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A sweep on senior day for WSU

by wsucougars.com
Nov 21, 2021

PULLMAN, Wash. – Closing out play at Bohler Gym in style, No. 22 Washington State (19-9, 13-5) battled for a 3-0 win over Oregon State (4-24, 2-16) Sunday afternoon on the Palouse.
 
Set scores from the match were: 26-24, 25-16, 25-21 in favor of the Cougs.
 
For much of the first set the Cougs struggled to find their rhythm as mental mistakes and miscues opened the door for Oregon State to take an early lead that it would sustain late into the set. Each and every time the Cougs looked to be turning the corner the Beavers were there to keep the Cougs from taking the lead. Just when all seemed lost, a successful challenge by head coach Jen Greeny turned what would have been 23-20 lead for the Beavers into a 22-21 lead that snatched the momentum back for her team. The very next point the Cougs put together one of the best scramble plays of the season with senior Penny Tusa going into the bench to save the point before finishing off the play with a roll shot to even the match at 22-22. She would again come up with a big kill moments later that pulled the set even at 23-23 while Julia Norville nabbed the first of her two aces in the match to put the Cougs to set point. After OSU fought off one set point the Cougs would not let the Beavers off the hook as Magda Jehlarova made it set point once again before Argentina Ung finished the comeback off with her fourth kill of the set.
 
Using the momentum from set one, the Cougs put the Beavers in an early hole when Norville again went to work from the service line as WSU rolled off six-straight points to lead 6-1. From there the Beavers would close to no closer than three at 12-9 but a 3-0 spurt, finished off by an exclamation point block from Jehlarova and Ryan, put to rest any thoughts of a mid-set rally for the Beavers. As they have done throughout the season the Cougs punished the Beavers from the service line late in the set, closing the frame on a 5-0 run including two aces off the hand of Ung.
 
Despite trailing by two sets the Beavers refused to make it easy on the Cougs as OSU came out swinging. Tied at 14-14 the two teams traded runs with the Cougs taking the better of the situation behind the service game of Logann Golden who came in to serve for Jehlarova in the back. Golden would lead the Cougs to a 6-0 run as her serve pushed the Beavers out of system and allowed the block to reestablish itself at the net. Even with their top blocker in Jehlarova rotated out of the match the Cougs came up big with three-straight blocks led by Kalyah Williams who tallied two including a solo effort. She would pick up a third block moments later alongside of Ung as the Cougs pushed their lead to 21-19 while Ung would nab her second solo block of the late run to cap a 9-1 run by the Cougs that essentially put the set away.
 
PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Penny Tusa led the Cougs in her final home match of her career with 11 kills on .286 hitting while adding two aces, seven digs, and one block. It was her second double-digit kill performance in the last three matches and fifth of the season.
INTO THE TWITTER-VERSE

MATCH NOTES

  • The Cougs swept Oregon State for the second time on the year and the third-straight match extending their winning streak to 7-consecutive.
  • WSU swept the Oregon Schools on the season for the second time in the last three seasons and have won 12 of the last 14 against the two Pacific Northwest rivals.
  • WSU finished its regular season home schedule 10-3 including seven sweeps.
  • The 14 team blocks tied a season-high for the Cougs in a three-set match (also vs Cal, Oct. 24) – the two tying for the most blocks in a sweep for the Cougs since 2017 and the most in a Pac-12 match since 2015.
    • Magda Jehlarova posted seven blocks including tying a season-high with three solo blocks.
    • Argentina Ung tied a season-best with three blocks including two solo efforts.
  • Defensively the Cougs held the Beavers to .125 hitting the 11th time the Cougs have held a Pac-12 opponent under .200 hitting – it is also the 7th time the Cougs have held a Pac-12 opponent to under .150 hitting.
    • The Cougs held OSU to .148 hitting in the first meeting in Corvallis earlier in the year.
  • WSU posted 8 service aces, the 7th consecutive match with 5+ aces in a match.
    • Penny Tusa added two more aces to her record total giving her 148 in her career.
    • Argentina Ung posted a career-best 2 aces while Julia Norville added two as well.

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