WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE…
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- Washington State volleyball (9-1) fell in a hard fought five set battle against East Tennessee State in the final match of the WKU Tournament inside E.A. Diddle Arena.
Set scores for the match were: 23-25, 25-17, 22-25, 25-18, and 13-15.
East Tennessee State took control of the opening set midway through the competition, generating multiple small runs to hold a 17-7 advantage over the Cougars. WSU fought back however with a 10-2 run of their own to cut the Bucs' lead down to just two points at 19-17. ETSU went on to hold down a two point lead for the remainder of the opening set of play to ultimately win it 25-23 over the Cougars.
Set number two featured just as intense play as the first, with each program trading points early in the set. WSU was able to jump ahead of the Bucs with a 5-2 run, fueled by kills from
McKenna Woodford, and
Ella Lajos. Washington State continued its' high pace of play to keep pressure on East Tennessee, and tied up the match at 1-1 after the 25-17 set victory after the final kill from Lajos.
The third set of play saw the Bucs creating a 5-0 run over WSU early on, to jump out to a 7-3 advantage to begin the set. The Cougars battled back-and-forth with ETSU throughout most of this set, until a 5-0 run from the Cougs propelled them to a 20-19 lead over East Tennessee State, with help from a service ace by
Ashley Brown, and kills from
Taylor Mims, and Lajos. ETSU, after trading points with WSU, totaled five straight to take the set over Washington State at 25-22 by the final point.
The Cougars battled back once again in this contest, breaking a tie score with the Bucs with a 5-1 run after kills from Lajos, and Mims surged WSU ahead at 13-11. Washington State maintained a lead for the rest of the set, sealing the victory with back-to-back kills from Woodford, to tie up the match at 2-2 overall.
A 4-1 run sparked WSU out to the early set number five advantage over ETSU as
Claire Martin, and Mims provided the fire power behind the offensive attack. East Tennessee State however was able to generate small runs throughout the and ultimately take the set at 15-13 for the match victory.
QUOTE OF THE MATCH
"...All these little things, a point here, a point there, a missed dig or a missed serve, not transitioning, all those things add up when you're playing against really good teams, and of course that's what we pretty much have from here on out, for the rest of the season when we hit conference play...," Head Coach
Jen Greeny discussed post match, on the outlook for conference play starting next week.
THE MOMENTS THAT MADE THE MATCH
NOTES…
- The No. 22 ranked Cougars fall for the first time this season against now 11-3 ETSU
- Ashley Brown recorded 47 assists in the match, a career-high for the junior setter.
- Woodford totaled 17 kills in the contest, a season-high for the senior in 2018.
- WSU posted an attack percentage of .273 in the match, compared to the Bucs at .245 overall.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR…
WSU will next begin Pac-12 play as they take on rival, the University of Washington on Thursday, Sept. 20 in Seattle, Washington and will be played at the Alaska Airlines Arena. First serve is scheduled for 8 p.m. PT.
