WSU volleyball extended its winning streak to three games after a gritty 3-2 win over Santa Clara Saturday Sep. 27.
WSU volleyball (8-4, 2-0) took on the Santa Clara Broncos (6-7, 1-1) Saturday and got off to a slow start going down 6-1 in the first set. The Cougars got a point back later in the set after a service error by the Broncos to cut the deficit to four points.
The Cougars would claw their way back and tie the match at 11-11. Halfway through the first set Lucie Blažková had three kills and a hitting percentage of .400.
The story of the first set was the back and forth between the Cougars and Broncos. Coming out of a timeout the Cougars were down three and clawing their way back to take their first lead of the set 20-19 over the Broncos. The Cougars led 24-21 when the Broncos took a timeout. Coming out of that the Cougars would win the first set 25-21 after a kill from outside hitter Melina Christodoulou, her sixth of the set.
Starting off the second set the Cougars would go down 4-2 early and get their first two points off Bronco service errors. The Cougars would continue their ways from previous games of offensive miscues and go down 9-4 after a service error by outside hitter Mary Healy.
Livia Ward sets up Lucie Blažková for a spike against the Santa Clara volleyball team on Sep. 27 2025.
Midway through the set the Cougars were trailing 15-8 and had a hitting percentage of -.133 while the Broncos had a hitting percentage of .438. The Broncos were dominating 18-11 but the Cougars were trying to claw their way back but kept getting in their own way with errors.
The Broncos would win the second set 25-16 after a dominant performance from outside hitter Cate Shanahan who had five kills and a solo block to end the set.
The third set started off with the Broncos taking a 4-1 lead, identical to the second set. The Broncos would then go on a 6-2 run highlighted by an ace from outside hitter Tia Kapihe and three straight kills from Shanahan.
The Cougars were able halt the run but were already down 10-3 at that point. Coming out of a Cougar timeout the Broncos had extended the lead to 13 after a WSU error and two straight kills. The Cougars could not get very much offense going until they stopped a 7-0 run with a kill from Healy. They tried to get their own run started but were stalled by the Broncos who had a commanding 19-7 lead.
The Cougars were showing signs of life cutting the deficit to seven points. By then the Cougars were trailing 20-13. Ultimately it would not be enough as the Broncos won the set 25-15 and led the Cougars 2-1 on the day.
Going into the fourth set the Cougars were out-killed 42-29 on the day and were out-hit .274 to .089. The Cougars started off the set by taking a 3-2 lead, the earliest they had done so all day. The Broncos responded by trading points with the Cougars.
Mary Healy and Lucie Blažková for the WSU volleyball team block a spike against Santa Clara on Sep. 27 2025.
By then the Cougars were up 12-7 highlighted by kills from Blažková, middle blocker Camryn Lingenbrink and an error by outside hitter Selin Aslayan forcing the Broncos to call timeout.
Coming out of the timeout the Broncos went on a 5-1 run to cut the lead to three. Both teams would go on to trade points with each other and the game was tied at 15 apiece until the Cougars went on a 4-1 run causing Santa Clara to call timeout with the crowd erupting in cheers for the Cougars who had looked more alive now than ever.
Out of the timeout the Cougars immediately scored on a Lingenbrink kill and a Blažková service ace to increase the lead to 20-17.
The Broncos were not backing down, they came back and took a 23-22 lead after an ace by Alyssa Eimer. The Cougars had two straight kills and then the Broncos responded by tying the set at 24-24. For set point the Broncos served the ball into the net giving the Cougars the lead, only for the Broncos to tie it at 25.
For the Cougars 26th point, the ball bounced off several Bronco players before hitting the court. The crowd erupted. The Cougars won the set 27-25 on a ball hit out by the Broncos that had to be reviewed. After the review the crowd erupted once again knowing it was good enough to win the set and tie the match at two sets apiece.
Going into the last set, the momentum had swung to the Cougars with Bohler Gym coming alive for the back and forth battle that was the fourth set.
“It helps us to keep our momentum high and we’re very grateful to have them here every single game because they keep us going,” said Christodoulou.
Melina Christodoulou for the WSU volleyball team winds up a serve on Sep. 27 2025.
The Cougars started off the fifth set hot with a 4-1 lead forcing Santa Clara to call a timeout that was met with loud cheers from the Cougar fans in Bohler. Out of the timeout WSU continued to stay hot with two straight kills from Blažková forcing the Broncos to call another timeout.
The Cougars increased their lead to 8-3 and had all the momentum.
The Broncos would cut the lead to four with the Cougars still leading 10-6. In the last two sets the Bohler gym crowd had made an effect on the game, after every Cougar point there was a loud eruption from the crowd that was constant.
To finish off the set and win the match the Cougars rallied off a 5-0 run to win the set 15-10 and the match 3-2. The Cougars finished the match with a hitting percentage of .200 and 54 kills compared to Santa Clara’s .223 hitting percentage and 60 kills. Christodoulou finished the match with a team high 19 kills to go along with 8 digs.
“We believe that we’re not gonna lose in our home and we know what we can do as a team when we play all together,” said Christodoulou.
This year the Cougars are 3-1 in games at home and 21-8 in home games over the last two seasons.
The Cougars head to Seattle this week to take on Seattle University at 6:00 p.m. Thursday in the Redhawk Center. The Redhawks are 6-7 overall and 0-2 in conference play so far this season.
