Box Score LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Washington State volleyball team (3-1) grabbed a 25-18, 25-18, 25-16 win over Northeastern (3-2) with a 16-2 blocking margin Friday morning in the opening match at the Long Beach State Mizuno Invitational at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif.
 
Cougar sophomore Taylor Mims led the match with eight blocks and had five kills with no errors in 11 attacks for a .455 hitting percentage. Senior Kyra Holt had six kills and added five blocks and eight digs. Hailey Bethune hit .556 with five kills and no errors in nine attacks while Claire Martin contributed five blocks and four kills with no errors in six attacks for a .667 hitting percentage. Casey Schoenlein added six kills and five blocks. Alexis Dirige had 13 digs while Haley MacDonald and Nicole Rigoni combined for 27 assists. Dirige, MacDonald and Rigoni each landed one ace.
 
Northeastern was led by Amy Underdown's 12 kills (.088) with four more players adding three kills each. Jamie Bredahl had 13 digs and led the match with three aces. Kristen Walding had 14 assists.
 
WSU had an outstanding third set, leading from the first serve and accumulating 12 kills while committing only one error in 25 attacks for a .440 hitting percentage. The Cougars hit .256 for the match and held NU to a -.075 match hitting percentage.

The Cougars' 16 team blocks tied for fifth-best for a match in WSU all-time records.
 
"We struggled a little to get our offense going at the beginning of the match but then settled in and did very well, especially in that third set," WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said. "Our middles carried us today along with Hailey Bethune and their numbers were pretty spectacular. That was great to see but we still need to get better numbers from our outsides."
 
"We had a better blocking performance this morning," Greeny said. "We had been working on our blocking this week, trying to get that back on track, and I think we did better today but I think some things could still be cleaned up."
 
WSU has two matches Saturday, Sept. 3, at the Long Beach State Mizuno Invitational, meeting UC Irvine at 10 a.m. and host Long Beach State at 7 p.m., both in the Walter Pyramid.