While the WSU volleyball team has had a historic season, their recent matches leave fans worried about their NCAA Tournament hopes.
The Cougars started off hot, with their only losses through Oct. 15 being to No. 4 Louisville and No. 3 Stanford. In their last eight games, they hold a record of 3-5, which is not ideal for a team that was once the fourth-best team in the country.
Some of those losses are understandable, being to a No. 9 ranked Oregon and No. 5 ranked Stanford. However, their skid included three losses to unranked teams. While one of those was to USC who was unranked at the time of the loss, they held a No. 25 ranking this past week.
The Cougars’ Achilles heel in recent play is their efficiency. In the first half of the season, they were hitting around the .300% and .400% range, whereas recent play finds them lingering around .100 % and .200%. They also seem to be plagued by errors in their attack approach and communication, showing their struggles to be more mental than physical.
Despite their recent struggles and losses to unranked teams, the Cougars maintain a No. 11 ranking with four Pac-12 games remaining. While Cougar fans may be unhappy with the current state of the team, they must remember the success of the season overall.
The Cougars remained in the AVCA Top 25 poll all season long, with the worst ranking being in the preseason poll at No. 21. They were the fourthbest team in the nation three weeks in a row.
Their most recent win proves promising for the remainder of the season. After dropping the first two sets to No. 25 USC, the Cougars fought back to win in the 5th set in an extended red zone, meaning the set went beyond the standard 25-point goal where teams need to win by two points. The key to their success? Their core players got hot. This included outside hitter Iman Isanovic with 24 kills, middle blocker Magda Jehlarova with eight blocks, opposite hitter Katy Ryan with 14 kills, libero Karly Basham with 15 digs, and setter Argentina Ung with 53 assists.
In an ideal world, the Cougars should win a minimum three of their four matches against remaining Pac-12 opponents, while a loss to No. 18 Arizona State would be understandable as they swept No. 3 Stanford. This sets them up with a record of 23-8 going into Selection Sunday, Sunday, Nov. 26.
Last season, they finished with a record of 22-9 and ended up a 7th seed. Earlier in the season, they were a projected 2nd seed. While their three-game loss streak pulls them out from that elite group, they can still expect a seed anywhere between third and sixth.
The Cougars can make a deep run in this year’s tournament. They simply need to get back into the headspace from before their loss to Stanford, causing their downfall. Their core players will all need to be hot and maintain that prime form throughout, which they are fully capable of doing.
