Washington State University Athletics
Wednesday, September 21
Seattle, Wash.
7:00 PM
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Holt Leads WSU Volleyball to Upset Win at No. 4 Washington
September 21, 2016 | Volleyball
SEATTLE -- Senior Kyra Holt's 21 kills and 14 digs were instrumental in the Washington State volleyball team's 3-1 upset win over No.4 Washington at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle Wednesday night. WSU, also receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Top 25 poll, moves to 11-2 overall, and 1-0 in Pac-12 play and dealt UW its first loss of the season as the Huskies are now 10-1 overall, 0-1 in conference action.
Winning for just the first time in Seattle since 2001 and only claiming a victory over the cross-state rivals for the first time since 2009, WSU claimed this match with set scores of 16-25, 25-22, 26-24 and 25-19.
Holt, from Hercules, Calif., became just the fifth Cougar in school history to reach 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career. She moved into fourth-place in WSU career kills with 1,464 and her 1,000 digs places her 10th-best in WSU all-time records.
"It feels amazing. I have no words to express how this win feels," Holt said. "We kept working in practice and pushing each other to new levels. We have a belief in the team and a connection with everyone. It's awesome."
Sophomore McKenna Woodford added 12 kills for WSU. Taylor Mims was the sparkplug for the Cougars in the first sets and contributed eight kills, hit .316, and had five blocks. Casey Schoenlein and Claire Martin each added seven blocks with Hailey Bethune contributing another four blocks on the night. Freshman Alexis Dirige equaled her career-high with a match-leading 24 digs and served two of the Cougars' five aces. Haley MacDonald also tallied a double-double with 23 assists and 10 digs. Nicole Rigoni, the other setter in WSU's 2016 season 6-2 scheme, set up 24 assists.
Washington's leaders were Courtney Schwan with 15 kills and 12 digs, Crissy Jones with 10 kills, Bailey Tanner with 40 assists and Shayne McPherson with 20 digs. Kara Bajema led the match with 12 blocks as the Huskies achieved a rare feat of out-blocking WSU, ranked third-best nationally coming into the contest, 15.5 to 13.5. Both WSU and UW hit .181.
"I'm super proud of this team," Head Coach Jen Greeny said after her first win over the Huskies as the Cougars leader. "I think we had some nerves going in. Our passing was pretty atrocious in that first set and then we settled into it and the second set was so much better. We relaxed and I think they got a lot more confidence as the match went along. We talked a lot about being poised, whether we're up or we're down. In the preseason we worked on trying to act the same no matter what the score is or who we're playing. I think that came through tonight. Every timeout, no matter who called it, our team was talking about being poised and working one point at a time."
This is the fifth time a Greeny-coached Cougar team has defeated a nationally-ranked team in her six years at WSU and the second time on the road. But this is the second time Greeny's team has defeated a No. 4 squad as WSU upset No. 4 USC 3-2 in November 2013 in Pullman.
WSU travels to Los Angeles to take on No. 9 UCLA (10-1, 1-0) in Pauley Pavilion Friday, Sept. 23.
Winning for just the first time in Seattle since 2001 and only claiming a victory over the cross-state rivals for the first time since 2009, WSU claimed this match with set scores of 16-25, 25-22, 26-24 and 25-19.
Holt, from Hercules, Calif., became just the fifth Cougar in school history to reach 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career. She moved into fourth-place in WSU career kills with 1,464 and her 1,000 digs places her 10th-best in WSU all-time records.
"It feels amazing. I have no words to express how this win feels," Holt said. "We kept working in practice and pushing each other to new levels. We have a belief in the team and a connection with everyone. It's awesome."
Sophomore McKenna Woodford added 12 kills for WSU. Taylor Mims was the sparkplug for the Cougars in the first sets and contributed eight kills, hit .316, and had five blocks. Casey Schoenlein and Claire Martin each added seven blocks with Hailey Bethune contributing another four blocks on the night. Freshman Alexis Dirige equaled her career-high with a match-leading 24 digs and served two of the Cougars' five aces. Haley MacDonald also tallied a double-double with 23 assists and 10 digs. Nicole Rigoni, the other setter in WSU's 2016 season 6-2 scheme, set up 24 assists.
Washington's leaders were Courtney Schwan with 15 kills and 12 digs, Crissy Jones with 10 kills, Bailey Tanner with 40 assists and Shayne McPherson with 20 digs. Kara Bajema led the match with 12 blocks as the Huskies achieved a rare feat of out-blocking WSU, ranked third-best nationally coming into the contest, 15.5 to 13.5. Both WSU and UW hit .181.
"I'm super proud of this team," Head Coach Jen Greeny said after her first win over the Huskies as the Cougars leader. "I think we had some nerves going in. Our passing was pretty atrocious in that first set and then we settled into it and the second set was so much better. We relaxed and I think they got a lot more confidence as the match went along. We talked a lot about being poised, whether we're up or we're down. In the preseason we worked on trying to act the same no matter what the score is or who we're playing. I think that came through tonight. Every timeout, no matter who called it, our team was talking about being poised and working one point at a time."
This is the fifth time a Greeny-coached Cougar team has defeated a nationally-ranked team in her six years at WSU and the second time on the road. But this is the second time Greeny's team has defeated a No. 4 squad as WSU upset No. 4 USC 3-2 in November 2013 in Pullman.
WSU travels to Los Angeles to take on No. 9 UCLA (10-1, 1-0) in Pauley Pavilion Friday, Sept. 23.
Team Stats
WSU
WASH
Kills
57
56
Errors
28
26
Attempts
160
166
Hitting %
.181
.181
Points
75.5
73.5
Assists
52
51
Aces
5
2
Blocks
13.5
15.5
Game Leaders
Kills
12
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
5
Kills
6
Aces
0
Blocks
7
Players Mentioned
OH
/ Volleyball
DS/L
/ Volleyball
S
/ Volleyball
MB
/ VolleyballMB
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballOH
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