The Cougars suffered their second consecutive loss Thursday night. They lost in straight sets to the University of San Diego who continued their undefeated streak in the WCC (West Coast Conference).
In the first set, the Cougs started off strong. They went up 3-0 after a kill from outside hitter Mary Healy, and a kill and a solo block from middle blocker Lucie Blažková.
However, the Toreros then went on an 8-0 run to take back all the momentum. In the run, Nemo Beach, an outside hitter for San Diego, had three kills. The Toreros then eventually found themselves up 18-12 after two kills from outside hitter Isabel Clark and four more from Beach.
The Cougs were playing well offensively, hitting a .294, but they could not stop San Diego’s offense, which had 11 kills.
The two teams then swapped points until Beach ended the set 25-20 with another kill, her eighth at that point. For the Cougs, they only had one player, outside hitter Taryn Vrieling, with three kills. The Toreros had three. It also did not help that the Cougs had four service errors in the first set.
In the second set, the Toreros led 6-4 before the Cougs came back to tie it at 10 apiece. In the Cougs’ 6-4 run, Healy recorded three kills and a service ace. But, San Diego followed it up by going on a 3-0 run. It was caused by two WSU attacking errors and an Ava Durgan, a Torero middle blocker, kill. The run drew a Cougar timeout.
WSU volleyball comes together during a match against Eastern Washington University Sep. 19 2025.
Up to this point, Wazzu’s hitting percentage dropped to .216, from .286 in the first set. Vrieling and Healy both had six kills, but they could not stop Beach, who had 10.
“[Beach is] a great player. She’s very well rounded,” Healy said.
After the timeout, San Diego went on a 5-4 run before another WSU timeout. In the run, the Cougs had two service errors in three points, which forced the timeout. It was their fifth and sixth service aces and killed the momentum they got after three kills and a block on the same run.
The Cougars did fight their way back into the match, getting it back within three, down 22-19 after back-to-back San Diego attacking errors. However, after calling a timeout, the Toreros called set with three straight kills.
The third, and ultimately final set, saw the Cougs up 6-4 early on. Libero Tinons Munar Galmés had a service ace, and Vrieling and Healy both struck two more kills each. But, they then allowed the Toreros to go on a 4-0 run. Beach had three consecutive kills and Healy had an attack error.
After a Wazzu timeout, the Toreros went on a 7-1 run to go up 15-7. San Diego then finished it out, 25-18. Wazzu did go on a small 4-1 run at the end of the match to make things a bit closer, but still fell short.
Beach finished the match with 19 kills and Clark had 10. As for the Cougs, Vrieling and Healy both finished with 10 kills.
The Cougs tried applying service pressure, which ultimately led to them having nine service errors.
However, another big problem for them was they struggled to win consecutive points and go on long runs. They only had three runs of three points, their longest runs of the night. San Diego had seven runs of three or more points and three runs of four or more points, including two runs of seven or more points.
“[We] were putting good service pressure on them, you know. We just didn’t side out well enough,” said WSU head coach Korey Schroeder. “We let them go on five-six point runs, and we were doing that multiple times.”
Livia Ward sets up Lucie Blažková for a spike against the Santa Clara volleyball team on Sep. 27 2025.
Even though the Cougs lost their second straight match for the first time since late August, they are looking to use this loss to improve going ahead.
“I think that we did fight in every set,” Healy said. “Even if the score didn’t show it, we really put up a fight. And although we really wanted to win this, we know that we get another chance to play them… it’s just more information to come back stronger next time.”
The loss also further isolated San Diego at the top of the conference. Just two matches ago, Oregon State University, Wazzu and San Diego were all tied for first in the WCC. But, the Toreros defeated both Oregon State and Wazzu in back-to-back matches, and are now the only team with more than five wins.
The Cougs have an opportunity to bounce back against Loyola Marymount University on Saturday Oct. 18. The Cougs will look to replicate the success they had last time against LMU, when they won in straight sets less than two weeks ago. First serve is at 1 p.m in Bohler Gymnasium.
