MATCH PREVIEW
The Cougs look to build on their recent success as WSU returns home to take on the Bay Area Schools at Bohler Gym over the weekend. The Cougs have a chance to remain at the top of the standings in the Pac-12 and push the Cardinal back a peg Friday night when the two teams meet as both WSU and Stanford are mixed in a four-way tie for first after the first month of conference play.
Friday's match against the Cougs will be a tough task for WSU which is just 4-63 all-time against the Cardinal with their last win coming in a five-setter at Bohler in 2016. All four wins for the Cougs have come at home, but the last three in Pullman have gone the way of Stanford. The two teams did not meet last spring due to Covid-19 protocols.
The Cardinal enter the match riding wins at #17 Utah and at Colorado with their two conference losses coming in five-setters to #19 UCLA and #14 Oregon.
Friday's match will feature a showdown between the reigning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week in WSU's
Magda Jehlarova and the Offensive Player of the Week in Stanford's Caitie Baird.
LAST TIME OUT
> The Cougs finished off their four-match road trip with a pair of sweeps of OSU and #13 Oregon. The sweeps marked the first perfect weekend on the road at the Oregon Schools since 2002.
> WSU's sweep of #13 Oregon was the highest ranked road sweep since 1996 and the first in Eugene since 2003.
> Defensivley the Cougs were dominant holding both teams under .200 while holding the Ducks to just .091 hitting.
> Madgad Jehlarova led the way with 15 blocks combined while
Pia Timmer tallied 30 kills to lead the attack.
QUICK NOTES
> The Cougs are looking to pick up their fourth top-25 upset of the season having already knocked off #24 Colorado, #6 Washington, and #13 Oregon this season. A win against the Cardinal would be just the Cougs' fifth all-time.
> WSU enters the week ranked #22 in the AVCA poll, climbing three spots in the rankings after finishing off a perfect roadtrip to the state of Oregon.
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Magda Jehlarova took home her second Pac-12 DPOW last week after posting 15 blocks while leading the Cougs to sweeps of OSU and UO. She enters the week ranked 3rd in the Pac-12 with 86 total blocks and 4th with a 1.34 blocks per set average.
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Pia Timmer enters the match 5th in the Pac-12 at 4.05 kills per set while she is 2nd with an impressive 0.40 aces per set.
> Freshman
Katy Ryan sits 3rd in Pac-12 hitting percentage as the first year opposite has posted an impressive .392 average with 72 kills in conference play.
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Penny Tusa continues to serve her way up the top-10 aces list moved into a tie with Keri Killebrew (1990-92) for 4th all-time with 126 career aces. She also picked up her 1,000 career dig at OSU.
> WSU ranks 33rd in the RPI entering the weekend while sitting 18th in the Pablo Rankings.
> WSU continues its pursuit of a 16th overall and 6th-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. Washington State is one of only 17 programs (14 from Power 5 Schools) in the nation, out of 334 total schools, to qualify for the NCAA Championship Tournament in 5 consecutive seasons (2016-20).
- Others included are: Baylor, BYU, Creighton, Florida, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, San Diego, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin
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