In their first matchup since San Diego ended the 2022 WSU volleyball season in the NCAA Tournament, WSU picked up their first win against the program in over three decades.
After defeating San Diego in 1993, it took until Saturday for WSU to pick up another win. In the 3-1 (25-22, 15-25, 25-23, 25-20) win, the Cougs (7-4, 2-0 WCC) got a magnificent effort from freshman middle blocker Breccan Scheck to take down the Toreros (6-6, 1-1 WCC).
Saturday’s win had the best play at middle thus far, thanks largely to Scheck’s efforts. After several years of Magda Jehlárová at the position, if Scheck can replicate her performance over a full season, the search for a replacement will be short.
Scheck totalled 12 kills and four blocks against San Diego. On the first serve of the game, her first kill secured the first point, and from there it became her game.
Despite the two teams finishing with close counting stats, it did not take the full five sets to come home with the victory, because of clutch late set play from WSU as well as the dominance San Deigo displayed in their lone set win.
The Cougs snuck away with wins in the first and third sets, including a 10-tie, four lead change first set, sandwiching their worst set of the night when they lost 25-15 in set two. Headed into the fourth set, they looked for a strong start, which is exactly what they got.
Katy Ryan started it off with a kill, then Ryan and Scheck combined for a block followed by a Scheck solo block. Scheck, Sage Brustad and Ryan then each got a kill to quickly put WSU up 6-0 in what eventually became the final set.
Unfortunately, they were unable to completely run away with it despite the strong start. San Diego tied things up at 13 and even had a lead of 16-15. Immediately following that point, however, WSU went on another strong run.
A 7-0 run by the Cougs put them ahead 22-16, a lead they held out to for the 25-20 set victory.
While Scheck arguably had the best performance, she was not the only offense on the team. The stats were spread among WSU’s roster nicely. Ryan led the way with 13 kills, with Scheck (12), Taryn Vrieling (11) and Brustad (11) finishing above double-digits and Lucie Blazkova (9) finishing just below the threshold.
Brustad had yet another double-double, adding 11 digs to her kill total, the fifth time she’s accomplished the feat and first time since the Cougs victory over CSUN.
That spread offense came from the hands of Italia Bernal, who had 49 assists. That mark is the second-highest she’s reached this season and by far the most of any four-set match.
