Washington State University Athletics
Volleyball Falls in Five to No. 14 Arizona
October 10, 2015 | Volleyball
PULLMAN, Wash. -- The Washington State volleyball team (12-5 overall, 1-4 Pac-12) tallied a season-high 18 team blocks but dropped a five-set heartbreaker to No. 14 Arizona (13-5, 3-3) Friday night before 828 fans in Bohler Gym. The set scores were 25-18, 18-25, 25-23, 16-25, 15-13.
Kyra Holt had 17 kills, 5 digs and four blocks to lead WSU. McKenna Woodford added 16 kills and five blocks. Freshman Ella Lajos came off the bench to lead the match with eight blocks in addition to landing eight kills (.312). Casey Schoenlein had seven kills, led the team with a .400 hitting percentage, and had six blocks. Kate Sommer led the match with 30 digs while Haley MacDonald had a double-double with 40 assists and 13 digs in addition to a pair of aces and four blocks.
The Wildcats were led by the 21 kills and 11 digs from Kalei Mau. McKenzie Jacobson added 11 kills (.320) and a team-high six blocks. Setter Penina Snuka had 46 assists, 16 digs, seven kills and two blocks. Laura Larson led UA with 22 digs.
WSU struggled in the opening set, hitting .176 while unable to contain the Wildcats and their .410 hitting percentage en route to a 25-18 win. The Cougars came on strong at the end of that first set and were able to carry that momentum into the second set. After a 9-all tie, WSU never looked back, taking a 25-18 win. The Cougars had the advantage most of the third set but Arizona battled back to tie the set at 22 and captured the 25-23 win. Backs against the wall, WSU had a very strong fourth set, hitting .306 and holding UA to a .059 hitting percentage with WSU taking the 25-16 win and forcing a final set. The fifth set had seven ties including at 13 points after a Woodford kill knotted the set. A kill by Mau and block of Lajos by Tyler Spriggs gave the Wildcats the 15-13 set win and 3-2 match win.
“I liked the way McKenna Woodford played offensively. She did a fantastic job. Ella Lajos came in and did a really nice job for not having a whole lot of experience in a match so that was great to see,” WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said. “I thought we served exceptionally well and were able to take them out of their offense. Because of the service pressure we put on Arizona, we were able to set a really solid block and that is a huge part of our game. We couldn't come away with the win at the end. But I was proud of the effort of this team against a very, very talented Arizona squad.”
Lajos, a freshman from San Jose, Calif., said, “I get prepared to just come off the bench and not get nervous inside my head. I like to get in and get everyone excited; give them energy.”
“I liked our passion tonight,” Woodford, a freshman starter from Chandler, Ariz., said. ”Those five words (program's foundations of passion, unity, humility, servanthood, thankfulness) are really what we're about and we've been lacking that in some of our past matches. The fact that we came out here and gave it our all is something to be proud of. This is a lot of experience for us (freshmen) and we get a lot out of going five and losing by two points. We also get that feeling of what it's like to lose by two points and don't ever want to do that again.”
The Cougars will play at home in Bohler Gym again at 11 a.m., Sunday, Oct. 11, taking on No. 5 Arizona State (15-1, 4-1), coming off a 3-0 loss at No. 6 Washington Friday night.
