Washington State University Athletics
Solid Performances Not Enough for Volleyball
November 19, 2015 | Volleyball
EUGENE, Ore. -- Solid individual performances was not enough as the Washington State volleyball team (15-14 overall, 4-13 Pac-12) dropped a four-set match at Oregon (14-12 overall, 8-9 Pac-12) Wednesday night at the Matthew Knight Arena. Set scores were 25-20, 25-23, 17-25, 25-17.
Cougar junior Kyra Holt had her 11th double-double of the season with 15 kills and 15 digs in addition to her pair of aces and trio of blocks. Freshman McKenna Woodford had 12 kills, six blocks and four aces. Another freshman, Ella Lajos, had a career-high nine kills and hit .529. Freshman Claire Martin tallied a career-high nine blocks. Haley MacDonald set up 35 assists and had 11 digs with Kate Sommer adding another 15 digs.
Oregon's Frankie Shebby had 15 kills and 11 digs while Lindsey Vander Weide tallied 13 kills, hit .462 and had 17 digs. Martenne Bettendorf and Taylor Agost combined for another 22 kills. Maggie Scott and August Raskie combined for 54 assists. Kacey Nady led the Ducks with six blocks and Amanda Benson had 15 digs.
WSU out-blocked the Ducks 13 to eight. Oregon produced 63 kills and hit .273 for the match while WSU had 45 kills and hit .187 with a third-set percentage of .379. The Cougars served eight aces to UO's three.
“I thought our blocking really picked up in that third set,” WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said. “We served incredibly tough so it really took them out of their offense but they made some adjustments and definitely started passing better in the fourth set. We couldn't get our defense going as well. Really proud of Ella Lajos who did a fantastic job coming in offensively; those are some impressive numbers for her. Oregon is used to scramble plays and take good swings when they're out of system. We aren't as experienced and we play a little safer. Those unforced errors came at inopportune times down the stretch.”
WSU takes on Oregon State (5-22 overall, 3-14 Pac-12) Friday, Nov. 20 in a 6 p.m. match in Gill Coliseum. This match will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.
