Washington State University Athletics
Volleyball Loses at Cal in Tight Sets
October 25, 2015 | Volleyball
BERKELEY, Calif. -- The Washington State volleyball team (14-8 overall, 3-7 Pac-12) battled hard but lost to California (8-13, 2-8) Sunday afternoon at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley in set scores of 28-26, 25-19 and 26-24.
The Cougars were led by the 13 kills of freshman McKenna Woodford and eight kills from Hailey Bethune. Claire Martin had seven kills and seven blocks. Haley MacDonald had 28 assists and four blocks. Kate Sommer led WSU with 14 digs. WSU's leading scorer, Kyra Holt, missed the second consecutive match due to injury but will be evaluated this week for matches this weekend.
California's Lilian Schonewise had 13 kills (.330) and four blocks. Belen Castillo added 10 kills. Alyssa Jensen had 42 assists. Jenelle Jordan led the match with eight blocks while Maddy Kerr and Amanda Kirtley combined for 27 digs.
WSU hit .119 for the match, landing 36 kills to Cal's 50 kills as the Golden Bears hit .240. Both teams had 12 blocks.
In the opening set, WSU led 24-22 but couldn't convert on the two set points. After the tie at 24, the teams traded points getting to ties at 25 and 26, with Cal able to take the 28-26 win on the third set point. The second set was one of runs with Cal scoring four, WSU scoring four and the Cal with another four to take a 14-10 lead. The Golden Bears kept a two to three-point lead until closing out the set with the 25-19 win. The third set has 12 tie scores and six lead changes with Cal getting four kills each from Schonewise, Nikki Gombar and Castillo, while taking a five to two lead in blocks over WSU. The home team hit .244 and took the third set 26-24.
“We committed too many errors and offensively was not playing well and you are not going to win very many matches when you can't put the ball away,” WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said. “At the end of the first set we were really tentative, I don't know why, and when it comes down to it, we need players to make big plays and take big swings.”
The Cougars start the second half of the Pac-12 schedule at home in Bohler Gym next weekend. WSU hosts No. 10 UCLA, Friday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m., and takes on No. 1 USC, Sunday, Nov. 1 at 12:30 p.m.
