The WSU volleyball team lost its Apple Cup last night against the Huskies in four sets.
The first set went back and forth and saw UW leading the majority of it. The Cougs got off to a slow start, going down 10-6. At that time, WSU had only recorded two kills, which was the same amount that UW’s outside hitter Alexa Markley had.
However, WSU was able to fight its way back into the game to tie the game at 17 apiece. Over their 11-7 run, outside hitters Melina Christodoulou and Eliana T’ia recorded three kills and two kills, respectively. Wazzu did go down again 21-20, but then went on a three-point run to take the lead 23-20.
WSU then had a service error, but Ti’a followed that up with a kill to maintain WSU’s three-point lead with a kill to maintain WSU’s three-point lead. Up 24-22, Huskies’ outside hitter Simona Mateska recorded a kill, putting the Dawgs within two. However, out of a timeout break, the Cougs drew up a play to get the ball to middle blocker Lucie Blažková, where she ended the set with a kill.
In the second set, the Cougs found themselves down early again, trailing 7-4. They tied the game 10-10 with Blažková, Ti’a and middle blocker Camryn Lingenbrink combining for four kills on their 6-3 run. The Huskies and Cougars were then tied three other times before UW retook the lead at 15-14.
After taking the lead, UW never gave it up and went on to win the set 25-22. On that 10-8 run, Markley led the charge with three kills and a block.
In the third, the Cougars trailed for a majority of the set. They found themselves down 11-6, 17-14 and even 20-16. The Cougars struggled to slow down outside hitter Kierstyn Barton and Markley who combined for seven kills when the Cougs trailed 20-16.
However, just when hope seemed lost for the Cougs, they went on a 8-4 run, led by kills from Blažková, outside hitter Mary Healy, Christodoulou and Ti’a. They also benefited from four offensive errors from the Dawgs.
Tied at 24 apiece, the UW offense came up big and recorded back-to-back kills which ended the set 26-24 to give the Huskies to a 2-1 lead in sets.
The fourth, and ultimately final set, was won more handily by the Huskies compared to other sets. They won it 25-19, but were up 23-15 at one point.
This was the second consecutive loss for Wazzu volleyball in the Apple Cup. One of their biggest struggles was defending Barton. She recorded 21 kills on the night. They also struggled in terms of blocks. They only recorded five total blocks on the night, their second fewest in a game this season.
The Cougars also found themselves behind at the beginning of the sets, which resulted in them having to come back at the very end of sets.
“I think what excites me is [that] we didn’t play our best volleyball and we were competing with them,” Schroeder said. “So, to me, [if] we’d clean up some mistakes that were bad mistakes, mental errors, we beat them.”
The Cougs have an opportunity to bounce back and fix some of their mistakes tomorrow night against Eastern Washington.
