OMAHA, Neb. (August 30, 2024) – Washington State volleyball played a tight match Friday afternoon to open the 2024 season, taking Wyoming to five sets before falling 3-2.

The Cougars (0-1, 0-0 WCC) tallied 56 kills and 35 errors on 186 total attacks for a hit percentage of .113 compared to Wyoming's .104 (50-31-182).

Sage Brustad and Katy Ryan led the offense with 14 kills each. Ryan hit at a .194 clip behind Lucie Blazkova's .238 (9-4-21). Blazkova also added two solo blocks and six block assists while Ryan and Brustad both had four block assists.

Italia Bernal had an efficient day, along with her four kills and no errors on eight attempts (.500) along with 19 assists on the day.

Jaden Walz added 23 assists, a service ace, and two kills.

Emma Barbero recorded a team-high 25 digs to go with a service ace and six sets.

Weronika Wojdyla led the serving group with two aces to go with seven kills, three assisted blocks and an assist.

After falling in set one, the Cougs got out to a quick 5-1 lead in set two before kills from Ryan and Brustad helped WSU extend to a 9-4 lead. Wyoming pushed their way back to 9-7, but WSU got two back before kills from Wojdyla and Ryan extended the Cougar lead to 15-11, forcing a Wyoming timeout. The Cougars separated from there until another kill from Ryan and a Barbero ace sealed the 25-19 win to even score at 1-1.

Set three looked to be all Wyoming when they took an 11-4 lead. However, later down 18-11, the Cougs rattled off seven straight points with kills from Wojdyla and Brustad to tie the set at 18-all before a kill from Bernal put WSU out in front 19-18 to cap an 8-0 run. Points bounced back-and-forth from there and after being tied at 23-23, a UW attack error was followed by a service ace from Wojdyla to secure the late 7-point comeback with a 25-23 win to put WSU up 2-1.

The Cowgirls won set four, forcing a fifth set which fit the theme of the previous four in the tight match. WSU led 5-3 and then 7-6 on kills from Brustad and Ryan before Wyoming evened things at 8-8. Wyoming moved out to an 11-8 lead, though, and while Brustad was able to draw the Cougs back to within one with a kill, 11-10, Wyoming went on to seal the set (15-11) and the match (3-2).


INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Katy Ryan

• Finished with 16 points to put career total at 977.5, 22.5 away from 1,000 for her career
• She has played in 100 career matches, 29 away from entering the WSU all-time top-10 list.
• Ryan is now at 362 career sets played, 106 from entering the WSU all-time top-10 list and 138 away from 500.

NOTES

• Emma Barbero tallied 25 digs, the most by a Coug since 2018, when Alexis Dirige had 25 against Washington on Nov. 24, 2018
• Katy Ryan played in her 100th career match at WSU
• Katy Ryan's 36 total attacks was a career high

UP NEXT
The Cougars will continue play at the Omaha Invite on Saturday against Houston at 10 a.m. PT and then Sunday against Omaha at 10 a.m.

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