An offensively aggressive Argentina Ung led the WSU volleyball attack against the Utah Utes in the team’s rebound sweep after dropping a tough four-setter to Stanford Sunday. The Cougs hit .402 as a team, an impressive mark for a team coming off their first loss in a month.
No. 4 WSU (16-2, 6-1 Pac-12) took care of business against Utah (8-9, 3-4) in a 3-0 sweep (25-15, 25-21, 25-12). The Cougs had 47 kills and hit .402% as a team with a side-out percentage of 61.2% to outmatch the Utes offensively, but also maintained the edge defensively and at the line.
The Cougs had eight service aces to Utah’s four, as well as leading the block advantage seven to two. In almost every way, WSU dominated to get back in the win column and defend Bohler, which is always their goal.
“We just want to protect our house and that [Stanford] loss is a tough one, but the girls were excited to just out there and show what’s in us,” Pia Timmer said.
During the third set, the Cougs had two separate 6-0 runs and hit .542% as a team, adding three service aces without an error for their most well-rounded and complete set of the night. Head coach Jen Greeny challenged the very first point of the set and was proven successful like she has been so many times this year.
Just a few serves later, it was once again time for Greeny to challenge the ruling, and once again, she was right. She has had a high success rate in her challenge.
“I like to be right on the challenges; It was a good night for me,” Greeny said.
Timmer led the Cougs with her match-leading 10 kills on 20 attacks. Adding three assists, two service aces and five digs, Timmer bounced back in a big way despite struggling in the Coug’s loss to the Cardinal.
“Just had like a little reset,” Timmer said. “I was trying to work on my like mindset and self-talk.”
Ung’s dominance against the Utes set the tone for the match, as she had one of her most complete performances of the year. With a perfect hitting percentage of 1.000% with her seven kills, she was far more aggressive at the net than she had been all year.
“[She] played exceptionally well. We have been wanting her to be more offensive-minded, from the beginning she was,” Greeny said.
The second-year starting setter added 31 assists, two aces, one block and three digs for her efforts, earning the praise of her teammates and coaches alike.
Ung spread the love with her passing, including herself. Six different Cougs had at least five kills in the match. Iman Isanovic had eight, Madga Jehlárová and Lana Radakovic tied Ung with seven and Katy Ryan finished with five.
Radakovic has split time fighting for the second middle blocker position with several other players, notably Jasmine Martin and Shea Rubright, two Cougs coming off injuries and who share some impressive talent.
“As much as people want to say there’s competition, we’re all just making each other better and in that way we’re making each other better teammates,” she said.
Her seven kills matched her second-highest total of the 2023 campaign, something she said is thanks in large part to her approach and her teammates and coach’s trust.
“I had to switch my mentality a little bit to just be more aggressive when I’m going up,” Radakovic said. “I’m really lucky that she believed in me and that she gave me the balls much she did.”
Defensively, Karly Basham led the way with her 16 digs, more than making up for her three return errors throughout the match.
With her 12th dig of the match, Basham reached the 1,000 dig club for her WSU career, an accomplishment that represents the hard work and consistency she has had with the program since transferring out west to be with the team before the 2021 season.
“Karly did a nice job of playing great defense and being calm out there defensively,” Greeny said.
The Cougs will have their next test of defending their home at noon Sunday when they take on Colorado in Bohler Gym.
