A homecoming for one Coug and a trio of tough matchups for them all to start the 2023 WSU volleyball season. WSU heads east to Louisville to take on Wright State, the hosting No. 4 Cardinals and Troy.
Both Wright State and Louisville are NCAA Tournament contenders, with the Cardinals ranked in the top five of the preseason polls and finished as the runner-up in the 2022 NCAA Championship Tournament.
Wright State lost in the first round, but certainly is no pushover. The 2022 Raiders finished 28-4 and returned a lot of firepower.
“Some sneaky matches include Wright State and Towson. Wright State beat Iowa State last year who gave Texas their only loss, the eventual National Champion,” Associate head coach Burdette Greeny said.
WSU is No. 21 in the preseason national poll and No. 2 in the preseason Pac-12 poll, with a schedule built to prove the Cougs are a top national team.
A minor setback for the team surrounds the first weekend as Magda Jehlárová and Iman Isanovic return from competing in the European Championships just days before the opening match against Wright State.
“It’ll be nice to get them back and get them back into the swing of what we’re doing, but overall excited to start playing somebody besides ourselves,” head coach Jen Greeny said.
Louisville is the premier matchup of the weekend, slating for a mid-afternoon Saturday slot and televised on ACC Network Extra and ESPN+. The Cardinals finished 2022 with a 31-3 record and a runner-up finish in the NCAA Tournament.
Visiting Louisville is bigger for one player than most others on the roster, as libero Karly Basham is from there.
“She’s really excited and I think all of her teammates are excited as well to go back, you know. She’ll have lots of fans there,” Jen Greeny said.
Things do not get much better for WSU after their first two matches, as Troy finished 2022 18-13 and 11-5 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Trojans took Iowa State to five sets early in the season, proving their worth as a worthy foe.
Overall, the team is ready to get going on their season as fall camp wraps up, looking forward to getting back in the spirit of competition.
“We’re really excited to play with such a veteran team. They know the standards, they know the expectations. We’ve gotten better every single day and we’re just excited to get on that airplane and play [against] someone else,” Jen Greeny said.
WSU begins the season at 1 p.m. Friday against Wright State, then 4p.m. against No. 4 Louisville Saturday and capping off the weekend at 8 a.m. against Troy Sunday. All three matches are played in Louisville, Kentucky, with only the match against the Cardinals streamed live.
