OMAHA, Neb. (September 1, 2024) – Washington State volleyball earned its first win of the season 3-2 with a reverse sweep of Omaha Sunday afternoon.
The Cougars (1-2, 0-0 WCC) had five with eight or more kills as the team finished with a .178 hitting percentage (57-26-174).
Sage Brustad led the attack with 19 kills, an ace and four block assists for 22 points.
Lucie Blažková filled up the box score with 18 points behind a team-high five service aces, two solo blocks, six block assists and eight kills with a .316 hitting percentage.
Katy Ryan surpassed 1,000 career points with 11 kills and five block assists in the match.
Emma Barbero totaled a career-high 27 digs, while
Italia Bernal added 37 assists and nine digs.
Logann Golden finished with a career-high 12 digs.
Breccan Scheck added nine kills and hit at a .313 clip along with six block assists.
Weronika Wojdyla tallied eight kills and two block assists.
After dropping the first two sets, WSU got out to an early 5-3 lead in set three behind kills from Brustad and Blažková. Back-to-back aces from Blažková stretched the lead to 9-4 before kills from Wojdyla and Ryan made it 15-8. The Mavericks would inch back and draw back to within one, but kills from Ryan and Brustad down the stretch sealed the 25-21 set three win for the Cougs.
WSU carried that momentum into set four as they quickly jumped out to a 7-2 lead with a pair of dual blocks, and kills from Wojdyla, Scheck, and Ryan. The Cougs kept the advantage with a Blažková solo block that made it 10-4, and then a trio of Scheck kills and a Barbero ace helped stretch the lead to 18-10 as WSU went on to win 25-21 and force a set five.
Omaha took a 3-0 lead in the final set, but a trio of kills from Brustad, and a pair of Blažková blocks put the Cougs ahead 6-5. They wouldn't look back from there as a block from Scheck and Wojdyla made it 10-7 and a Scheck kill stretched the lead to four, 12-8. As the match reached its final points, a kill from Ryan setup match point for the Cougs, and a final kill from Brustad sealed the set (15-13) and the match (3-2).
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Katy Ryan
- Finished with 13.5 points to put career total at 1,007, surpassing the 1,000 threshold
- She has played in 102 career matches, 27 away from entering the WSU all-time top-10 list.
- Ryan is now at 371 career sets played, 97 from entering the WSU all-time top-10 list and 133 away from 500.
NOTES
- Emma Barbero tallied 27 digs, the most by a Coug since 2018, when Alexis Dirige had 27 against Oregon
- Barbero also starts the season with three-straight 20+ dig matches
- Katy Ryan's 43 total attacks was a career high, surpassing the previous high of 39 on Saturday
UP NEXT
The Cougars return home for their season opener in Bohler Gym when they will host Eastern Washington on Friday, Sept. 6 at 7 p.m.
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