Despite Loyola Marymount University’s 4-9 overall record to start the season (2-2 in conference), it still knew it had something to prove heading into last night’s match.
In NCAA Women’s Volleyball RPI (rating percentage index) ratings, the Lions were No. 156. This may seem low but WSU (10-4, 4-0) was No. 155. LMU had played four ranked opponents on the year and looked to prove their record was not representative of how their season had been going.
Going into the match, LMU presented a tough offense. LMU’s opposite hitter Maddie Boerstra had 173 kills and outside hitter Sophie Stephenson had 164.
“They’ve got some pretty great attackers… [they’re a] good ball control team,” WSU head coach Korey Schroeder said. “They’ve got [a] right side [Boerstra] right now that has leveled up a ton from last year and is scoring a lot for them. You don’t see, very often, the right side leading the team in scoring and she’s doing a really good job of that. And they’ve got good, complementary outsides to go along with that.”
In the first set, Boerstra started off fast. Both teams went back and forth but WSU took a 14-11 lead, forcing an LMU timeout. Boerstra had already recorded four kills. That was the largest lead for either team up to that point in the set. Both teams were hitting over .375 or higher. But what gave WSU the lead was the 10 kills they had recorded. Outside hitters Taryn Vreiling and Eliana Ti’a hit two kills for WSU.
WSU volleyball taking the court during their home opener against UW Sep. 17 2025
Out of the timeout, the Cougs and Lions both won three points to get the score to 17-14, WSU. However, the Lions then went on a 5-2 run to tie the match at 19 apiece, drawing a WSU timeout. Boerstra continued her dominant start, getting up to seven kills. Stephenson also had two kills for the Lions.After the timeout, the Lions won back-to-back points to take the lead at 21-19, and then they eventually led 23-20. Despite having allowed LMU to go on a 7-1 run and looking out of it, just then Wazzu was able to turn the match around.
Starting with a kill by middle blocker Lucie Blažková and then a block by outside hitter Mary Healy, the Cougs were able to work their way back into the match. The Cougs then finished the set winning three more points in a row to win it 25-23. Livia Ward, a setter, ended it with a service ace.
One of the key differences in the set was that the Cougs had two blocks, compared to LMU’s zero. However, Boerstra had already recorded seven kills and LMU was hitting .243 as a team.
As for the second set, it started with the Lions taking control. They went up 7-3 after three kills, an ace and three WSU attacking errors.
But, after a Cougar timeout, Wazzu rallied back, going on a 12-5 run that drew an LMU timeout. On the run, Blažková had a kill, a service ace and three blocks. Ti’a and outside hitter Melina Christodoulou also contributed two kills each.
Out of the timeout, up 15-12, the Cougs went on another run, this time a 4-1 run, which forced another LMU’ timeout. Then, with the Lions out of timeouts, the Cougs were able to finish off the set, winning 25-16, with Christodoulou getting back-to-back kills to end it.
The third, and ultimately final set, was dominated by WSU. The Cougs jumped out to an 8-2 lead before the Lions called a timeout. LMU had four attack errors up to that point in the set.
After the timeout, the Cougs went on an 8-4 run to go up 16-6 before the Lions called their last timeout. At this point, the Lions’ hitting percentage had dropped to 0.061. Three of their points as well had come off of Cougar errors.
WSU eventually went on to win the final set 25-14 with the match ending on a kill from Cougars’ middle blocker, Camryn Lingenbrink.
Melina Christodoulou for the WSU volleyball team winds up a serve on Sep. 27 2025.
The Cougs finished the match with 38 kills, led by Christodoulou and Ti’a with nine each, and a .243 hitting percentage. They also had nine total blocks, four more than LMU, with Blažková taking part in six of them. Plus, after allowing Boerstra to record seven kills in the first set alone, they contained her to 10 total on the night.
This was WSU’s first win over LMU in program history and it gets them up to 5-0 in West Coast Conference play. This puts them at a three-way tie for first play in the conference – San Diego University and Oregon State University both also stand at 5-0.
Their next match is 1:00 p.m. Saturday at Pepperdine University. WSU is 0-3 all-time against Pepperdine, but is looking to flip the script to stay undefeated in conference play. Pepperdine is currently 8-7 overall (2-2 in conference), and is coming into the match off a small break as their last match was last Saturday against Santa Clara University.
