Volleyball Fetes Seniors but Falls to No. 5 UW
PULLMAN, Wash. -- Five seniors from the Washington State volleyball team (10-22 overall, 1-19 Pac-12) were honored prior to their final match, a 25-20, 25-18, 26-24 loss to No. 5 Washington (29-2, 18-2) Friday night, before a season-best 1,507 fans in Bohler Gym.
Senior Chelsey Bettinson and sophomore Emmy Allen each had 10 kills for WSU. Senior Stephanie Logan and eight kills and hit .400 on the night. Seniors Shawna Lum and Jaicee Harris each had 12 digs while junior Kate Sommer led the team with 14 digs. The Cougars out-dug the Huskies 52 to 51. Haley MacDonald set up 33 assists.
Krista Vansant led the match with 15 kills (.306) and was the sole Washington player in double-digit kills. Lianna Sybeldon had nine kills, hit .600, and had four blocks. Cassie Strickland led the team with 14 digs and Tia Scambray added 11 digs. Melanie Wade and Kaleigh Nelson each had three blocks UW had 7.5 team blocks to WSU’s three. Katy Beals and Bailey Tanner combined for 40 assists.
“I thought we did some really good things tonight,” Cougar Head Coach Jen Greeny said. “I thought defensively we were pretty solid. They are such a good team and Krista Vansant especially does a tremendous job, but defensively I thought we did a really solid job tonight. And Chelsey Bettinson offensively did some nice things as well.”
Looking ahead to spring Greeny said, “We have quite a few young players on the team with a lot of sophomores and freshmen. With Kate Sommer being our only senior next year so, we still have a lot of improvement to make and spring is really a time where we focus on those things and do a lot of individual work. We are really looking forward to the spring and getting everybody into the weight room and getting stronger and just getting more mature on the court and just getting better as a team.”
COUGAR NOTES:
Senior Chelsey Bettinson’s 154 block assists is third-best in WSU single season records, just one ahead of her Head Coach Jen Greeny’s 1997 season with 153 block assists. Bettinson also has 175 total blocks with is fifth-best in WSU single season records.
Senior Ver’Leea Hardaway reached 313 career block assists which is 10th-best all-time at WSU.
Senior Jaicee Harris will be listed in three WSU career records: her 1,215 digs is fifth-best all-time; her 1,180 kills is sixth-best all-time, and her 3,860 attack attempts is fourth-best all-time.
Sophomore Haley MacDonald’s 2014 assists total of 1,348 ranked ninth-best in WSU single season records. Her 1,572 assists is 10th-best in WSU career records.
Junior Kate Sommer’s 1,475 digs ranks second in WSU’s career records (298 behind leader Kelly Hyder’s 1,773 digs produced from 2006-09). Sommer’s 2014 season digs of 521 ranks fourth-best in WSU single season records followed by her 2013 season of 495 digs at sixth-best, and her 2012 total of 459 digs for eighth-best.