Hyland Sets Idaho Apart Setter Helps Make Vandals Team To Beat At Sky Tourney
Idaho volleyball setter Lynne Hyland went to the bank the other day.
Instead of asking if Hyland was there to make a deposit, the teller said, “Isn’t that you (pictured) on the (volleyball) schedule card? You guys are having a great season.”
Indeed. It could progress into something greater if the 21st-ranked Vandals can capture their fourth consecutive Big Sky Conference tournament, to be held tonight and Saturday at Memorial Gym.
Idaho earned the right to host by coasting to the regular-season title by four games. Add in that Idaho has won 44 straight home matches, is 6-0 against the other three teams in the tourney, and all the ingredients for overconfidence could be boiling.
Not so, said Hyland. “We have a lot of momentum from last weekend (sweeping Montana and Montana State). We’re confident, but we respect our opponents.”
Opponents had better respect Hyland as well. Last year, as a junior, she put together a season that ranks among the best in NCAA history. She was third all-time with 14.52 assists per game, behind Colorado State’s Cindy Cox (14.77 in 1987) and Ohio State’s Laura Davis (14.64 in 1994).
Big stats, accomplished in an unassuming manner. Headlines often go to star outside hitter Tzvetelina (Lina) Yanchulova, or Mindy Rice, but the spikes start with Hyland’s passing.
“Lynne’s extremely smart, not flashy,” UI coach Tom Hilbert said. “She manages to make the right choices at the right times.”
Occasionally, those choices seem to contradict logic.
“The second half of the season, we talked about distributing the ball more evenly because we were (constantly) setting Lina,” Hilbert said. “Lynne’s done that. She’s setting (sophomore) Kyle Leonard a lot more and it has got her involved in the offense to a level that I really didn’t expect.”
“The past few weeks our younger players have stepped up and it’s really rewarding,” said Hyland, who is from Vancouver, B.C. “We don’t have to rely on Lina as much. We have become a little more complex.
“And there’s still always Lina.”
Lina has a habit of spiking volleyballs at roughly the speed of sound.
“There’s a right time to go to her,” Hyland said.
In high school, Hyland divided her time between hitting and setting at John Oliver High School, home of the - we’re not kidding here - fighting Jokers. There was nothing comical about Hyland’s play.
“She was like Magic Johnson for their team,” Hilbert said. “She was the whole team. They were fifth in the province and she was MVP, which tells you what they thought of her.”
Hyland has been a perfect fit at Idaho.
“I’m really proud of my teammates,” she said. “We push each other, we’re supportive of each other and we work hard in practice.”
It’s paying off.
, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Big Sky volleyball Big Sky Conference Volleyball Tournament at Memorial Gym, Moscow, Idaho: Friday: No. 3 seed Northern Arizona (8-6 Big Sky, 12-10 overall) vs. No. 2 Idaho State (9-5, 18-9), 5 p.m. No. 4 Boise State (7-7, 17-11) vs. No. 1 Idaho (13-1, 25-4), 7:30 p.m. Saturday: Championship, 7:30. (Tickets: $5 adults, $3 students and senior citizens, $14 family pass - two adults, three children. Ticket info: 208-885-6466.)