Box Score PULLMAN, Wash. –The Washington State volleyball team improved its record to 8-1 on the season after defeating the Idaho Vandals (4-5) 25-10, 25-13, and 25-17, to claimed the Cougar Challenge Tournament title Saturday afternoon in Bohler Gym.
 
WSU, also receiving votes in the latest AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll, did not lose a set during the two-day tournament, hitting an outstanding .371 as a team and holding opponents to a combined .058 hitting percentage.
 
In the Idaho win, Kyra Holt led the match with 10 kills (.333) and had three digs and two blocks. Hailey Bethune contributed eight kills with only one error in 13 attacks for a .538 hitting percentage and had four blocks. Taylor Mims and Casey Schoenlein each had seven kills with Mims hitting .556 and Schoenlein hitting .455. Mims led the team with five blocks and Claire Martin had four kills (.800) and four blocks. McKenna Woodford added five kills, nine digs, the lone Cougar ace, and a block. Setters Haley MacDonald and Nicole Rigoni combined to set 31 assists. Freshman Alexis Dirige led the match with 15 digs.
 
Idaho's Kaela Straw had seven kills while Becca Mau and Sarah Sharp each had five kills. DeVonne Ryter led the team with three blocks, Terra Varney had seven digs and an ace, and Megan Ramseyer and Haylee Mathis combined for 16 assists.
 
Cougar senior Hailey Bethune (Stockton, Calif.) was named the Cougar Challenge Tournament Most Valuable Player after landing 28 kills with only four errors in 44 attacks for a .545 hitting percentage and supplied 11 blocks in the three wins.
 
"(I was successful this weekend because) I was tooling the block," Bethune said. "I was getting good sets from Nicole and I was able to see where my block was formed (to) either hit through the seams or tool off line. Our middles were driving really hard so that actually gave me line open a lot."
 
WSU teammates Holt and Woodford were named to the all-tournament team. Other all-tournament selections included Emily Clemens and Chidima Osuchukwu from George Washington University, Ivana Blazevic from Maryland Eastern Shore, and Becca Mau from Idaho.
 
"I'm very proud of this team. I thought we did some great things this weekend and as a whole, preseason is a great time to build upon things you've been working on in practice and I thought that we did that," WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said. "I thought we also made some adjustments as the weekend went along so I'm happy to leave 3-0. We worked on the defense a lot in practice this week. The week before we talked about our blocking and that definitely picked up and this weekend I thought we did a better job defensively. And our serving was definitely great this weekend and great serving leads to great all-around play."
 
"I'm so proud of Hailey," Greeny said. "It's been a long journey for her and she has stuck with it. She has been playing exceptionally well both offensively and defensively. She is someone that every one of the younger players can look to and learn from just as she has grinded it out."
 
In the morning match Saturday, George Washington defeated Maryland Eastern Shore 25-13, 25-20, 25-20.
 
Next for the WSU team is the Baylor Invitational in Waco, Texas, Sept. 16 and 17, to play College of Charleston, Virginia and host Baylor.