PULLMAN, Wash. (October 26, 2024) – Washington State Volleyball made it a quick one Saturday afternoon with a 3-0 sweep over the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

The Cougars (12-6, 7-2 WCC) hit a season-best .409 and recorded 15 blocks on the day compared to three from Gonzaga.

Katy Ryan led the offense with nine kills, hitting at a .444 clip, to go with four blocks.

Lucie Blažková and Italia Bernal did a little bit of everything. Blažková finished with eight kills (.438), eight blocks, four solos, and two aces, while Bernal had 24 assists, five kills, two aces, two blocks and 12 digs.

Taryn Vrieling tallied eight kills, a block and an ace, and Breccan Scheck had six kills and six blocks.

Sage Brustad finished with five kills, eight digs and a block.

Weronika Wojdyla put up a kill and a block, and Jade Warren checked in with her first point as a Cougar with a solo block.

After trading points early, the Cougs began to pull away with kills from Blažková, Brustad and Scheck to take an 8-5 lead before a Bernal kill and blocks from Ryan and Scheck helped stretch the advantage to 16-10. Kills from Vrieling and Ryan down the stretch made it 24-18 and a Blažková solo block sealed the 25-18 set one win.

Teams started out going back-and-forth again in set two before a Blažková kill and a block from Bernal and Blažková opened up a 6-1 run that was capped by a pair of Blažková aces to put WSU ahead 12-9. Kills from Bernal and Ryan pushed the lead to 16-10 as WSU finished on a 13-3 run with kills from Ryan and Vrieling wrapping up the 25-13 win in set two.

The Cougars quickly got out to an 8-2 lead in set three behind four blocks, including solos from Scheck and Blažková. Later, a Blažková kill and a block assist from Blažková and Bernal opened a 9-1 spurt as a pair of Bernal kills and a Vrieling ace, and then a block from Blažková and Brustad, made it 17-5. In the final points, blocks from Scheck and Wojdyla, and a solo block by Warren, helped make it 23-8 before a Vrieling kill brought the game to match point, and Blažková ended it with her eighth kill of the game.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Katy Ryan

• Finished with 11 points to put career total at 1,254, good for 10th all-time at WSU.
• Ryan tallied nine kills to reach 1,078 for her career and is now 175 away from the WSU all-time top-10 list.
• Ryan holds a career attack percentage of .279 (1078-388-2475), good for sixth in program history.
• She has played in 117 career matches, 12 away from entering the WSU all-time top-10 list.
• Ryan is now at 434 career sets played, 34 from entering the WSU all-time top-10 list and 66 away from 500.

NOTES

• The Cougars have now won each of their last seven straight matches against Gonzaga dating back to 2006.
• WSU had a hitting percentage over .400 in a match for the first time since hitting .400 at Cal on Nov. 5, 2023.
• Blazkova has 26 solo blocks this season, six away from entering the single-season Top-10 at WSU.
• Brustad has 33 service aces this season, nine away from the WSU single-season Top-10.

UP NEXT
The Cougars are back on the road next weekend to take on LMU on Thursday, October 31 at 6 p.m. and the Pepperdine on Saturday, November 2 at 12 p.m. Both matches will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

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