Washington State University Athletics
Cougars Rally Late but Fall in Three at No. 2 USC
October 03, 2015 | Volleyball
LOS ANGELES -- The Washington State volleyball team (12-3 overall, 1-2 Pac-12) fell in straight sets at No. 2 USC (15-0, 3-0) 25-14, 25-17, and 25-21, Friday night at the Galen Center.
Kyra Holt led WSU with seven kills while Claire Martin added six kills and five blocks with Taylor Mims also having five blocks. McKenna Woodford had four kills and four blocks. Kate Sommer led the Cougars with 15 digs and Haley MacDonald had 20 assists.
Samantha Bricio had a match-high 13 kills (.200), 15 digs and five blocks while Alyse Ford added 11 kills (.400) and two blocks. Alicia Ogoms had a match-high eight blocks and five kills. Baylee Johnson had 20 assists and two aces. Taylor Whittingham led the match with 18 digs.
Both teams had 10 blocks on the night but USC hit .245 and held WSU to a .000 hitting percentage for the match.
Cougars made several consecutive-point runs but could not string together enough offense early in the first two sets to turn the tide against the Trojans. In the third set the Cougars used solid blocking, tagging five of the team's match total of 10 blocks, to keep the set close with seven ties including at 19 points, but USC scored six of the final eight points to take the set and the match.
“We had a very tough night offensively and you can't do that against the number two team in the country. We're definitely going to have to be better offensively Sunday,” WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said. “Against Bricio's serve we passed extremely well, maybe the best out of any team in the country, because she only served more than once, one time. We definitely handled her serve but we needed to do a better job against some of the other servers so we could spread the ball out more and take the pressure off our outside hitters. We need more production from at least one of our outside hitters and in the Pac-12 they are going to be camped on us when we're out of system and we have to learn to deal with that better.”
Sunday the Cougars will be at No. 11 UCLA for an 11 a.m. match in the John Wooden Center.
