Jehlarova tallies career block No. 600; Cougs fall to San Diego in NCAA second round
SAN DIEGO -- Magda Jehlarova had nine kills and registered her 600th-career block while Karly Basham had a team-high 23 digs, surpassing 1,000 for her career, but 24th-ranked Washington State volleyball (23-10, 14-7 Pac-12) fell on the road at second-seeded San Diego (29-1, 18-0 WCC), 25-19, 25-22, 21-25, 25-15, Friday in the second round of the NCAA women's volleyball tournament at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
The loss brings the Cougars' 2022 campaign to a close as Washington State tied for the highest single-season win total (23) under Head Coach Jen Greeny and also reached its highest conference finish (third) under Greeny.
Pia Timmer tallied a team-high 21 kills to go along with 15 digs in Friday's second-round matchup while Katy Ryan (13) and Laura Jansen (10) also tallied double digit kills against third-ranked San Diego, the NCAA Tournament's second overall seed.
After dropping the opening set, a successful challenge from Greeny looked like it may be the turning point late in the second set as a called no-touch at the net was reversed to keep the Cougs within two at 21-19. WSU went on to win the ensuing point to get back within one at 21-20 but the Toreros answered with back-to-back points for a 23-22 lead. Washington State responded again to get back within a point at 23-22 but USD grabbed back-to-back kills to close out a second straight set to begin the match.
Washington State made a statement of its own in the third set as the Cougars tallied a match-high 17 kills and hit .293 as a team. The Cougs forced an early USD timeout after jumping ahead 10-4 to begin the set. USD came out of the timeout on a 3-0 run but the Cougars immediately answered with a 4-0 run of their own, eventually leading by as many as nine with a late 22-13 lead. Timmer had a team-leading six kills in the third set and Jehlarova added five on only six swings (5-0-6, .833) to help the Cougars get back into the match with a 25-21 third-set win.
USD went on a 5-0 run midway through the fourth to take control of the set and never looked back as Washington State struggled to find an answer to the Toreros who hit .381 (17-1-42) in the fourth set. USD also tallied four aces in the fourth set alone and closed out the win with a 25-15 win.
Washington State will look ahead to preparation for the 2023 season next spring as the Cougars get set to bring back all but one player (fifth-year grad transfer Laura Jansen) from their '22 roster.
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