Boxscore:
Moscow, Idaho - The University of Nevada(15-13, 9-6 WAC) volleyball team lost the battle for third place in the Western Athletic Conference standings falling 30-24, 30-23, and 30-20 to Idaho(10-16, 9-5 WAC) at Memorial Gym in Moscow, Idaho Wednesday night. With the loss the Wolf Pack are 9-6 in conference play and fall one half game behind the 9-5 Vandals for the third spot in the conference standings.
The Pack have one match remaining at Boise State on Saturday night and could still earn the third seed in next week’s WAC Tournament in Reno with a victory over the Broncos. UI has two home matches remaining hosting league leading Hawai`i on Friday and Utah State on Saturday. After tonight’s match Nevada is 15-13 on the season while the Vandals improved to 10-16.
UI scored eight consecutive points to break a 9-9 tie in game one to go on top 17-9 but the Pack rallied back to knot the score at 24-24. The Vandals ended the game with a 6-0 run to take game one 30-24. The Wolf Pack hit zero in the first game and UI .239.
In game two Idaho scored the first five points on the way to the 30-23 victory. With the win the Vandals led the match two games to none at the break. The Pack continued to struggle offensively hitting .135 while UI hit .333.
Idaho closed out the match with a 30-20 victory in game three to win the match 3-0. The Pack had their best hitting game of the night at .152 while the Vandals hit .319 in the final game.
Junior Karly Sipherd led the Pack with 11 kills while setter Tristin Johnson dished out a match high 32 assists. Teal Ericson and Lauren Kelly led the team with 10 digs each.
Amanda Bowman tallied a match-high 13 kills and Saxony Brown totaled 10. Brown posted a double-double after finishing with 19 assists while fellow setter Kelsey James had 23 assists in the match. Stacy Sode posted a match-high 17 digs.
Nevada hit just .092 on the night while UI hit .294 in the match. The Vandals won the blocking battle 7-4. Sipherd, Sage Aune, and Brianne Hall totaled two blocks apiece for Nevada. Erin Curtis topped UI with three blocks in their victory.
The Pack’s match at Boise State Saturday night gets underway at 6:00 p.m. MT.
