The 2023 regular season is nearly over for WSU volleyball. Over a seven-day stretch, the Cougs will play the final four of their 20 Pac-12 matches. It all begins in Boulder, Colorado, to take on Colorado.
No. 11 WSU (20-7, 10-6 Pac-12) will go on the road for their second matchup with Colorado (14-13, 6-10). With the two teams boasting inversing Confernece records, the Cougs should be heavily favored to win the match despite their overall recent slump.
In their recent match, the Cougs entered as losers of four of their last five. After finding themselves down two sets to none and being dominated by USC, it appeared that the trend of lackluster performances would continue.
But the Cougs turned it around, led by Iman Isanovic’s 24 kills. They completed the reverse sweep to pick up win No. 20 on the season. With the win, head coach Jen Greeny became just the second coach in program history to lead the Cougs to three consecutive 20-win seasons.
With WSU looking to find momentum in the winning direction, Colorado is one of their more favorable foes. Despite trailing the all-time series in Colorado 7-3, the Cougs lead overall 14-11 and are winners of eight of the last nine matchups between the two teams.
Colorado has lost their last three matches and has lost four of their last five. In their last three, they took one set off of both the ranked foes in Oregon and Arizona State before losing in five sets to Arizona.
When the two teams met in Pullman earlier this season, the Cougs won in a sweep, 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-17). The backline defense served as the key to victory, with Colorado hitting .111% on the match and, through the first 30 serves, hit just .091%. Karly Basham and Julia Norville commanded the back row, combining for 19 digs.
“[The back row defense] is literally is making our team right now. It’s the reason why I was able to accomplish [1,000 career digs]. I’m pushed by players like [Julia], Emma and [Logan] every single day in practice and I think that shows up just in our defensive play this whole year,” Basham said after the win against Colorado.
Colorado will look to defend their home court at 6 p.m Friday in the CU Events Center.
