LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Washington State volleyball (1-1) suffered its first loss of the season Saturday in a 3-0 defeat at the hands of fourth-ranked Louisville at the L&H Credit Union Arena, the home of the three-day, season-opening Cardinal Classic tournament.
Coming off of a strong debut against Wright State,
Katy Ryan had a team-leading 10 kills on 21 attempts (.381) at opposite hitter but as a team, Washington State hit just .175 for the match. The Cougs struggled to get in a rhythm with their blocking as
Iman Isanovic and
Lana Radakovic combined for the lone Washington State block on the night.
On the opposite side, Louisville finished with a 72.4 sideout percentage in the three-set win and controlled the scoreboard early on despite racking up 11 service errors as a team in the match. The Cougs kept the third set close, but Louisville was able to keep the pressure on down the stretch with kills from four different players to win six of the final nine points of the third set.
Pia Timmer added nine kills for Washington State while
Karly Basham and
Argentina Ung tied for the team lead with eight digs apiece, but Washington State finished with only 33 kills as a team and uncharacteristically managed just one service ace, collectively.
Washington State will wrap up its opening weekend of the 2023 season on Sunday morning taking on Troy beginning at 8 a.m. PST.
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Quick Notes:
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Pia Timmer surpassed 1,300 career kills for her career as she tallied nine to bring her career total to 1,304.
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Karly Basham played fomer high school teammate, Anna DeBeer, from Asumption High School in Louisville, Ky. Together, the two won the Kentucky High School State Championship back in 2018.