After falling to Pepperdine Sunday in Pullman for their first loss in WCC play in 2024, the Cougs have a big weekend to pick up wins to remain atop the conference standings.
WSU (8-5, 3-1 WCC) is tied with two other programs, San Diego and LMU, for third place in the WCC after the opening two weekends. In their first match of the upcoming weekend, they play Pacific (11-5, 1-3), one of the teams near the bottom of the conference to start.
The only common opponent the two programs share thus far is Pepperdine, with both teams winning a single set before falling to the Waves.
Thursday’s contests will be the fifth time the two programs face each other and the first time since 2012. The Cougs have yet to drop a match against Pacific, sporting a perfect 4-0 record entering 2024.
WSU has found success early in WCC play off the back of senior Katy Ryan. Ryan, who secured her 1,000th career kill in the Cougs loss to Pepperdine, is 10th in the conference in kills per set with 3.17. She is also ninth in total points, only trailing Sage Brustad on the team, who is second in the conference to this point.
Brustad has quickly become a force for the team after transferring from Eastern Washington. She is sixth in the conference in kills per set and sits alone atop the leaderboard for aces per set.
Despite having two top-10 players in the conference in points, WSU as a unit ranks a measly ninth in the conference in the category, primarily because of their abysmal .166% hitting, which ranks second to last in the WCC.
That mark will struggle to improve against the Pacific defense, which has been the better side of that unit this season.
Pacific ranks fifth in opponent hitting percentage through Wednesday and averages the highest digs per set at 15.12. While WSU is not far behind in digs per set (14.42 – fourth in WCC), Pacific has had a slightly more efficient attack offense.
Brustad, and the other servers on the team, have had to pick up a lot of points at the line for the Cougs to start 3-1 in conference play. They have tallied a total of 86 total aces at a rate of 1.65 aces per set, good for second in the conference.
WSU will defend their undefeated head-to-head record at 6 p.m. Thursday in Stockton, Calif.
