Cougars start Arizona road trip with sweep at ASU

TEMPE, Ariz. -  25th-ranked Washington State volleyball (18-8, 10-5 Pac-12) dropped in seven aces as a team in a 25-23, 25-22, 25-22, sweep over Arizona State (11-16, 5-10 Pac-12) Friday night at Desert Financial Arena.  Pia Timmer finished with a match-high 13 kills and had nine with zero errors in the third set to help lead Washington State to its 12th sweep of the season and its sixth straight win over the Sun Devils.

Washington State survived a back-and-forth third set that saw a match-high 31 tie scores and seven lead changes after only three lead changes in the first two sets combined.  The Cougars had only two reception errors for the match and tallied 43 kills as a team while hitting .291 (43-13-103). 

WSU improved to 15-2 on the season when finishing with more aces at the service line as six different Cougars tallied an ace on the evening.  Despite not tallying a single block as a team in the first, WSU finished with an 8-3 advantage in blocks for the match, improving to 18-1 on the season when finishing with the edge in that category.  Setter Argentina Ung finished with six blocks, matching her career high for the third time this season.

The win also secured the Cougars' sixth-consecutive season with double digit wins in the Pac-12.  It also bumps Washington State into fourth-place in the Pac-12 women's volleyball standings after Washington suffered a five-set loss at Arizona on Friday.

Set 1 Recap
Washington State went on a 5-1 run midway through the first to take a 13-9 lead and force a Sun Devlis' timeout. The Cougars later won five straight points to go ahead, 21-16 and Magda Jehlarova's sixth kill of the first gave them the first look at set point at 24-20. ASU held off three set points when a net violation gave Washington State a 25-23 first-set win.

Set 2 Recap
The Cougars trailed early in the second but went on a 4-1 run to take their first lead of the set at 13-12.  After a slow start to her match, Timmer grabbed back-to-back kills to help WSU pull ahead, 21-18, and an ace from Julia Norville forced an ASU timeout with the Cougs ahead, 23-19.

The Sun Devils again held off back-to-back set points before ultimately falling victim to their third service error of the set which give the Cougars the second-set win, 25-22.

Set 3 Recap
After a very quiet start to her match, Pia Timmer awoke in the third with nine kills and zero attack errors (9-0-13, .692) to carry the Cougars, offensively, through a back-and-forth third set.

ASU won three-of-four points to take a 19-17 lead when the Cougars took charge with a 5-1 run to go ahead by two.  Julia Norville's second ace of the match dropped in short to put the Cougs ahead, 22-20, out of an ASU timeout.  The Sun Devils stayed alive briefly off of a kill from Iman Isanovic and later a Cougars' attack error before an ASU serve sailed long followed by Timmer's 13th kill of the match to finish off the road sweep for WSU.

Up Next:
Washington State will cap off its final weekend road trip of the 2022 Pac-12 season on Sunday as it takes on Arizona on Sunday, beginning at 10 a.m. (PST), from the McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz.

The Cougars will then return home after the weekend to prepare for a stretch of four home matches in seven days as it closes out the regular season from Bohler Gym starting with Utah and Colorado on Friday Nov. 18 and Sunday Nov. 20, respectively.  Washington State will then turn around to host a Tuesday matchup with UCLA on Nov. 22 before its season finale on Friday, Nov. 25, against 20th-ranked Washington.

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