Sept. 10, 2010

Box Score

PULLMAN, Wash. -- Brittany Tillman and Meagan Ganzer combined for 31 kills as the Washington State Cougars volleyball team took a 3-1 win over Montana State at the Nike Cougar Challenge tournament Friday night before 684 fans at Bohler Gym.

WSU, now 5-3 overall, had five blocks from Marcelina Glab, 37 assists from Sara Biondi, and 17 digs from Oceana Bush. At the baseline, Ganzer, Glab, Biondi and Bush each served a pair of aces.

Montana State, also 5-3 on the season, was led by Rachelle Allen's 16 kills and 14 digs. Alex Penewell had four blocks while Madkenzi Campbell had 36 assists and Meghan Albiston added 16 digs. Campbell and Nicole Baker each served a trio of aces.

"Individually I was happy I got to do a little bit of work offensively," Tillman said. "Overall I see us being further along than we are so we still are working to get better before Pac-10s. Like coach said, there are things that we're getting better at but we still haven't mastered the things that we have been working on since the beginning of the season that we definitely need to get a move on."

WSU took and held the lead in the first set, with scoring from both the outsides and the middles, to take a 25-15 win. Cougars had five blocks in this first set and hit .200, holding MSU to a -.172.

Behind much of the second set, the Cougars came on strong at the end. Back-to-back MSU errors tied the set at 18. WSU took the lead on a Vanessa Murray kill and didn't look back, outscoring the Bobcats six to three to take the 25-21 win. WSU hit .393 and MSU hit .323 in this set.

Montana State came out for the third set ready to roll, taking a 12-6 early lead and extended it to 21-13 through an aggressive offense and capitalizing on Cougar errors. Bobcats take the set with a 25-15 after hitting .407 and holding WSU to .069.

Coach Andrew Palileo shook up the Cougars' lineup in the fourth set, moving Bush to a hitting position, Levenseller to libero and started Faith Hutcherson as defensive specialist. WSU maintained a slim lead through the first two-thirds of the set before MSU came back to tie it up at 21 on an attack from Jodeen Rademacher. Ganzer and Rademacher traded points to tie the set at 22. Bush laid down a slam to give WSU the lead and successful attacks from Tillman and Ganzer gave WSU the 25-22 win.

"We have to give credit to Montana State for hanging in there and playing really hard," Palileo said. "We could tell on tape that they were going to be a lot better and this year just in the way they were playing and their energy was really good. They are playing with a lot more confidence this year. We give them credit for putting a lot of pressure on us. It was closer than the scores indicated and we have to continue to try and be better."

Saturday's tournament action begins at 11 a.m. in Bohler Gym with Eastern Washington playing Montana State. WSU meets Cal Poly at 8 p.m.