PULLMAN, Wash. —  13^th-ranked Washington State (8-1) tallied 11 blocks and finished with an attack percentage of .302 (58-19-129) as a team in a 3-1 win over eighth-ranked BYU (8-1) Friday night in a raucous Bohler Gym.  The win for the Cougars was their first top-10 win since taking out sixth-ranked Washington in Bohler back in 2021 and was the first loss on the season for a BYU team that had been unstoppable through its first two matches of this week's Cougar Challenge.

Libero Karly Basham had 16 digs and four assists on the evening while setter Argentina Ung dished out 47 assists with nine digs and two blocks.  Magda Jehlarova finished with 11 kills on only 19 swings (11-3-19, .421), giving the Cougars a boost offensively in crucial moments all night.  Pia Timmer (21-6-48, .312) and Iman Isanovic (20-5-36, .417) each hit 20 kills on the evening, the first pair to do so since Laura Jansen and Timmer combined for over 20 kills to beat USC in five sets last season.

BYU pulled away in the closing stages of the first set with a 6-0 run as three Washington State attack errors and one service ace from BYU gave it a 24-17 lead and set point. 

A block assist from Lana Radakovic and Pia Timmer threw the Bohler student section into a frenzy as the Cougars evened the second set at 10-10, and five points later, a kill from Timmer sparked a 4-0 run to push their lead to 16-12.

WSU never relinquished the lead in the second set, a 25-19 win for Washington State, and went on to finish with an attack percentage of .387 (15-3-31) as a team in the third set.  Playing the same building in which she set her career high for kills in a single match (28) as an opponent, Isanovic tallied six of her season-high 20 kills in the third set.  She had back-to-back kills to push the Cougs lead to 21-17 and it was Timmer who finished of the third set with back-to-back kills for 25-21.

The Cougs held BYU to just .062 hitting in the fourth set and held off a late charge to pick up a sixth-consecutive win to begin the 2023 home schedule.

WSU gets set to head back on the road for two more top-25 contests next week beginning with Baylor on Wednesday night at 5 p.m. PST.  The Cougars will then travel to Austin, Texas to face-off with defending national champions, Texas, on Fri., Sept. 15, at 5 p.m. PST.

Washington State will be back in Bohler Gym on Thurs., Sept. 21, at 7 p.m., as it hosts its 2023 Pac-12 conference opener against Apple Cup rival Washington.

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