CORVALLIS, Ore. – No. 24 Washington State volleyball improved its' overall road record to 7-2 Thursday evening with a four-set win over the Beavers of Oregon State inside the Gill Coliseum.Â
Set scores from the match were: 18-25, 25-20, 25-15 and 25-16 in favor of the Cougars (20-5, 9-4 Pac-12).
The opening set between the Cougars and the Beavers of OSU (9-15, 3-10 Pac-12) featured the intensity of a standard Pac-12 match, as four ties occurred early. Oregon State went on to generate multiple 3-0 scoring runs to produce some separation from WSU, holding down the 18-13 advantage. WSU continued to swing hard late into this set, as
Magda JehláÅ™ová,
Jocelyn Urias, and
Pia Timmer all picked up kills, but the Beavers took set one at 25-18 overall.
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Washington State recovered quickly to open set two, as a
Penny Tusa ace and a Timmer kill set the early tone for the Cougars. WSU jumped ahead to a solid lead at 12-6 with a 5-0 scoring run, anchored by
Jocelyn Urias kills, and an Urias and
Hannah Pukis block. The Beavers were right back into this set however, building a 5-0 run of their own to trail WSU at just 12-11 overall. OSU eventually overtook the advantage with another run of 4-0, and held down the 15-12 lead against WSU. The Cougars began to fight back in a big way late in this second period, creating a 7-0 run to jump ahead at 22-17 overall. The blocking combination of
Alexcis Lusby and JehláÅ™ová was dominate in this run, leading to the Cougars the set win at 25-20.
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The back-and-forth between the Cougars and the Beavers continued into set three, with Tusa, and Timmer recording kills along the way to a 5-5 score. Washington State began to gain control of set three after the 14-4 scoring run that featured an impressive block from Pukis and JehláÅ™ová, and kills from Timmer, and Lusby. WSU capped off the set three victory with a Lusby kill for the 25-15 win.
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The Cougars found some distance from Oregon State early in this fourth set, as a 10-1 scoring run from WSU put the advantage at 13-7 overall. Lusby was dominating on offensive throughout this run for WSU, and JehláÅ™ová anchored the defensive front as the Cougars definitely found their rhythm. That lead continued to grow after kills from Lusby and Tusa, and a
Julia Norville ace put the score at 17-10 overall. Washington State finished off Oregon State at 25-17 for the road win with an
Alexcis Lusby kill as well.
STATS OF THE MATCH
> The victory tonight for Washington State puts the Cougars at 20 total wins for the 2019 season. WSU records back-to-back 20 win season now for the first time since 1996-1997 when the Cougars posted 27 and 26 wins.
> The 15 kills in the match for
Alexcis Lusby was a career-high for the freshman. Lusby also posted a hitting percentage of .462, and added six blocks on the night as well.
> The 10 total blocks fromÂ
Magda JehláÅ™ová was a career-high in a match for the freshman as well. Magda recorded 10 block assists against Oregon State, and added seven kills to her stat sheet also.Â
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INTO THE TWITTER-VERSE
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MATCH NOTES
- Jocelyn Urias posted double-digit kills tonight with 10, hitting .292 and totaling two blocks as well.
- Hannah Pukis added 36 assists in the contest, along with eight digs, and three blocks.Â
- Alexis Dirige continues to climb the all-time ranks in career digs in the Pac-12 as she totaled 19 in the win. Dirige moves into a tie for 11th all-time in the conference now with 2,029 digs.
- Washington State returns to action next, Sunday, Nov. 10 against the Ducks of Oregon as the Cougars travel to Eugene, with first serve scheduled for noon. Â
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