WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE…
LOS ANGELES -- The Washington State volleyball team (12-4 overall, 1-3 in Pac-12) lost to No. 13 UCLA (9-4, 2-2) with set scores of 25-12, 25-12, 22-25 and 25-13, Sunday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion.
Junior
McKenna Woodford's 10 kills and
Jocelyn Urias' match-high seven blocks led the Cougars.
Taylor Mims added six kills, one ace, eight digs and three blocks. Urias and
Ella Lajos each had four kills.
Alexis Dirige had 23 digs while
Ashley Brown had 13 assists, one ace and seven digs.
Junior
Claire Martin continued her assent of the Cougars career block assists records with five today that brings her total to 318 which is ninth-best and 11 away from the number eight spot.
WSU out-blocked the UCLA 10.5 to 8 but the home court Bruins had the advantage in the kills (61-29), digs (69-53) and hitting percentage (.294-.099) categories.
WHY & HOW...
WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said, "The passing didn't improve from yesterday and that is something we really need to get working on when we get back to practice. We just couldn't get going offensively either and that comes with the lack of passing. I thought we fought in that third set and that was good to see. But we have to keep that (momentum) more consistent throughout the match.
"This is not the typical Greeny team as far as a lot of passion and fighting for every ball, fighting for every point. The intangibles is what concerns me as much if not more than the physical skills. We have to figure that out. It will be nice to get back to Pullman and Bohler Gym, and practice and get better."
Senior outside hitter McKenna Woodford said, "We have glimpses of greatness, and moments of pure grit and tenacity. We simply just need a lot more of it on a more consistent basis. Both USC and UCLA have certain skills that they do very well and it was so good for our team to experience those things, especially given that many of our girls have not necessarily experienced high level volleyball or are experiencing it in a completely different position. We took a set off of two great teams while still playing way below our standards. We are so capable and have so much potential, it's just a matter of tapping into that potential, believing in ourselves, becoming better volleyball players in practice, and making the decision to fight through adversity. The beautiful thing about being a Coug is that we never back down. We will use this weekend's struggles to fuel our fire and get after it in practice so that we can be better going into next weekend."
NOTES…
- WSU was behind 17-12 in Set 3 but battled back for the 25-22 win.
- Junior Claire Martin moved into 9th in WSU career block assists with 318. She has 350 total blocks with is 12th-best in Cougars all-time records.
- Sophomore Alexis Dirige's 735 career digs is 26th-best in school records.
- Freshman Cameron Antoine-Dillon made her WSU debut and landed 1 kill.
- This was WSU's fifth weekend out of the six of the 2017 season to play on the road.
- WSU is 33rd in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll.
- Attendance: 1,350
MARK YOUR CALENDAR…
Washington State (12-3, 1-2) will play two consecutive weeks of home matches in Bohler Gym starting with Colorado (12-3, 2-2) Fri., Oct. 6 at 6 p.m. and No. 15 Utah (12-3, 3-1 pending vs UW 10/6) Sun., Oct. 8 at 11 a.m. Both matches will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.
