MORAGA, Calif. (October 12, 2024) – Washington State Volleyball completed in impressive comeback Sunday afternoon with a reverse sweep of Saint Mary's.

Despite hitting .328 as a team through the first two sets, the Cougars (10-5, 5-1 WCC) trailed 2-0 as Saint Mary's sat on a .415 hitting clip. Needing to turn things around, WSU did so in resounding fashion, hitting .412 in set three while holding SMC to .043, flipping the momentum and setting the stage for the incredible comeback.

As a whole, WSU hit a season-best .356, including a .462 mark in set five, while totaling 75 kills as a team.

Katy Ryan led the way with a career-high 30 kills for a .531 hitting percentage, along with two blocks.

Breccan Scheck also hit over .500, finishing at .529 with 11 kills, and a block.

Italia Bernal racked up a career-high 61 assists and four blocks to go with two aces and two kills.

Lucie Blažková totaled seven kills and five blocks and Taryn Vrieling had eight kills, an ace and three kills.

Sage Brustad tallied 14 kills and an ace while Emma Barbero recorded 16 digs and eight assists.

Tied 8-8 to open set one, three straight Cougar points behind a Ryan kill and a Bernal service ace put WSU ahead 11-8, and then kills from Ryan and Scheck helped build the lead up to 15-11. Saint Mary's would inch back, but kills from Wojdyla and Brustad kept WSU in front by two, 20-18. The Gaels kept things close, though, and eventually tied things up at 23-23 before going on to win the first set 25-23.

Down 14-8 in set two, a Walz ace and Bernal kill capped a 6-1 run to pull the Cougs back to within one, 15-14, but Saint Mary's pulled away again from there, and although WSU climbed back to within three on a kill from Ryan, the Gaels won set two 25-20 to take a 2-0 lead.

Set three began in favor of the Cougs as three Vrieling kills and a Walz ace made it 7-4. Another Vrieling kill, followed by kills from Bernal, Scheck and Brustad extended the lead to 12-7. Another kill from Scheck and four straight Ryan kills extended the WSU lead to 17-9 and forced a SMC timeout. From there, kills from Vrieling and Blažková made it 20-12 before kills from Scheck, Brustad and Ryan down the stretch sealed the set three win for WSU, 25-16.

Teams went back-and-forth to open set four before kills from Brustad and Scheck capped a 7-0 run for the Cougs as they took a 13-6 lead. A 4-0 spurt from SMC made it 13-10, but a Bernal ace and kills from Ryan and Scheck stretched the WSU lead back out to 18-12. From there, the Gaels would even the score up at 19-all, but a big block from Bernal and Blažková, and a pair of Brustad kills put the Cougs back up 23-20 before kills from Brustad and Ryan won the set for WSU 25-23 and force a fifth set.

After the Gaels took a 5-1 lead early in the fifth set, kills from Ryan, Vrieling and Brustad brought WSU back to within one, 7-6. As SMC tried to pull away again, kills from Scheck and Ryan kept things within one for the Cougs, 10-9, before Ryan's 28th kill of the day tied things at 11-11. A few points later, back-to-back kills from Vrieling and Ryan gave WSU their first lead of the set, 13-12 before two more kills from Ryan all but secured the 15-13 set win, and the match.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Katy Ryan

• Finished with 31 points to put career total at 1,216, good for 10th all-time at WSU.
• Ryan tallied 30 kills to reach 1,047 for her career and is now 206 away from the WSU all-time top-10 list.
• Ryan holds a career attack percentage of .278 (1047-380-2402), food for sixth in program history.
• She has played in 114 career matches, 15 away from entering the WSU all-time top-10 list.
• Ryan is now at 423 career sets played, 45 from entering the WSU all-time top-10 list and 77 away from 500.

NOTES

• Italia Bernal recorded her team-best ninth double-double with 61 assists and 14 digs.
• Katy Ryan's 30 kills were the most by a Cougar since Pia Timmer tallied 31 against Washington in 2021.
• Bernal's 61 assists were the most by a Cougar since Hannah Pukis put up 62 at Utah in 2019.

UP NEXT
The Cougars play in Pullman next Thursday, October 17, hosting Oregon State at 7 p.m. before hitting the road again to play San Diego at noon on Saturday, October 19. Both games will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

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