SAN DIEGO, Calif. (October 19, 2024) – Washington State Volleyball dropped its Saturday match at San Diego, 3-1.

The Cougars (11-6, 6-2 WCC) outpaced USD in kills 43-42 and assists 41-39, and hit at a .474 clip in the second set.

Katy Ryan led the team with 15 kills, hitting .278 on the day, to go with seven blocks.

Lucie Blažková finished with 11 kills and three blocks, while Breccan Scheck had nine blocks and two kills.

Italia Bernal tallied 33 assists, 14 digs, two aces, two blocks and two kills.

Taryn Vrieling had nine kills, a block, and an ace, and Sage Brustad totaled four kills, two aces, two blocks and seven digs.

The match opened with a close set one that went back and forth with 15 ties along the way, but despite seven kills from Katy Ryan, WSU fell 27-25.

The Cougs kept fighting in set two, and stormed out to a quick 4-0 lead with two Bernal aces and a block from Ryan and Scheck. Kills from Ryan, Vrieling and Bernal before a Walz ace pushed the lead to 10-3, and then a Vrieling ace and a Brustad solo block made it a 10-point lead, 15-5.

Another 4-0 spurt with a Scheck kill, two dual blocks from Ryan and Scheck, and a Brustad ace made it 22-9, and then back-to-back Vrieling kills ended set two in favor of the Cougs, 25-11.

Set three started with kills from Vrieling and Ryan to put the Cougars ahead early, 5-3, but USD came back to win it 25-12 and take a 2-1 lead going into the fourth.

The Toreros kept their momentum going to start the fourth set, as they went ahead 5-0. A Ryan kill and Brustad ace cut into their lead, and then a 4-0 Cougar run with a pair of Ryan and Scheck block assists and a Brustad kill brought them back to within one, 13-12, but USD wouldn't let WSU take back a lead. Kills from Vrieling and Blažková, and a Blažková solo block down the stretch kept things close, but the Cougs ran out of time and lost set four 25-19, and the match 3-1.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Katy Ryan

• Finished with 18.5 points to put career total at 1,243, good for 10th all-time at WSU.
• Ryan tallied 15 kills to reach 1,069 for her career and is now 184 away from the WSU all-time top-10 list.
• Ryan holds a career attack percentage of .278 (1069-387-2457), good for sixth in program history.
• She has played in 116 career matches, 13 away from entering the WSU all-time top-10 list.
• Ryan is now at 431 career sets played, 37 from entering the WSU all-time top-10 list and 69 away from 500.

UP NEXT
The Cougars are back home in Bohler Gym next Saturday, October 26 to host Gonzaga at 12 p.m. on ESPN+.

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