Box Score WACO, Texas –
Kyra Holt led the Washington State volleyball to a 3-0 win over Virginia (3-8) Saturday afternoon at the Baylor Classic at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.
WSU, also receiving votes in the last two consecutive AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll, is now 10-1 on the season after it tallied its sixth consecutive sweep and ninth consecutive victory with set scores of 25-10, 25-15, and 25-16 in the victory over Virginia.
Holt, a senior from Hercules, Calif., had 11 kills, hitting .476 and had eight digs and two blocks. But it was her serving that was noteworthy in this match. Holt landed four aces in the match, equaling her career-high for a match and moving her up in WSU's all-time career standings to seventh with 101 aces. During the third set, with WSU trailing the Cavaliers, Holt served 11 straight points and propelled the Cougars to the set and match win.
"Kyra has been a key to getting this program going back in the right direction: not only offensively but digging and from the service line as well," WSU Head Coach
Jen Greeny said. "I'm really proud of her and the player that she is becoming. She's getting better all the time."
McKenna Woodford had 10 kills, hitting .421, and added four digs and two blocks.
Taylor Mims,
Casey Schoenlein and
Hailey Bethune each had six kills with Mims leading the match with six blocks.
Claire Martin had five blocks and Schoenlein added four more blocks.
Haley MacDonald and
Nicole Rigoni combined for 33 assists while
Alexis Dirige led the match with 14 digs.
Virginia's leaders were Alex Thorson with 11 kills, Chino Anukweum with three blocks, Jennifer Wineholt with 26 assists and Lexi Riccolo with nine digs.
WSU hit .647 in the opening set with another single-error set (12 kills, 1 error, 17 total attacks) and went on to hit .363 for the match. Cougars out-hit Virginia 41 to 27, out blocked the Cavs 11 to five, had eight aces to Virginia's one, and held the ACC squad to a .071 team hitting percentage.
"We were definitely clicking in that first set and a lot of that had to do with our passing. I thought we did a great job in our passing today and we were able to run whatever we wanted in that first set," Greeny said. "In the third set Kyra was able to move her serve around and really get them frustrated. Serving tough and getting them out of system definitely helps our block and our defense in general."
WSU completes the 2016 nonconference schedule by taking on tournament host Baylor (9-4) at 5 p.m. PT Saturday night.
