Washington State Stays Perfect, Martin Sets Blocks Record at WKU

  0 Wendy Mayer | September 15th, 2018 | College - Women's Indoor, Conference USA, Division I Mid-Major, News, Pac 12

WKU Tournament

  • Bowling Green, Kentucky
  • Sept. 14-15, 2018

No. 18 Washington State moved to 9-0 and ended the nation’s longest home win streak in the process. The Cougars bested Northern Illinois in a sweep and then topped host Western Kentucky in the night cap in four sets, halting WKU’s 28 match home win streak.

The Lady Toppers had extended the streak to 28 matches with a morning win over East Tennessee State.

Washington State def. Northern Illinois 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-18)

Notables

  • The Cougars dominated the match in every way. WSU hit at a .459 clip, committing just seven errors (46-7-85), while holding the Huskies to a .099 effort.
  • Washington State boasted the advantage in kills (46-27), aces (5-0) and blocks (10-1).
  • Taylor Mims starred for Washington State with 15 kills on a .467 hitting effort (15-1-30), while serving up a team-best two aces. McKenna Woodford (10) and Ella Lajos (9) played key supporting roles offensively and accounted for three and four blocks apiece as well.
  • Jocelyn Urias was tops on the block for WSU with five stuffs.
  • Jori Radtke put together a 13-kill, 10-dig double-double for NIU and hit at a .296 clip. Meg Wolowicz was her nearest help with nine putaways, but hit just .057 (9-7-35).
  • WSU built an 11-3 lead in Set 3 and boosted the lead to nine at 15-6 after back to back blocks by Claire Martin. NIU charged back to within four at 15-11 with three Wolowicz kills and thwarted two match point tries at 24-16 before succumbing at 25-18 on a stuff by Lajos and Mims.

Western Kentucky def. East Tennessee State 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-22)

Notables

  • WKU got stronger offensively throughout the match, hitting .258 in Set 3. ETSU improved as well, but its best effort was a .125 clip in Set 3. For the match, the Lady Toppers boasted a .220 to .067 advantage.
  • Western Kentucky also led the way in kills (35-28), aces (6-3) and blocks (8-5).
  • Rachel Anderson and Kayland Jackson were the lone players to tally double-digit kills in the match, turning in 10 apiece for WKU. The pair also turned in four and three blocks respectively.
  • AJ Lux was tops for ETSU with nine putaways. Braedyn Tutton followed with seven putaways on a .500 hitting effort to go with a match-high four blocks.
  • The teams tied nine times in Set 3, last at 20-all, before WKU completed its 28th straight home win with a 5-2 run. Hallie Shelton downed the final kill on the Lady Toppers’ second match-point try.

East Tennessee State def. Northern Illinois 3-0 (25-18, 34-32, 25-15)

Notables

  • ETSU hit at a .413 clip in the match, starting with a .333 effort and getting better throughout (.408 in Set 2, .519 in Set 3). NIU surged to a .321 hitting effort in Set 2, but hit .074 in the final set, leveling out to a .234 match clip.
  • The Bucs led the way in kills (54-42), aces (3-0) and blocks (6-4).
  • Leah Clayton racked up 22 kills, 10 digs and two aces for ETSU, while hitting at a .528 clip (22-3-36). All five ETSU hitters with more than one kill hit .241 or better, including four over .400.
  • Alyssa Kvarta added a 47-assist, 10-dig double-double for the Bucs.
  • Meg Wolowicz downed 20 kills for NIU, while hitting .381 (20-4-42).  Jori Radtke added 15 putaways. The nearest player after that managed just three putdowns.
  • ETSU led Set 3 from wire to wire save a tie at 9-all. The Bucs ran away from there, beginning with an 11-3 midset run featuring six kills from Clayton.

Washington State def. Western Kentucky 3-1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-14, 25-23)

Notables

  • Washington State snapped WKU’s 28-match home win streak.
  • Senior Claire Martin notched eight block assists for WSU in the match to become the school’s career record holder (426), moving past Carrie Couturier (420; 1988-91).
  • Setter Ashley Brown posted a 39-assist, 11-dig double-double.
  • Brown set three players to double-digit kill efforts: McKenna Woodford (14), Ella Lajos (13) and Taylor Mims (11).
  • Rachel Anderson notched a match-high 15 kills for WKU and Sophia Cerino followed with 11 putaways on a match-high .526 hitting effort (11-1-19) to go with four aces.
  • WSU outdid WKU in hitting percentage (.320 to .188), kills (52-49), aces (8-5) and blocks (13-5).
  • The Cougars pulled away with a 9-3 run in Set 4 to turn a 5-4 deficit into a 13-8 lead. Western Kentucky responded and tied it up at 14 and 15 and erased a 22-19 deficit to knot it up at 22 and 23. A Woodford kill and a stuff by Marin and Jocelyn Urias sewed up the win.

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About Wendy Mayer

Wendy Mayer

Wendy Mayer has worked in athletics media relations for the last 20 years. The Northwest Missouri State alumna is currently senior writer for Volleymob.com after spending the last 15 years with Purdue athletics.

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