49. That was the number of total points Gonzaga scored against WSU. This was the fewest amount of points the Cougs have allowed in a match this season.
“It feels so good,” outside hitter Eliana Ti’a said. “I mean, it’s like we’re making it easier for ourselves [by not allowing as many points].”
Heading into the match, Wazzu (10-4, 4-0) was riding a four-match win streak, while the Zags (8-6, 1-2) had just defeated San Francisco 3-2 last Saturday.
The Zags needed a win to stay above .500 in West Coast Conference play, but going up against WSU has almost never favored them. In all-time history between these two teams, the Cougs have only lost once, and were on an eight-match win streak heading into the game. The last time Gonzaga defeated WSU was in 2005.
Eliana Ti’a softly hits the ball over the net for the WSU volleyball team against the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Oct. 4 2025.
The first set, however, proved otherwise with Gonzaga pulling ahead 8-5. The Zags were led by outside hitters Kelly McAuley and Sjakkie Donkers, who both had two kills. They also benefited from two WSU service errors.
However, the Cougs fought back, going on 7-2 to force a Gonzaga timeout. In that run, outside hitter Taryn Vrieling recorded three kills and Ti’a recorded her second kill.
After the timeout, Wazzu went on an 8-3 run to lead 20-13. WSU’s Lucie Blažková, a middle blocker, and outside hitter Melina Christodoulou both recorded two kills during the run.
The Cougs eventually went on to win the set 25-17 after three more kills, a block and a Zags’ service error.
In the first set alone, Vrieling had six kills, Ti’a had four, Blažková had three and Christodoulou and outside hitter Mary Healy both had two. The Cougs were hitting .516 offensively with three blocks on defense. The Zags were strong offensively as well, hitting .360, though they only had one block.
The second set saw Wazzu carrying over their momentum from the first set. The Cougs jumped out to a 12-3 lead, hitting .455 up to that point in the set. Blažková contributed three kills and two blocking assists in that stretch. It also helped Wazzu that the Zags were hitting -.300 in the set.
The Zags fought back to cut the lead to six at 14-8, drawing a WSU timeout. In this 5-2 run, Donkers recorded three kills, putting her up to six on the afternoon.
However, after the timeout, the Cougs went on an 11-6 run to win the set 25-14. In that last run, neither team called a timeout and Ti’a and Blažková worked their way up to seven kills. Vrieling found herself with eight kills, Healy had five, and both Christodoulou and middle blocker Camryn Lingenbrink had recorded three.
Heading into the last set, Wazzu as a whole was hitting .500 and had 34 kills. As for Gonzaga, they had 21 kills, but 14 of them had come from just two players: Donkers with eight and McAuley with six.
The third set was much like the first set. The two teams went back and forth and found themselves tied at seven apiece early on. Just then, WSU went on a 5-1 run and forced a Zags’ timeout. Up to that point in the set the Cougars had 10 kills, Gonzaga had five and both teams were hitting above .550.
WSU volleyball celebrates a point in a match against Gonzaga on Oct. 4 2025.
Out of the timeout, the Cougs continued their run, eventually leading 20-12 after five kills, two Gonzaga errors and a block.
The Cougs did go on to win the set, but they did let Gonzaga back into the match by allowing four more kills by Donkers who finished the match with 14 total. However, the Cougs tallied three more kills of their own and benefited from two Gonzaga service errors to win it 25-18.
This was the Cougars’ fifth straight win and was their fourth win in conference play. They recorded 53 total kills — the most in a game, in which they won 3-0, all season. Vrieling alone had 15 and Ti’a contributed 11 as well. They also only allowed 31 kills and tallied seven blocks.
Moreover, they did not allow a single service ace the entire game for the first time all season. Plus, unlike in other games, they did not trail by more than two points early on in all three sets.
“Our goal is to get the first five points,” Vrieling said. “We’ve been trying to gain some momentum from the beginning, so [it was] helpful.”
Wazzu remains undefeated in WCC play and now turns the page to next week where they will face Loyola Marymount University (LMU) and Pepperdine University. Both are 2-2 in WCC play. The first game is against LMU at 6 p.m. Thursday.
