For the first time this season, Wazzu women’s soccer and volleyball play the same college on the same day. This Saturday, the Santa Clara Broncos soccer and volleyball team will be heading up to Pullman to take on the Cougs.As the 3-3-3 WSU soccer team takes on the 4-4-1 Broncos, and the 6-4 cougar volleyball team takes on 5-6 Santa Clara, it looks to be an eventful Saturday for WCC sports.

Starting off at 1 P.M on Saturday Sep. 27, Cougar volleyball takes on Santa Clara in Bohler Gym. This looks to be a solid matchup, as both teams lead their opponents in kills, assists and digs so far this season.

The Santa Clara Broncos have started 5-6 on the season, yet they have been a well-rounded team with 560 kills, 528 assists  and 67 aces through their 11 games. Their talent has been undeniable though, as their improvement from last season has been noticed by opponents.

“Santa Clara is a much-improved team” said Korey Schroeder, WSU women’s volleyball coach.

Seniors Selin Aslayan and Layla Truitt are among those to return and lead the Broncos this season. Outside hitter Selin has combined for 66 kills and 37 digs to start the season, while middle blocker Truitt has been an offensive specialist, combining for 102 kills on 23 digs through their first 11 games.

“A lot of players from last year’s team are back but have stepped into bigger roles” said Schroeder

The Cougs have had a good start to the season as well. Outscoring opponents in kills with 542,assist with 499 and digs 549

Despite starting the season with a winning record, that does not matter to the team as it enters conference play for the first time this season.

“Our record is pretty irrelevant,” said Schroeder.

The potential is unreal on this team as multiple players have shined early in the season. Freshman outside hitter Eliana Ti’a has put up quite the stat line to start the season. Over the first 10 games she has combined for 128.5 points, 111 kills and 15 digs. Middle blocker Lucie Blažková has also stood out on the court, scoring 156.6 points, 120 kills and 26 digs over her 37 sets played. Ti’a and Blažková are just a few to shine on this team and they have proven no one will have an easy time getting past the Cougs this season.

“Do I think that we can win the WCC championship, absolutely” said Schroeder

As both teams look ahead to Saturday, it looks to be an interesting game. As the veteran led Broncos look to come to the Palouse and shake things up against the young and talented Cougar volleyball as they both begin conference play this week.

Following the volleyball matchup, Cougar soccer is scheduled to take on the Santa Carla Broncos on the pitch at 7 P.M. on Saturday Sep. 27th. This looks to be a great matchup for both teams as they head into conference play among an up and down start to the season for the Broncos and the Cougs.

Santa Clara has had a less than impressive start to the season on the offensive side of the ball. Their opponents have outscored them 10-12 among goals scored this season, their opponents have also on average scored more goals than them per game, with an average of 1.33 goals per game to the Broncos 1.11.

Although Santa Clara has had players stand out for them this season. Forward Kennedy Schoennauer has been quite the impact with the team with three goals on 26 shot attempts and a .115 shot percentage. Freshman middle Hildi Benediktsdottir has also been another to stand out, with one goal on three assists as a first year, it is no doubt this team has talent.

The Broncos have their work cut out for them as they enter the Palouse. Despite the 3-3-3 record, the Cougars young talent has showed out to start the season.

So far this season 11 freshmen have gotten their chance to shine on the pitch, and they’ve made their efforts count. Forward Journey Middleborn came up big for the team to kick off conference play against Seattle University as she scored her first goal of her collegiate career.

“Even though there’s a lot of freshmen on our team… we can still get the job done” said Middleborn.

Other first years have come up big to begin the season as well. Ava Ghoreishi came up big with her goal against No. 13 ranked Georgia to hold them to a tie. Head coach Todd Shulenberger has a lot of confidence in his young talent going into the season.

“We’re going to make things difficult on people, and that’s a fact,” said Shulenberger.

The first years are not the only ones to make an impact on the team. Sophomore Audrey Shackleford is among the “veterans” of this rather young team. The midfielder has had a great start to the season, with two goals and one goal wherein she came up big in their last matchup with a goal against Seattle University.

The goal keeping has also been great for WSU, considering injury battles. Redshirt senior Keara Fitzgerald has shown up to start the season despite missing three of the 10 games played by the Cougs. Over these seven games Fitzgerald averaged .74 goals allowed. When Keara was out, backup Zora Stranifer filled in allowing an average of 1.36 goals allowed over her three games played.

As young talent is firing on all cylinders, injuries and errors early this season have showed their room for improvement for the Cougs. Coach Shulenberger ranked his team’s preconference performance a C-, emphasizing their need to get better as a team, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

“This is the least amount of goals we’ve let up in a long time. On the flip side, this is the least amount of goals we’ve scored in a long time” said Shulenberger.

As both teams welcome the same conference rival this weekend, fans will have their fill of Cougar sports on the Palouse.