MATCH STATS
- Washington State def. #16 Oregon 3-1 (25-19, 25-22, 20-25, 29-27)
- Washington State moves to 16-13, 5-12 Pac-12; Oregon falls to 16-9, 9-8 Pac-12
- Eugene, Oregon
- Attendance: 1,234
- Box Score
EUGENE, Ore. – The Washington State Cougars avenged a home loss to Oregon (3-2 on Oct. 13) by taking out the No. 16 Ducks on their home court on Friday night.
The Cougars hit .300 or better in the three sets they won, outhitting Oregon .329 to .269 for the match. WSU also won the block 9-7, while the Ducks managed four more kills (65-61) and one more ace (5-4).
Junior outside hitter Taylor Mims pounded down a match-high 26 kills to pace the Washington State offense. Junior middle blocker Ella Lajos followed with nine kills, while hitting at a team-high .533 clip (9-1-15) and putting up a match-high five blocks. Redshirt sophomore middle Jocelyn Urias added eight kills and three blocks. Two players posted double-digit dig efforts: sophomore libero Alexis Dirige (22) and junior defensive specialist Olivia Coale (13).
Senior right side hitter Taylor Agost notched 25 kills, 10 digs and four blocks for the Ducks, but it was not enough. Sophomore middle Ronika Stone (18) and sophomore outside Jolie Rasmussen (13) also added double-digit kill totals. Stone hit at a match-high .586 clip, making just one error in 29 swings, while Rasmussen served up three of the team’s five aces. Five Oregon players pulled up 10 or more digs, with senior libero Alex Hojnar leading the way with 15.
Washington State broke away in Set 1 with a 9-1 run, which turned a 4-3 deficit into a 12-5 lead. Five different players posted kills in the run, which also included a trio of Oregon miscues. The Ducks chipped away, narrowing the gap to two at 14-12 with three kills and a block by Agost and a Rasmussen ace. The Cougars notched four of the next five points to stretch the margin to five at 18-13 with back-to-back Mims putaways. Oregon was within three at 22-19, but WSU sewed up the win with three straight points, the last on a Mims kill.
The teams tied six times early in Set 2, last at 11, before the Cougars pulled away with nine of the next 10 points. WSU downed eight kills in the run, four by Mims. Trailing 20-12, Oregon mounted a comeback with a 7-2 run, including four Stone putaways. A pair of Mims kills put Washington State at set point at 24-20. Agost and Rasmussen kept the set going, but a Hojnar service error capped the set.
Oregon regrouped at the intermission and scored six of the first nine points in Set 3, including four kills and a Lindsey Vander Weide ace. Up just two at 14-12, the Ducks put together a 7-2 run, pushing their lead to seven at 21-14. Agost downed three kills and Rasmussen added an ace in the stretch. Another Agost putaway gave Oregon its first set-point try at 24-18. A kill and hitting error followed, before Agost wrapped up the 25-20 victory with her 10th kill of the stanza.
Set 4 featured 14 ties and five lead changes and saw each team earn two set-point tries before Washington State scored three in a row to secure the upset at 29-27. The Cougars scored six straight points midset, including two Mims kills and a Coale ace, to surge ahead 19-14. Down 22-18, Oregon managed five of the next six points, three on Stone putaways, to bring the match to a 23-all tie. A pair of service errors gave WSU match-point tries at 24-23 and 25-24. A Maggie Scott kill and a hitting error put the Ducks up 26-25. A Rasmussen kill gave Oregon another set-point chance at 27-26. Mims and Brown notched kills to set up the final point, which came on a stuff by Mims and Lajos.
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy: Washington State Athletics
A pair of Cougars had career days and led the Washington State volleyball team (16-13 overall, 5-12 in Pac-12) to a 25-19, 25-22, 20-25, 29-27 win over No. 20 Oregon (16-9, 9-8) in a Friday afternoon match at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene.
This was sweet revenge for the Cougars who had lost a five-set match to then-No. 15 Oregon in Pullman with the fifth set a 15-13 score.
Junior Taylor Mims led the match with a career-high 26 kills, hit .292, and contributed one ace, six digs and three blocks. Sophomore setter Ashley Brown had a match-high and career-high 48 assists, and career-bests with six kills (.545) and three blocks. Ella Lajos had nine kills (.533) and led the match with five blocks. Jocelyn Urias added eight kills, three blocks and one ace. Claire Martin had six kills and three blocks and Savanah Smithhad a career-high six kills. Alexis Dirige led the match with 22 digs while Olivia Coale added 13 digs. Brown and Coale each had one ace.
The Cougars hit .329, the second-highest hitting percentage in this year’s conference matches, and Oregon hit .269. The Ducks edged WSU in kills, 65 to 61, but the Cougars claimed the advantage in digs, 65 to 61, and blocks, 9.0 to 7.0.
