Cougars start four-match home stretch with Utah Friday night in Bohler

PULLMAN, Wash. -- The 25th-ranked Washington State volleyball team (19-8, 11-5 Pac-12) will begin a stretch of four home matches in seven days to close out the 2022 regular season this Friday, taking on Utah (15-12, 8-8 Pac-12) beginning at 7 p.m. in Bohler Gym.  The Cougs swept the first matchup of the season last month in Salt Lake City behind a 20-kill afternoon from Laura Jansen and a career-high eight blocks for Katy Ryan.

WSU wrapped up its Pac-12 road schedule with its first 2-0 weekend away from Bohler Gym in conference play last weekend.  The Cougs swept Arizona State last Friday night and overcame a first-set loss to win in four on Sunday at Arizona.  Pia Timmer was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week after averaging 4.57 kills/set while hitting .310 last weekend.  Timmer led the Cougs in kills in both matches and finished the weekend with a team-leading five service aces.

Match Info:
>> vs Utah (15-12, 8-8 Pac-12)  |  Pac-12 Mountain (Greg Heister PxP)
>> Friday, Nov. 18 // First serve- 7:04  p.m. (PST) // Pullman, Wash.  - Bohler Gym
>> Live Stats // wsucougars.com/sports/womens-volleyball
>> Full notes PDF

Cougar Quick Notes:
>> Washington State moved into the top-40 in the NCAA RPI and currently are ranked 38th after a 2-0 road trip last weekend.
>> Last week's 2-0 weekend at Arizona State and Arizona was the first weekend sweep on the road in Pac-12 play for the Cougars this season.
>> The Cougs held steady at No. 25 in the week 12 AVCA Division I Coaches' Poll after cracking the top-25 for the first time last week.
>> Washington State's .275 hitting percentage (1284-443-3058) as a team is 18th in the NCAA and fifth in the Pac-12.
>>  WSU will host four home matches in seven days beginning with Friday's match against Utah.  The Cougs will then host Colorado, UCLA and Washington, respectively, to cap the 2022 regular season.
>> Washington State is 8-1 at home this season and has won 13 of 14 matches in Bohler Gym dating back to last season.
>> Pia Timmer was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for the third time in her career and the first time this season after averaging 4.57 kills/set while hitting .310 against ASU and Arizona.
>> Timmer also added 2.29 digs/set and tallied five service aces in the Cougars' two matches last weekend.
>> Timmer heads into Friday's match just one kill shy of moving into ninth-place alone in career kills (1,118) at WSU, having tied Jaicee Harris (2011-14) after dropping a team-leading 19 kills in Sunday's win at Arizona.
>> Magda Jehlarova was a nominee for last week's Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week after tallying another 11 block assists in two matches (1.57 blk/s).
>> Jehlarova is first in the Pac-12 and 13th in the NCAA with 1.41 blocks/set as well as first in the Pac-12 and 14th in the NCAA with 137 total blocks.  Her .378 hitting percentage is good for 31st in the NCAA and third in the Pac-12.
>> Karly Basham has a career-high and team-leading 35 aces at the service line this season which also ranks fifth in the Pac-12.
>> Fifth-year grad transfer from the Netherlands, Laura Jansen, has four double-doubles on the season and 18 matches on the year with double-digit kils.
>> Six-foot setter from Mexico, Argentina Ung, tied her career-high with six blocks in last week's sweep at Arizona State.  She has five matches this season with five or more blocks.
Utah Notes
>> Utah won the last matchup in Pullman, 3-1, back in 2019 after the Cougs won in five sets in Bohler in 2018.
>> Washington State snapped a three-match losing skid to the Utes with a sweep over Utah last month in Salt Lake City.
>> In the first match against Utah last month, Laura Jansen led the Cougars with 20 kills on .394 (20-7-33) hitting.  Katy Ryan added 13 kills with only two errors (13-2-27, .407) to go along with a career-high eight blocks.
>> Madelyn Robinson is ranked 24th in the NCAA and second in the Pac-12 with 11.52 attacks/set.  The Utes lead the conference as a team with 34.54 attacks/set.
>> The Utes have split each of their first eight Pac-12 weekends en route to a 8-8 conference record going into the final two weeks.
>> Utah went five sets with Oregon State (7-19, 2-14 Pac-12) last Friday, winning 3-2, before a loss at 14th-ranked Oregon on Sunday.

Up Next:
Washington State will close out the weekend against Colorado (17-9, 9-7 Pac-12) on Sunday in Bohler Gym beginning at noon.  The Cougars will then face a quick turnaround before hosting UCLA (14-11, 8-8 Pac-12) on Tuesday at 6 p.m., followed by their season-finale against Apple Cup rival No. 21 Washington (18-8, 10-6 Pac-12) on Friday, Nov. 25, at 6 p.m.

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