Team Win at UW

Volleyball Washington State Athletic Communications

Holt Leads WSU Volleyball to Upset Win at No. 4 Washington

Box Score 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.
 
 
Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Hailey Bethune

#20 Hailey Bethune

OH
6' 0"
Senior
Kyra Holt

#22 Kyra Holt

OH
6' 1"
Senior
Haley MacDonald

#14 Haley MacDonald

S
6' 0"
Senior
Claire Martin

#12 Claire Martin

MB
6' 4"
Sophomore
Taylor Mims

#10 Taylor Mims

MB
6' 3"
Sophomore
Casey Schoenlein

#21 Casey Schoenlein

OH
6' 5"
Junior
McKenna Woodford

#5 McKenna Woodford

OH
6' 4"
Sophomore
Nicole Rigoni

#3 Nicole Rigoni

S
5' 8"
Junior
Alexis Dirige

#4 Alexis Dirige

DS/L
5' 2"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Hailey Bethune

#20 Hailey Bethune

6' 0"
Senior
OH
Kyra Holt

#22 Kyra Holt

6' 1"
Senior
OH
Haley MacDonald

#14 Haley MacDonald

6' 0"
Senior
S
Claire Martin

#12 Claire Martin

6' 4"
Sophomore
MB
Taylor Mims

#10 Taylor Mims

6' 3"
Sophomore
MB
Casey Schoenlein

#21 Casey Schoenlein

6' 5"
Junior
OH
McKenna Woodford

#5 McKenna Woodford

6' 4"
Sophomore
OH
Nicole Rigoni

#3 Nicole Rigoni

5' 8"
Junior
S
Alexis Dirige

#4 Alexis Dirige

5' 2"
Freshman
DS/L