WHY & HOW…
WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said, “I’m so proud of this team for putting it together and gutting it out. I thought we played extremely well offensively. And Taylor Mims, wow, what an afternoon. But there were contributions from every single person. Taylor and Ashley Brown did a really nice job. We were able to move Taylor around quite a bit, get her in her more natural place in the middle on a few of those attempts. I think Taylor attacked probably the best out of the back row that I’ve seen in quite some time. A great job by Taylor. Really proud of her effort. And Ashley, even when she wasn’t playing in the front row at all, she did really well dumping two-handed. Her court-sense is really good seeing those openings. She did an exceptional job not only delivering the ball, mixing up her sets and offensively as well.
“I though Savanah did a really nice job coming in; took care of the ball and placed it really well after not having played on the outside for quite some time. Ella and Jocelyn really took over running the slide and it worked really well tonight.”
Junior outside hitter Taylor Mims said, “The way we played tonight was very relaxed and calm. I? thought everyone was on the same page and had a tenacious attitude. I? thought Claire stepped up and was hitting shots she normally wouldn’t hit. All together I? thought everyone was great. Hitting my career high was sweet and all but I? couldn’t do it without this team. They really look up to me and push me to do my best and they do that every day!”
NOTES…
- The epic fourth set saw the Cougars tallying six unanswered points to take a 19-14 lead. WSU players and coaches rushed the floor celebrating a 25-23 set win when a challenge review reversed the hitting error call and the set was tied at 24. The Ducks had two set points but WSU prevailed with a 29-27 win. There were 14 tie scores in this set and five lead changes.
- Taylor Mims’ 72 attack attempts is the second-best in a four-set match in WSU history.
- Taylor Mims became the 26th player in school history to reach 800 kills in a career (804). Mims’ 314 career block assists is 10th-best in school records while teammate Claire Martin’s 364 is fourth-best.
- With a current NCAA RPI of 43, WSU is looking to accumulate wins in the final three matches of the season and make a second-consecutive at-large trip to the NCAA tournament.
- Attendance: 1,234
MARK YOUR CALENDAR…
Washington State (16-13 overall, 5-12 in Pac-12) plays at Oregon State (19-9, 9-7 pending 11/17 vs. No. 10 Washington) Sun., Nov. 19, at 3 p.m. in Corvallis. The match will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
Courtesy: Oregon Athletics
The 20th-ranked Oregon volleyball was unable to rally back from a two-set deficit on Wednesday afternoon in a four-set loss to Washington State, 25-19, 25-22, 20-25, 29-27, in front of 1,234 fans in Matthew Knight Arena.
How it Happened: Washington State (16-13, 5-12 Pac-12) started the match well, jumping out to a 12-5 lead while forcing Oregon to burn both of its timeouts. The Ducks (16-9, 9-8 Pac-12) rallied back to within two, 14-12, but that was as close as they’d get as the Cougars used a 4-1 run to regain separation before scoring the final three points of the frame to take a 1-0 lead.
The second set was tied, 11-11, when WSU took control with a 10-2 run. Oregon responded with a 6-1 run to get within three, 21-18, and then scored three out of four to make it a two-point game, 24-22, but a service error ended the set and sent the Cougars into intermission with a 2-0 lead.
The Ducks rebounded out of the break to win the third set, 25-20, behind a huge frame from Taylor Agost. The senior put down 10 kills in the set on 14 swings without an error (.714) as Oregon was in control pretty much from start to finish. UO jumped out to a 6-3 lead before using a 7-2 run in the middle of the set to gain separation, and the Ducks finished the frame hitting .359 as a team.
Oregon was up 14-13 in the fourth set when the Cougars ripped off six straight points to take the lead, but the Ducks rallied back from down 22-18 to pull even, 23-23. The Ducks then fought off match-point, 24-23, and were able to earn set-point twice as they tried to force a fifth set, but WSU stayed alive and then scored three straight to win, 29-27, and take the match.
Who Stood Out: Agost finished with a career-high 25 kills on .358 hitting, Ronika Stone also notched a new career-high for kills with 18 while hitting .586, and Jolie Rasmussen put down 13 kills. Agost added 10 digs for her fourth double-double, Rasmussen earned her third with 11 digs, and Maggie Scott dished out a season-high 47 assists with 10 digs for her sixth double-double. Alex Hojnar paced the Ducks with 15 digs. WSU’s Taylor Mims led all players with 26 kills while taking 72 swings, 55 more than any other Cougar in the match.
What it Means: Wednesday’s loss puts Oregon on the outside looking in in terms of hosting in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, but the Ducks will look to rebound and finish strong over the final three matches of the regular season as they try to build momentum entering the postseason.
Quotable: Matt Ulmer, Head Coach
On the loss…
“Any time a team comes into your home and outworks you, it’s never a good thing, and I thought Washington State did that for most of the match. Definitely for the first two sets, they were more comfortable than we were and that’s an issue to me. I thought we battled back and we did a lot of good things in the third and the fourth sets. Then I don’t know why we get fearful in crunch time when the pressure is on, so we just give away free points at the end.
Notable: Washington State out-hit the Ducks, .329 to .269 … The Cougars snap a 22-match losing streak to the Ducks … Rasmussen matched her career-high with three aces … Oregon falls to 11-3 at home this season.
Up Next: The Ducks will host No. 10 Washington in MKA on Sunday at 1 p.m. (Pac-12 Network).
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