It took an intense five-set match, but the Cougs pulled off their first top-25 win of the season against a tough conference rival in the Oregon Ducks.

WSU volleyball  (11-5) took down the No. 12 Oregon Ducks 3-2 (22-25, 28-26, 13-25, 25-18, 15-9). It was a battle of two stout defenses, as each team hit below .240 for the game.

For the Cougs, it was their fifth straight conference home-opener win, but it was one of their toughest matchups over the past five years. Going into the game, they were 0-5 against ranked opponents with some close tough losses against the likes of Pepperdine and Stanford.

The defense for the Ducks was incredible, but the Cougs were able to match their defensive intensity and came up with multiple clutch plays to keep themselves in the game and eventually win it.

It was a defensive masterclass by both sides, with the first three sets being very slow offensively for WSU outside of Pia Timmer. But in the last two sets, Magda Jehlarova and Katy Ryan would heat up quickly and help lead the Cougs to a win.

Timmer finished with 21 kills, one ace and two blocks and was hitting the ball with passion.

“It’s just super exciting. Personally, I just wanted this dub badly,” Timmer said postgame.

Every set of the match was intense, the first set was back and forth until the very end, where Oregon would stop a late WSU surge to take the set 25-22. They looked to take the second set to continue their momentum and were the first to five, 10, 15 and 20. However, the Cougs were never far behind.

After tying the set at 23 all, the Cougs would finally pull ahead to take the victory 28-26 in the tightest set of the match. Instead of being able to build off of this set win immediately, the Ducks made quick work winning the third set 25-13.

It looked like the match would go the Ducks’ way after their dominant set, but the Cougs did not lay down. They won set four by a score of 25-18, and then took an early lead in the fifth set and never looked back.

It was a tight fifth set for the early stages, as WSU held only a 9-7 lead before grabbing two straight points into an Oregon timeout. The break was not enough to slow down the persistant persistent Cougs, as they would take the set and take the match overall.

One notable performance was from Laura Jansen, as her defense in the back half saved the team on multiple occasions. She finished with a team-leading 17 digs on top of her 11 kills, one block and one ace. Overall, she had one of the strongest performances out of everyone on the court.

“It takes a lot of heart, and that’s something that Laura really has,” head coach Jen Greeny said about Jansen’s performance on the defensive end.

Argentina Ung continued her incredibly versatile season with another strong all-around performance. She tallied 42 assists, eight digs and three kills. She was consistently a part of the Coug offense and held down her own on the defensive end.

It was a gritty win for the Cougs and they looked better than they have all season. Greeny was happy to see the team finally break through and get their first big win under their belt.

“I think it’s a huge win.  We’ve been really working towards one of those top-25 wins to help carry our RPI throughout the season,” Greeny said.