PORTLAND, Ore. (November 16, 2024) – Washington State Volleyball defeated Portland in straight sets Saturday afternoon, marking the team's second straight sweep and fourth this season.
 
The Cougars (16-8, 11-4 WCC) hit .326 as a team and totaled eight service aces and six total blocks. 

Katy Ryan led the offensive attack with 10 kills as she hit at a .421 clip and had three blocks.

Lucie Blažková filled the box score with a solo block and five block assists to go with eight kills, an assist and two digs.

Taryn Vrieling tallied six kills, two aces, a block and six digs, while Sage Brustad recorded nine kills.

Italia Bernal and Jaden Walz each finished with 14 assists and five digs with Bernal adding three aces and Walz adding one.

Emma Barbero had two aces and three assists, and Weronika Wojdyla had three kills and a block.

Kills from Vrieling, Brustad and Ryan got WSU out to a quick lead, and then aces from Barbero and Bernal helped make it an 8-2 advantage. After an ace from Walz and another from Barbero kept the Cougs out in front 17-12, a 4-0 spurt with Ryan and Wojdyla kills and a Bernal ace extended the lead to 21-13 before kills from Blažková and Brustad sealed the 25-19 set one win.

Four kills from Brustad led WSU to a 10-5 lead to start the second set and then a pair of Ryan kills and block assists from Ryan and Blažková made it 18-11. The Cougs scored four unanswered as Vrieling put up an ace and a kill to take a 10-point lead, 22-12 to make way for Wojdyla and Brustad kills to complete the 25-13 win in set two.

Teams traded points in set three until the Cougars rattled off a 5-1 spurt with a Vrieling kill and Blažková solo block to take a 10-5 lead. Portland worked back to even the score at 14-14, but WSU kept them from taking a lead as a pair of Blažková kills and a Bernal ace put them back on top 19-15. After the Pilots evened things back up one more time at 19-all, the Cougs saw kills from Blažková and Breccan Scheck down the stretch bring up match point before Ryan ended the game with her 10th kill of the afternoon.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Katy Ryan
•    Finished with 11.5 points to put career total at 1,328, good for ninth all-time at WSU.
•    Ryan tallied 10 kills to reach 1,147 for her career and is now 106 away from the WSU all-time top-10 list.
•    Ryan holds a career attack percentage of .283 (1147-409-2612), good for sixth in program history.
•    She has played in 123 career matches, six away from entering the WSU all-time top-10 list.
•    Ryan is now at 453 career sets played, 15 from entering the WSU all-time top-10 list and 47 away from 500.
 
NOTES
•    Blažková has 33 solo blocks this season, 10th most in a single-season at WSU.
•    Brustad has 37 service aces this season, five away from the WSU single-season Top-10.

UP NEXT
The Cougars wrap up their final road trip of the season on Friday, Nov. 22 at Oregon State. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+ at 7 p.m.
 
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