Three straight matches, three straight wins of the first set, three straight losses for the WSU volleyball team. Despite starting off strong in all of their recent losses, the Cougs have been unable to keep up their momentum through the rest of the sets.
The No.9-ranked WSU volleyball (18-6, 8-5 Pac-12) squad lost their fifth Conference match to fall to 3-5 in their last eight to No. 5 Stanford (19-3, 12-1) in a final line of 3-1 (21-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-23).
After starting 5-0 in Conference play and being tied for first in the Pac-12 they have fallen to fifth-place behind the Cardinal, Arizona State, Oregon and USC.
Iman Isanovic led the way for the Cougs in her best performance and most skills since Sept. 8. With 18 and a .255% hitting rate, it was a performance that will hopefully get her back on track for the rest of the season.
Her 18 kills tied for the match-lead with Elia Rubin of the Cardinal, who hit .282% herself and added six digs and four blocks for one of the best performances between the two programs Friday.
Magda Jehlárová continued her dominance from both sides of the net, tallying seven kills on hitting .462% with six blocks, moving into sixth place in the NCAA rally-scoring era with 719 over her five years at WSU.
After an incredible first set where the Cougs hit .464% as a team, they faltered off every set after. In that first set, through the first 39 points, the Cougs were without an attack error. After hitting .333% in the second set, they hit just .125% in set three and .054% in the final set.
As a team, Stanford had 17 more kills than WSU, two more service aces, six more blocks but committed five more attack errors and seven more service errors.
The Cougs fought hard despite their dwindling offensive production in the later sets, but the momentum from the first set win to upset Stanford in their own home.
WSU will look to avoid losing a fourth-straight match for the first time since the first four matches of the 2021 season when at noon Sunday they face Cal in Berkeley, California.
