Thursday night’s loss against the Toreros was Wazzu’s second consecutive loss. It was their first time losing back-to-back games in straight sets since early November 2024.
They had a chance in every set against the University of San Diego (14-4, 7-0), with their biggest set loss being by seven points. They also had 33 total kills, with outside hitter Taryn Vrieling and Mary Healy both getting 10.
Regardless, the game was still rough and now sets them back two games in the WCC (West Coast Conference).
Keeping all of that in mind, let’s take a look at the three main reasons the Cougs fell short…
Long Runs:
The Cougs struggled to go on long runs while allowing San Diego to go on long runs to take momentum. The first example of this was seen in the opening minutes of the game. Wazzu marched out to a convincing 3-0 lead after a Healy kill, and a block and kill by middle blocker Lucie Blažková. After taking the lead, they gave up eight straight points to the Toreros to trail 8-3.
It also happened in the third set. The Cougs went up 6-4 early on, but then gave up four straight points. Then, after getting a point to only be down 8-7, they allowed the Toreros to go on a 7-0 run. This put the set out of reach as San Diego was then up 15-7. The Toreros also went on a 3-0 run, after being up 22-19 in the second set to close it out.
This was so critical as it led to Wazzu losing momentum at random points in sets, which led to them losing the match. For example, they let up a 3-0 run in the middle of the second set to allow the Toreros to go up 13-10. The Cougs had just come back from being down 6-4.
Put simply, the Cougs also only had three 3-0 runs. The Toreros had seven. San Diego also had three runs of four or more points.
Errors:
Going into the game, WSU was keen on applying service pressure on the Toreros because they are such an offensive powerhouse.
“Service pressure is always gonna be the thing that we’re looking to do,” WSU head coach Korey Schroeder said two days before the match. “If we can take them out of the system… [it] will hopefully help our block out.”
However, this led to the Cougs being aggressive on the serves, which contributed to them having nine service errors. The number of service errors, which was tied for sixth-most they had in a game this season, was not the problem. It was when they occurred.
In the first set, it was a Wazzu service error that started the Toreros’ 8-0 run, which put them up 8-3. Then, after WSU got their fourth point in the set, they had another service error to give the serve back to San Diego. They did the same thing after getting their fifth point as well.
Winning a point after San Diego had won a point, and then hitting a service error again occurred three times in the second set and twice in the third set. In the third set, the second WSU service error sparked the Toreros’ 7-0 run.
The Cougs also had 18 attacking, four setting, two receiving and one blocking error. The attacking errors especially hurt the Cougs. For example, the Toreros went up 6-4 in the second set off of four WSU attacking errors. The third set also saw the Cougars have two attacking errors in San Diego’s 7-0 run.
The errors unnecessarily gave the Toreros free points, often making it harder for the Cougs to come back in sets. Plus, fewer errors could have kept the sets closer, giving the Cougs a better chance to win.
Lack of Blocks:
Lastly, the Cougs struggled to defend the Toreros’ offense by not recording blocks. To be fair, San Diego has the best two outside hitters in the WCC. However, it is going to be hard to win games if you cannot get blocks. The Cougs had four all night.
Going into the game, Nemo Beach, an outside hitter for San Diego, had 287 kills. Isabel Clark, another one of their outside hitters, had 244. They led the conference in kills. They also had Kali Engeman, a middle blocker, who had 142 kills.
On Thursday night, those three combined for 32 kills. Beach especially performed well, recording 19 of those kills. Clark also got the last two points for the Toreros in the second set by hitting back-to-back kills. She ended the game with 10 kills.
In general, the Cougs could not stop San Diego’s offense and it showed. This was mainly because they could not get blocks. Getting blocks is one of the Cougs’ main ways to get momentum in most games.
But when you only have four blocks, with two of them happening before either team even reaches 16 points in the first set, you will not be generating much momentum.
Lacking blocks also put pressure on Wazzu’s offense to keep them in the game, which could have been a reason they had so many attacking errors.
