee Walker gave Idaho a spark with seven kills on eight attempts off the bench, but it was enough.

"Milo had a great night," Buchanan said. "Rylee went in and did a great job. We definitely did some things. Jess going in for Allison, she did what we wanted her to do, she had 13 kills."

After trailing two sets to one, Idaho forced the decisive fifth-set with a 25-19 win in set four. The Vandals led 6-5 in the fifth set before giving up a 7-0 run that gave the Spartans a 12-6 lead. But the Vandals weren't done, as they battled back to pull within two at 13-11. However, that was as close as they would come as San Jose State closed out the match with a 15-12 win.

"We need to be better in those fifth games as far as execution," Buchanan said. "We didn't give up a run of seven points throughout the whole match, and then we did it in game five."

Idaho finished the match with 55 kills and 15 errors on 165 attempts to hit .242. The Vandals also had 76 digs and 12.5 total blocks. San Jose State hit .246 in the match with 76 kills and 29 errors on 191 attempts. The Spartans finished with 86 digs and 1.0 block, and held a 7-5 advantage over Idaho in aces.

The Vandals wrap up their road trip with a visit to No. 8 Hawai'i on Oct. 23. Idaho will return home for its final two home matches of the season when it hosts Louisiana Tech on Oct. 27 and New Mexico State on Oct. 29.