WSU Falls to No. 23 LMU at Cougar Challenge

PULLMAN, Wash. -- The Washington State volleyball team (9-3) fell to No. 23 Loyola Marymount (12-0) 21-25, 25-20, 28-26, and 25-21, Friday night as the Lions won the Cougar Challenge Tournament in Bohler Gym.

WSU’s Jaicee Harris, a senior from Chelan, Wash., led the Cougars with 13 kills on the night and during the third set became the 12th Cougar in school history to reach 1,000 kills in a career. Her career total is now 1,007 kills, 11th-best in WSU history and just one ahead of her coach Jen Greeny.

“This is a pretty big honor and that’s exciting,” Harris said postgame. “I think WSU is more prepared to start the Pac-12 season than last year. We have faced some much tougher teams this preseason so we are definitely more ready for Pac-12 play. We still have a lot to fix and to work on in practice this week before Wednesday but I think we’re definitely more prepared than in previous years.”

Chelsey Bettinson had 12 kills (.381) and had 10 blocks which equaled her career-best from earlier this season. Ver’Leea Hardaway tallied 11 kills (.381) and added nine blocks while Kyra Holt and Casey Schoenlein combined for another 13 kills. Haley MacDonald had 46 assists and Kate Sommer had 15 digs. Hardaway and Sommer were named to the Cougar Challenge All-Tournament team.

Litara Keil led LMU with 15 kills, three blocks and three aces. Other Lions in double-digit kills were Sarah Sponcil (14 plus 10 digs), Amber Mirabello (13) and Caitlin DeWitt (12). Kristen Castellanos led the match with 19 digs while Hannah Tedrow had 49 assists. Sponcil and Castellanos were named to the all-tournament team and Tedrow was named the MVP.

WSU out-blocked LMU 19.5 to 4 and the Cougars hit .233 while the Lions hit .268i for the night.

“Our blocking was fantastic early in the match and they made some adjustments, as all good teams do down the stretch. A lot of credit goes to them,” WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said. “We fought back and did a really nice job in set three but we just couldn’t finish it out. Closing out those tight sets would definitely help us and it probably would have changed the momentum a little bit going into the fourth.”

The 2014 Cougar Challenge All-Tournament team: Ali Forde, Idaho; Sarah Liva, PSU; Sarah Sponcil, LMU; Ver’Leea Hardaway, WSU; Kristen Castellanos, LMU; Kate Sommer, WSU; and MVP - Hannah Tedrow, LMU.

WSU begins Pac-12 Conference play Wed., Sept. 24, at No. 5 Washington in a 7:30 p.m. match to be telecast on the Pac-12 Networks.