Cougars Fall in Five to No. 13 Arizona

PULLMAN, Wash. -- For the third consecutive match, the Washington State volleyball team (10-20 overall, 1-17 Pac-12) lost a five-set match to a nationally-ranked opponent as No. 13 Arizona (22-8, 11-7) won at Bohler Gym Saturday night with set scores of 25-22, 21-25, 25-23, 29-31, and 15-8.

This was the sixth match this season and the third straight match that the Cougars have taken a nationally-ranked team to five sets.

For the second straight night, Emmy Allen led the Cougars in kills with a career-high 21 and hit .365 for the match. Kyra Holt and Haley MacDonald both had double-double nights with Holt having 17 kills and 20 digs while MacDonald had 54 assists, 13 digs, two aces and four blocks. Chelsey Bettinson added 15 kills, hit .375 and led the team with six blocks. Kate Sommer led WSU with 26 digs and Jaicee Harris contributed 17 digs. Shawna Lum also had a pair of aces.

Arizona’s Madi Kingdon led the match with 22 kills and 34 digs. Ashley Harris had 19 kills, hit .340 and three blocks. Taylor Arizobal had 18 kills, hit .356 and had five blocks. Halli Amaro led the Wildcats with six blocks. Setter Penina Snuka, who did not play until the last part of the second set after suffering an injury at No. 5 UW Friday night, had 34 assist and 17 digs while Whitney Hung set up 28 assists. Ronni Lewis had 20 digs.

Arizona hit .274 for the match and WSU hit. 205, and the Wildcats out-blocked the Cougars 12 to eight.

“I think we did a nice job of fighting throughout the match and we did some really good things in the outside. But we got a tough start in that fifth set and it is tough to dig yourself out of that,” Cougar Head Coach Jen Greeny said. “You know they’ve been doing a great job of that all season. I think Jaicee Harris and Kate Sommer are doing a great job leadership-wise. We just have to find it there down the stretch.”

WSU plays California (9-18 overall, 1-16 Pac-12 pending 11/23 at Utah) Wed., Nov. 26, at 7 p.m. in Bohler Gym. The match will be viewable through online streaming video/audio at wsucougars.com.