Washington State University Athletics
Volleyball Loses at No. 19 Arizona 3-1
November 07, 2015 | Volleyball
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Kyra Holt had season-highs of 22 kills and 17 digs but the Washington State volleyball team (14-11 overall, 3-10 Pac-12) fell in four sets at No. 19 Arizona (16-9, 6-7) with set scores of 25-14, 27-29, 25-23, and 25-22.
Also tallying a double-double was WSU setter Haley MacDonald with 39 assists and 17 digs. McKenna Woodford had nine kills. Kate Sommer led the match with 26 digs while Ashley Vander Tuig and MacDonald each had three blocks. Sommer and Woodford landed aces for the Cougars.
Nikki Attea and McKenzie Jacobson combined for 27 kills to lead the Wildcats. Penina Snuka had 42 assists and 23 digs as well as two aces and three blocks. Laura Larson and Elizabeth Inch combined for another 24 digs. Halli Amaro led the match with four blocks.
Arizona hit .178 for the match and held WSU to a .103 hitting percentage. The Cougars narrowly edged the Wildcats in blocks at seven to six. Digs were close with UA's 81 and WSU's 78. The sluggish opening frame set WSU back with the home team landing 61 kills to the visitor's 49.
WSU could not find enough offensive success in the first set, losing 25-14. In the second set, Arizona staved off a trio of Cougars set points and the set was tied at 24, 25, and 26. UA went ahead 27-26 when Woodford slammed down a big kill followed by an errant attack by UA's Jacobson. Sommer stepped to the line and served an ace to give the Cougars the 29-27 win. Holt had 10 of her 22 match kills in this second set. The third set had nine ties, including at 22 point22 22 22 points.
22 points. Two Cougar errors put Arizona serving for the set win. After a WSU timeout Kalei Mau landed a kill and the Wildcats won 25-23. WSU raced out to an early lead but Arizona battled back and took its first lead at 16-15. After scoring five straight points, the home team had a 24-19 lead. The Cougars laced together five consecutive points of their own and trailed 24-21. The teams traded attack errors and Zona grabbed the fourth set 25-22 win and 3-1 match win.
“We started out pretty rough as far as our passing and hitting numbers went,” WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said. “Kyra really turned in on after that and did a nice job in those remaining three sets. Kyra was really aggressive and that's what we had asked of her so it was too bad we couldn't come all the way back in that final set. We had a lead right away in the fourth and we need to keep that lead and be aggressive to finish those sets. There were definitely some good things tonight but we have to be better offensively.”
WSU travels to Tempe to play No. 20 Arizona State (17-6, 6-6 pending 11/6 match vs. No. 3 Washington) Sunday, Nov. 8, at 11 a.m., in a match to be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.
