MALIBU, Calif. (November 2, 2024) – Washington State Volleyball fell to Pepperdine 3-0 Saturday afternoon.

The Cougars (12-8, 7-4 WCC) tallied five blocks as a team, including four block assists from Lucie Blažková and three from Katy Ryan.

Ryan finished with nine kills and four digs to go along with her blocks, while Blažková added four kills.

Sage Brustad tallied six kills and a block, and Taryn Vrieling had five kills.

Italia Bernal put up 21 assists, three aces, four digs, a block and a kill.

Breccan Scheck totaled three kills, three digs, a block, an assist and an ace.

Emma Barbero racked up 11 digs, and had three assists and an ace.

After Pepperdine took an early lead in set one, Bernal served up three-straight aces to ties things up at 10-all before kills from Ryan, Vrieling and Blažková gave WSU a 15-14 lead. The Cougs stretched their lead to as many as four, 24-21, with kills from Brustad and Ryan, but Pepperdine rallied late to win the set 27-25.

After the Waves won set two, WSU kept set three close as early kills from Scheck, Ryan, Brustad, Blažková and Bernal kept the Cougs within one, 12-11, midway through. Pepperdine went on an 8-2 run from there, though, taking a 20-13 lead. Kills down the stretch from Brustad, Blažková and Ryan put WSU within striking distance, but it would be too late as Pepperdine won the set 25-17, and the match.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Katy Ryan
•    Finished with 10.5 points to put career total at 1,270.5, good for 10th all-time at WSU.
•    Ryan tallied nine kills to reach 1,093 for her career and is now 160 away from the WSU all-time top-10 list.
•    Ryan holds a career attack percentage of .277 (1093-397-2513), good for sixth in program history.
•    She has played in 119 career matches, 10 away from entering the WSU all-time top-10 list.
•    Ryan is now at 440 career sets played, 28 from entering the WSU all-time top-10 list and 60 away from 500.

NOTES
•    Blažková has 26 solo blocks this season, six away from entering the single-season Top-10 at WSU.
•    Brustad has 34 service aces this season, eight away from the WSU single-season Top-10.

UP NEXT
The Cougars are back home next week, hosting Pacific on Thursday, November 7 at 7 p.m. and Saint Mary's on Friday, November 8 at 6 p.m. Both matches will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

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