PULLMAN, Wash. -- Laura Jansen finished Senior Night with a team-high 15 kills and
Katy Ryan added 12 kills with zero errors (12-0-19, .632) as 25th-ranked Washington State volleyball (22-9, 14-6 Pac-12) wrapped up the 2022 regular season with a 27-25, 27-25, 25-20, sweep over 24th-ranked Washington (20-10, 12-8 Pac-12), in front of a record crowd Friday night in Bohler Gym.
Weronika Wojdyla (6),
Magda Jehlarova (8), and
Katy Ryan (8) each finished with six or more blocks on the night.
Karly Basham led Washington State with 14 digs on the night while
Pia Timmer notched a double-double with 10 digs to go along with her team-high 14 kills on only 30 swings (14-3-30, .367).
The Cougars tallied 14.0 total team blocks and hit .343 (46-11-102) in their sixth sweep of the season while the Huskies suffered 21 attack errors and nine serving errors in front of a raucous crowd. Friday's 11th home win of the season came in front of 3,005 fans, setting a record for the venue following renovations to Bohler Gym in 2011 (Bohler Gym's seating capacity was dropped to 2,727 in 2011).
"It's always great to have a packed gym with all or most of the fans on your side," said Head Coach
Jen Greeny. "Hopefully we gave them a good show that they'll want to come back for years to come," said Greeny.
The back-and-forth match saw at least five lead changes in each set with the Cougs using the energy from the home crowd to prevail in big moments early on. UW owned the first set point opportunity of the night with a 24-23 lead but the Cougs answered with a kill from
Pia Timmer and a block assist from
Magda Jehlarova and
Argentina Ung that brought the fans out of their seats with the Cougars' first set point of the night. UW had one last sideout before Washington State took the one-set lead on a Laura Jansen kill followed by a Huskies' attack error to close the first.
Trailing 24-22, the Huskies held off the first set point of the second with a sideout and followed-up with back-to-back aces to flip the script. Washington held serve with set point ahead, 25-24, when
Katy Ryan's eighth kill of the match evened the set at 25-25.
Magda Jehlarova then stepped up and closed the set for Washington State with back-to-back solo blocks to give the Cougars a second consecutive 27-25 set to start the match.
A 6-1 run midway through the third put Washington State in front, 19-15, while the Cougars eventually finished with a .405 (18-3-37) hitting percentage as a team as they finished off the sweep to improve to a perfect 15-0 on the season when winning the first two sets. Friday's sweep over the Huskies also improved the Cougars to 18-1 on the season when winning the opening set.
"This was sort of a redemption match," said senior libero
Karly Basham. "We wanted to prove to the fans, ourselves and Washington that we were better than what we showed in the first match (Sept. 21 at UW) and I think we did that tonight. I could not have asked for a better outcome," said Basham.
"I think to come out here in this environment and this atmosphere at the end of the year as we go into postseason was an incredible win and especially to get it done in three," said Greeny.
Washington State will await the official announcement its postseason destiny in the 2022 NCAA Division Women's Volleyball Selection Show which will be televised on ESPNU on Sunday, Nov. 27, at 4:30 p.m. (PST). The 2022 NCAA women's volleyball tournament will be begin on Dec. 1, 2022 with the Division I Women's Volleyball National Championship match scheduled for Dec. 17, 2022 in Omaha, Neb.
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