It’s the first set. WSU volleyball leads 4-1 and already has the crowd getting rowdy. A strong kill by Argentina Ung after several UW attacks gives the Cougs a 5-1 lead and forces the Huskies to call a timeout. Bohler, 2,640 strong, echo in “Fuck the Huskies” chants, mixing the feeling of animosity at a school leaving them behind in Conference realignment and general rivalry vibes.
Head coach Jen Greeny is raising her arms and getting the crowd hyped. Having already played “Moneytalks” by AC/DC during pregame, the team wants to send each of the departing Pac-12 schools out with a bang.
“Before the match, we played ‘Moneytalks’, and we might play that for every school that has chosen to leave. We will play ‘We Are Family’ when Oregon State comes. But, you know, we’re not happy about [them leaving],” Greeny said.
They have started that goal of sending the departing teams out with an ‘L’ on their record right as the No. 7 Cougs (11-1, 1-0 Pac-12) swept UW (9-3, 0-1) 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-15) to open Pac-12 Conference play.
The first time under Greeny that the Cougs came in with a higher national ranking, the Cougs improved their Bohler win streak over their rivals to six straight victories, as well as improving to 6-2 in the last eight matches overall.
After their hot start to the first set, the Cougs just kept on rolling, going on several big runs, including a 6-0 run to take a 15-5 lead. At that point, they were hitting .429% and holding the Huskies to .071%. While the Huskies tried to make it interesting, WSU won the first set 25-17 and outhit UW .370% to .269%.
“We just really dialed in and focused and it was awesome because the crowd was so electric that kind of just like kept you going and motivated to go on,” Iman Isanovic said.
After starting the match out of the starting lineup, as Emma Barbero got the start for her defensive presence, Isanovic ended the match with a team-leading 13 kills and was efficient as she hit .409%.
“It’s about us, you know, moving forward as a team together,” Isanovic said on starting on the bench. “Same mentality as always.”
Throughout all three sets the Cougs remained consistent across the board. They hit .370%, .370% and .417% in each set, respectively. They also had 10, 11 and 12 digs in each of the three sets. They also kept improving defensively from set to set, bringing UW’s hitting down from .269% in the first set to .067% in the final set.
With a sell-out crowd in tow, the Cougs fed off the energy and the Huskies had no answer with the students beckoning down right behind them when they played directly in front of “The Block.” In her first experience of the Apple Cup as a Coug, Isanovic said that she had expectations for the atmosphere and loved seeing how much of the impact the fans had.
“I think it’s just been awesome energy throughout the game. We won three sets, which is always fun and we just kept our composure and we tried to do our best,” Isanovic said.
Greeny, who made sure to get the crowd excited after every big point and play from the team reiterated the impact and importance of strong crowd engagement.
“I mean, the crowd here is always important. It’s our rival, right? It’s the Huskies. We want to step on it early,” Greeny said. “It was packed tonight. We love that. I don’t think people realize how important it is to have this home-court advantage. It’s really intimidating for other teams to step in here. And see that and the students and the fans were awesome as usual.”
Just behind Isanovic, Pia Timmer finished as the only other Coug to put up double-digit kills on the match, with 10 of her own on .364% hitting while adding eight digs. Magda Jehlárová continues to impress on a daily basis, finishing with nine kills on a match-leading (min 10 attacks) .692% hitting and adding five total blocks.
With four block assists on the match, she improved her career total to 528, officially becoming the program’s all-time leader in the category, just a few short weeks after becoming the leader in total blocks in a WSU career.
Karly Basham, the heart and soul of the team who makes sure she does her signature handshakes with her teammates and coaches before each match and set, finished with a match-leading 13 digs, five more than the next closest player.
“Karly just has so much energy and really likes to connect with people and yeah, so we’ve had that little handshake for you know for however long she’s been here and, and I just that’s something that she really brings to the table that’s fun and, and just connects [the team together],” Greeny said.
Argentina Ung had 35 assists in the match, as well as one kills, three blocks and four digs. As a team, the Cougs had a statistical advantage in just about every category.
They out-hit UW on the match .385%-.180%, had more digs 33-21, more kills 40-30, tied aces 5-5, less service errors 6-8, had more blocks 6-2.
Dread it. Run from it. The Cougs beating the Huskies in Bohler arrives all the same.
The Cougs immediately hit the road and at 1 p.m. Sunday will take on the 5-6 Arizona Wildcats in McKale Center in Tuscon, Arizona. The Wildcats lost their Pac-12 opener against Arizona State Thursday in a sweep and project to be in the bottom of the Conference in 2023.
