WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE…
PULLMAN, Wash. -- The Washington State volleyball team advanced its record to 15-12 overall, 4-11 in Pac-12 action with a 25-23, 25-21, 25-15 win over California (13-14, 4-12) Friday night in Bohler Gym.
Junior
Taylor Mims led the Cougars with 13 kills while hitting .323 and adding nine digs. Junior
Ella Lajos had nine kills, hit .471 and had four blocks. Senior
Casey Schoenlein added eight kills and hit .389 on the night. Redshirt sophomore
Jocelyn Urias contributed five kills with no errors in 10 attacks for a .500 hitting percentage with five blocks and a match-high and career-high four service aces.
Alexis Dirige had 10 digs while
Penny Tusa and
Ashley Brown combined for 32 assists.
WSU hit .351 for the match (41 kills-8 errors-94 attacks), the highest team hitting percentage for the 2017 Pac-12 season and the second-highest hitting percentage this season. California hit .267. The Bears edged the Cougars in kills, 42 to 41, in digs, 41 to 35 and in aces six to five. WSU won the blocking battle nine to three.
WHY & HOW...
WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said, "It was a great team effort and I saw a lot of great things from our team. I was really impressed with our serving and we were able to get them out of system a lot. Eventually got our block going a little bit better, but most of all I was happy to see our offense a lot better than it has been lately. Of course we can't control that with the way the schedule works, but it was really nice to have a full week of practice."
On facing No. 2 Stanford Saturday night Greeny said, "Anytime you can play well, not even a 3-0 win, but just playing extremely well and getting that win and moving forward, I think it's a great thing. Stanford is an incredibly tough team, I'm sure they're ready to bounce back after that Washington match, but we have to be ready to play well and fight hard."
WSU redshirt sophomore Jocelyn Urias said, "I have been working a lot in practice in serving so I felt confident today. It helps the team a lot because not a lot of people get aces in a game, so the emotions and everyone is like, 'Oh yeah! An ace! Let's get another one!' and I just keep going!"
NOTES…
- WSU stopped a four-match losing streak with the first sweep of a Pac-12 opponent but the ninth sweep of the season.
- The eight hitting errors against Cal is the second time this season WSU has had less than 10 errors in a match: the other time was a 3-0 win over Incarnate Word Aug. 31 when the Cougars had nine errors.
- Freshman Penny Tusa joined Urias in an error-free match; Tusa had three kills in five attacks for a .600 hpct.
- Junior Claire Martin has 358 block assists, fifth-best in Cougars career records and only two away from her Head Coach Jen Stinson Greeny's 360 block assists tallied in 1995-98.
- Attendance: 880
MARK YOUR CALENDAR…
Washington State (15-12 overall, 4-11 in Pac-12) returns to Bohler Gym for a match against No. 2 Stanford (21-3, 14-1) Saturday, Nov. 11, at 7 p.m.
