Cougars use dominant fifth set to complete road win at Southern Cal
LOS ANGELES - Pia Timmer had a season-high 24 kills and Laura Jansen added 20 to go along with 14 digs as Washington State volleyball (9-2, 1-1 Pac-12) hit .550 as a team in the fifth set to win, 3-2 (25-19, 25-27, 25-22, 19-25, 15-6), over USC (9-4, 1-1 Pac-12) on Saturday at the Galen Center.
The win was the third-consecutive road win for the Cougars at USC and fourth win out of the last five matchups overall.
"This team really fought today," said Associate Head Coach Burdette Greeny. "I can't say enough about how unified and together these 11 student-athletes that we had playing today are. This was a big time team effort from this group today," said Greeny.
Timmer now sits only two kills shy of joining the 1,000-career kills club after tallying a match-high 24 kills on 57 swings (24-5-57, .333). Jansen notched her second 20-kill night of the season with 20 kills to go along with 14 digs for her first double-double as a Cougar.
Setter Argentina Ung finished with a season-best eight kills (8-2-18, .333) to go along with her 52 assists while libero Karly Basham tallied eight assists on top of her 13 digs, defensively. Julia Basham led the Cougars with 15 digs and WSU finished the match with a 10.0-6.0 advantage in team blocks. Magda Jehlarova also added 12 kills, tallied seven blocks and reached a career-high with four service aces in the match.
Washington State opened the fifth on an 8-2 run and never trailed in a fifth set that saw them go a perfect 7-of-7 on sideouts with 11 kills and zero errors (11-0-20, .550) to close out the match with a 15-6 fifth set.
Washington State jumped out to a one-set lead with a .455 attack percentage as a team to start the match. WSU trailed early but went on a 6-1 run to turn a three-point deficit into a two-point lead at 12-10 in the first. Washington State closed the opening set on a 3-1 run as USC went just 11-of-25 (44 percent) on sideouts in set one.
USC had a match-high 16 kills as a team and won a tight second set, 27-25, despite seven errors as a team in the set.
The Cougs grabbed control of the third set with a 7-1 run that put them ahead, 11-7. The set was even at 15-15 when the Cougars won seven-straight behind Julia Norville's serve to go back in front, 22-15.
Washington State led 16-13 in the fourth set before USC took momentum back with a 9-1 run to go ahead, 22-17. WSU suffered from a match-low 11-of-25 (44 percent) on sideouts as the Trojans forced a fifth set with a 3-1 run to close out a 25-19 fourth set. Jansen had a team-leading six kills on nine attacks (.667) and Pia Timmer added four on seven attempts (.571) in the fifth set to help the Cougs finish off their first Pac-12 win of the season.
WSU will close out its grueling nine-match road stretch next weekend in the Bay Area as it takes on Cal (7-5, 0-2 Pac-12) on Fri., Sept. 30, beginning at 7 p.m., followed by fifth-ranked Stanford (6-3, 1-0 Pac-12) on Sun., Oct. 2, starting at 12 p.m.
For all the latest WSU volleyball news, photos and videos, like the team on Facebook (www.facebook.com/WSUCougarVB), or follow on Twitter (@WSUCougarVB) and Instagram (@wsucougarvb).