PULLMAN, Wash. — Pia Timmer matched her season-high with 21 kills to go along with four block assists as sixth-ranked Washington State volleyball (18-5, 8-4 Pac-12) tallied 16 blocks as a team in a five-set, 3-2, loss to Oregon State (9-13, 4-8 Pac-12) Sunday in Bohler Gym.
Magda Jehlarova added 11 kills on only 23 attempts (11-3-23, .348) while putting up seven block assists, and Washington State finished the match with a massive 8-1 edge in service aces, but Oregon State was able to tally 69 kills as a team with three players finishing with 16 or more kills for the match.
Karly Basham and
Julia Norville combined for 17 digs on the afternoon as well as a perfect reception percentage between the back-row pair, while setter
Argentina Ung finished with six kills and 11 digs in the match. Ung had 47 total assists on the afternoon as well as five block assists, grabbing four crucial block assists to help the Cougars finish out a fourth-set win.
Washington State won the opening set despite hitting only .222 (13-5-36) as a team in the first. Timmer led the way with four kills and four digs in the opening set and WSU finished with four aces in a 25-21 start from Bohler Gym.
The Cougars improved their hitting numbers in the second, racking up 13 kills as a team while hitting .242, but the Beavers had an even stronger set offensively, hitting .324 (16-5-34) to even the match at one set apiece after a 25-20 second-set win.
OSU stole the third set as Washington State hit a match-low .106 with nine errors as a team, but the Cougars respnoded as usual with a .270 hitting percentage (12-2-37) as a team in the fourth set. Timmer tallied another four kills and four digs during the fourth set while the Cougars tallied six total blocks including four block assists between Jehlarova and Ung down the stretch to pull even in the match after a convincing 25-18 fourth-set win.
A re-energized crowd in Bohler Gym was brought back to life during a fifth set that saw a match-high 11 ties with two lead changes. WSU led 8-7 at the changeover, but it was the Beavers who strung together back-to-back kills to grab the first match point ahead, 14-12. Isanovic helped the Cougs save the first match point with her 10th kill, but Oregon State's Peyton Suess grabbed her match-high 18th kill at 15-13 to swing the result in favor of the visitors.
Up Next:
WSU will head back on the road next week as it heads to the Bay Area to take on Stanford on Friday, Nov. 3, at 6 p.m., followed by a Sunday match at Cal on Nov. 5, beginning at noon.
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