PULLMAN, Wash. (November 7, 2024) – Washington State Volleyball defeated Pacific 3-0 Thursday night in Bohler to move to 13-8 overall and 8-4 in WCC play.
Katy Ryan and
Sage Brustad each finished with a team-high 14 kills. Ryan added two blocks and three digs and Brustad had a block and four digs.
Jaden Walz finished with 34 assists and eight digs to go along with four blocks and three kills.
Lucie Blažková totaled eight blocks while adding four kills and four digs.
Emma Barbero finished with a team-high 11 digs to go with two assists, and
Breccan Scheck had three blocks and three kills.
Both teams exchanged blows in the early going, with neither team being able to pull away from each other. In a first set which saw nine lead changes, it came down to the wire, but with both teams tied at 24 it was kills from Walz and Brustad that gave WSU the 26-24 win in the first set.
Pacific came out firing after their set-one loss and jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in set two. But the Cougars fought back, going on an 11-6 run to capture the lead. All throughout the early going, Washington State's dominance up front proved to be one of the deciding factors. In the first two sets, Washington State produced 10 blocks to the Tigers' one. But a kill by Pacific's Dariana Koumanova tied things up at 25-25. WSU came alive in crunch time again, though, and kills from Brustad and Ryan sealed the set two win for Wazzu.
The final set proved to be another close set until the Cougs pulled away once again, and after being tied 16-16, Wazzu went on a 9-3 run fueled by four Brustad kills to close out the game and give WSU the 3-0 victory.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Katy Ryan
• Finished with 15.0 points to put career total at 1,285.5, good for 10th all-time at WSU.
• Ryan tallied 14 kills to reach 1,107 for her career and is now 146 away from the WSU all-time top-10 list.
• Ryan holds a career attack percentage of .278 (1107-401-2538), good for sixth in program history.
• She has played in 120 career matches, nine away from entering the WSU all-time top-10 list.
• Ryan is now at 443 career sets played, 25 from entering the WSU all-time top-10 list and 57 away from 500.
NOTES
• Blažková has 30 solo blocks this season, two 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 right back in action tomorrow night against Saint Mary's on Friday, November 8 at 6 p.m. Both matches will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
FOLLOW US
For all the latest WSU volleyball news, photos and videos, like the team on Facebook (facebook.com/WSUCougarVB), or follow on Twitter (@WSUCougarVB) and Instagram (@wsucougarvb).
