Saving their best for last, WSU volleyball’s offense had no trouble waking up early in Sunday’s win over Troy. Iman Isanovic led the way for the Cougs with her 15 kills, proving to be a worthy addition from Arizona State.
The No. 21 ranked WSU volleyball squad (2-1, 0-0 Pac-12) took care of business against Troy (3-0) in quick succession in a sweep 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-17). Through three games, the Cougs have been on the winning end of two sweeps and the receiving end of one.
The losing sweep came from the hands of No. 4 Louisville, not an opponent to feel down about competing against.
Beyond Isanovic’s .542 hitting percentage, two other Cougs with at least 10 attacks hit above .500: Katy Ryan at .538 with nine kills and Magda Jehlárová at a team-leading .583 with eight kills. The other Coug with double-digit kills was Pia Timmer with 10 on a .474 hitting percentage.
As a team, WSU had a hitting percentage of .476 and a 72.5% side-out percentage, their best weekend marks. After struggling against No. 4 Louisville to get service aces and blocks, they rediscovered their groove against Troy. Tallying nine service aces and five total blocks, they quickly bounced back to find their form.
Jasmine Martin looked strong despite still working to fully recover from her ACL injury in 2022, leading the team with three total blocks while adding five kills on offense. Three other Cougs were involved in multiple blocks, with Ryan, Jehlárová and Argentina Ung being a part of two apiece.
Ung did not put up high dig numbers per usual but still had four while adding two kills, two service aces and those two blocks on top of her 37 assists. Leading the team in digs, Louisville native Karly Basham had 13 at the end of her weekend back home.
In the first set of the sweep, WSU found themselves down 6-7 before going on a 6-0 run to take a 12-7 lead and hold momentum through the set. Putting together another 4-0 run later, the Cougs were far too much to handle in a first-set win.
In the middle of the second set, WSU had two 3-0 runs divided by a service error from Julia Norville, but those two runs were insurmountable for the Trojans to handle in a 25-17 set win for WSU. Set three had the same result. The Cougs took the lead in the middle of the set before capping their win off on a 5-0 run.
Following their opening weekend, WSU will be back in action at noon Friday to open their home season up in Bohler Gym against Northwestern State (0-3). It is the first weekend of games in Bohler, featuring a 7:30 p.m. Friday match against Drake and a 6 p.m. Saturday match against Tulsa.
