For one last guaranteed time, the volleyball Apple Cup. The last showing came in Seattle, after the Cougs took the Pac-12 opener in a sweep two months ago. For the second time this season, the Cougs swept their rivals to sweep the season series.
No. 11 WSU (24-7, 14-6 Pac-12) beat UW (16-15, 7-13) in a big sweep 3-0 (25-23, 25-14, 25-20). The win finished off a perfect sweep for the Cougs against their rivals for 2023, a perfect send-off for the final season of the Pac-12.
The first set had a slow start for the Cougs, as they committed several errors, seven attack errors and six service errors, to be exact, but they still came out with the set win. After taking a 7-3 lead, the two teams went back and forth until WSU finished the set on a 3-0 run to win it 25-23.
Set two was far easier for WSU. Hitting .433% as a team, Wazzu took a quick 5-1 lead and had at one point won seven of eight points for a dominant 25-14 set win. Again in set three, the Cougs hit well, a mark of .353% in the final set, but the Huskies held around to make it interesting.
WSU had a 20-12 lead, but UW won seven of nine points to make it 22-19, but they could not do enough to hang on as the Cougs won it 25-20.
During the match, WSU’s Pia Timmer recorded her 1,000th career dig, becoming the first player in program history to record 1,500 kills and 1,000 digs in her career. She and Magda Jehlárová have become some of the most decorated players in program history and time is ticking on their collegiate careers.
Those two led the team in their sweep as Jehlárová led the way with 11 kills and Timmer finished with 10 of her own. Timmer nearly had a double-double as she finished with nine digs and Jehlárová had one block, meaning she is even closer to the Pac-12 record for career blocks.
Jehlárová hit .600% during the match and Timmer hit .389%, the catalysts of the team hitting .326% altogether. Most of the Cougs success against the Huskies came from their attacking, as they had just 36 digs and two blocks, as well as finishing with 11 service errors.
Although the regular season is over, the season is yet to be fully done. On Sunday, the Cougs will find out their seeding for the NCAA Tournament and their season will go on as long as they keep winning.
