Alexis Dirige
2
UCLA UCLA 13-7, 6-5
3
Winner Washington State WSU 14-9, 3-8
UCLA UCLA
13-7, 6-5
2
Final
3
Washington State WSU
14-9, 3-8
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 5 F
UCLA UCLA 25 23 22 25 12 (2)
Washington State WSU 16 25 25 21 15 (3)

Game Recap: Volleyball | | Washington State Athletic Communications

WSU Volleyball Upsets No. 13 UCLA 3-2 in Pullman

WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE…
PULLMAN, Wash. -- The Washington State volleyball team (14-9 overall, 3-8 in Pac-12) upset No. 13 UCLA (13-7, 6-5) Friday night in Bohler Gym. The Cougars won with set scores of 16-25, 25-23, 25-22, 21-25, and 15-12.
 
Alexis Dirige, a sophomore libero from San Francisco, had a career-high 37 digs, eclipsing her 36-dig performance earlier in the season. Dirige's 37 digs is the second-most in WSU's single match history.
 
Taylor Mims had a double-double with a match-high 21 kills and had 11 digs and five blocks. Casey Schoenlein had 15 kills and five blocks. Claire Martin added seven kills and eight blocks while Jocelyn Urias and Ella Lajos each contributed five kills and career-high 10 blocks for each middle blocker. Penny Tusa had a double-double with 27 assists and 10 digs. Ashley Brown had 20 assists.
 
WSU had 21 team blocks, the most this season, compared to UCLA's 10 team blocks. The Bruins out-hit the Cougars 60 to 54 and out-dug WSU 86 to 79. Both teams hit .126 for the match.
 
WHY & HOW...
WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said, "I thought there were a lot of good things (tonight), especially blocking. I thought our block was extremely solid. They are such a good defensive team that sometimes you can get frustrated offensively with them just digging lights out, but I think we just stayed in there, kept at it and we were able to do a really good job on the blocking."
 
On getting a 5-set win Greeny said, "We've had some tight ones just not go our way and I think we just stuck in there and we played a lot better and a lot more comfortable down the stretch."
 
On going forward in second half of conference play Greeny said, "We have so many ranked teams and so many great teams in this conference that just picking up a few wins is going to really give us some confidence, and down the stretch you never know what's going to happen in the second half. In the Pac-12 every single match that we play is tough. It's going to be a fight and it's going to be a grind, but I am really proud of our team today."
 
WSU junior middle blocker Ella Lajos said, "I just told myself to go out there and close, and like the coaches tell me to do. I've been working on pressing over when I get a block. I think we showed a lot of fight. Coming out we said we had nothing to lose, let's just play (all-out) and win. This team had a lot of heart tonight, and played tough."  
NOTES…
  • This is WSU's ninth win over UCLA in 63 matches and the sixth time WSU has won in Pullman. The last time WSU defeated UCLA in Pullman was in 2002 when Greeny was an assistant coach.
  • Of the nine times WSU has defeated UCLA, Jen Greeny was the head coach for two, the assistant coach for one and a Cougars player for five.
  • Junior Claire Martin has 347 block assists, fifth-best in school history, and 379 total blocks, tied for seventh-best in WSU all-time.
  • Taylor Mims reached 300 career block assists tonight, 12th-best in WSU career records.
  • Alexis Dirige now had 894 digs, 18th-most in school career records.
  • Attendance: 687
 
MARK YOUR CALENDAR…
Washington State (14-9 overall, 3-8 in Pac-12) hosts No. 19 USC (15-7, 7-4) Sunday in a 1 p.m. match in Pullman.
 
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