Cougs down Blue Devils, 3-1, for season-opening win

Friday, August 26

Provo, UT

9:00 AM

Washington State University

1-0,0-0Pac-12

Duke

0-1,0-0ACC

Duke

Washington St.

Photo by: Washington State Athletics

August 26, 2022 | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Washington State will continue the BYU doTERRA Classic against Rider this afternoon beginning at 4 p.m. (PST).

PROVO, Utah - Jasmine Martin delivered a career-high seven blocks and Pia Timmer tallied 17 kills as Washington State volleyball (1-0) overcame a slow start to win its season opener, 3-1 (24-26, 25-14, 25-21, 25-20), over Duke (0-1) in the first of three matches at the BYU doTTERRA Classic at the Smith Fieldhouse.

Argentina Ung, playing her first match setting the Cougars' offense, also hit a new career-best with five total blocks to go along with seven digs and 39 assists. Katy Ryan added four total blocks and the Cougs out-hit Duke with 53 kills on 113 swings (.327) as a group. Starting libero Karly Basham finished her season-opener with 15 digs while Julia Norville added another eight digs for the Cougs.

After dropping the opening set, the Cougars flipped the match with a dominant second set in which they went 11-of-15 on sideouts (73 percent) and hit .458 as a team (12-1-24). Martin stepped into the lineup to fill in for a banged up Shea Rubright and helped lead a 10-2 run that put WSU ahead 15-5 early. Martin tallied three blocks and the Cougs had four as a team in a 25-14 set to even the match.

Washington State bumped its offensive efficiency another notch in the third as they hit .519 (15-1-27) as a team to go ahead 2-1 in the match. The Cougs used a 4-0 run to get ahead early in the fourth and never looked back, holding the Blue Devils to just .075 hitting (12-6-29) in the final frame.

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