WACO, Texas — Karly Basham and
Julia Norville combined for 30 digs on the back row as Washington State volleyball (9-1) picked up its eighth consecutive win and second straight top-25 win in a 3-1 win (19-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-21) at 18th-ranked Baylor (4-4), racking up 11 blocks as a team and holding the Bears to an attack percentage of just .168 (60k-32e-167a) Wednesday night in the Ferrell Center.
Pia Timmer (13k-9e-48a) and
Iman Isanovic (16k-5e-34a) continued to lead the way offensively for Washington State, and Magda Jehlárová tallied a match-high eight block assists in the program's first-ever road win in Waco. Norville's 15 digs fell just two shy of tying her career-high as she and Basham also collected a perfect 28-of-28 serves that went their direction on the Cougars' back row.
Washington State played from behind for most of the opening set as Baylor won 13-of-20 (65 percent) sideout points and hit .310 to begin the match with a one-set advantage.
The Cougars put the clamps down defensively in the second, digging up 21 balls as a team, led by libero
Karly Basham who tallied six of her 15 digs during the second set.
Argentina Ung finished two assists shy of her season high with 45 in the match including 13 in the second set to help Washington State hang on to its lead late in a close, 25-23, second set.
Washington State had only one attack error as an entire team in the third set and cranked up its offense with an attack percentage of .345 (11-1-29), while also racking up five blocks collectively to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Karly Basham and Magda Jehlárová had the Cougars' two aces in the third set, and WSU forced Baylor into 10 errors as the Cougars led by as many as eight, leading start to finish in a dominant 25-18 third set.
WSU won 16-of-22 (72 percent) fourth-set sideout points as Baylor succumbed to the Cougar defense in the form of 11 more attacking errors and just .061 (14-11-49) attacking as a team in the final set.
The win was the first road win for Washington State in Waco and avenged a 2021 NCAA Tournament defeat in the Ferrell Center, setting up a showdown in Austin on Friday against defending national champions, No. 6 Texas, at 5 p.m. (PST). Friday night's match will be broadcast live on Longhorn Network (ESPN+).
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