Cougs can’t complete upsets over California schools

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Junior libero Kate Sommer digs out a USC serve during the Cougs’ loss to USC in Bohler Gym, Friday, Oct. 3rd, 2014.

California schools came out on top this weekend with Washington State volleyball losing to No. 19 Southern California in five sets and No. 20 UCLA by two points in the fourth.

The Cougars (9-7, 0-4) started strong against USC (8-6, 1-3), but the Trojans came back with fire, winning in five sets. Head Coach Jen Greeny said the game came down to “consistency”, but there were still positives to take away from the match.

“I thought we definitely did some great things offensively,” Coach Greeny said. “We spread the ball around quite a bit when our passing was on.”

The Cougs and Trojans battled in front of a packed crowd of 1,043 at Bohler Gym. WSU dominated the first set 25-20, but the Trojans came back to win the second 25-19.

The third set was tied late, but USC pulled away, winning 27-25. The Cougars took a huge lead in the fourth set, at one point leading 15-9, and were able to hold off a Trojan rally to take the set 25-20. USC was able to finish off the match in the fifth set, winning 15-11.

Senior middle blocker Chelsey Bettinson, senior outside hitter Jaicee Harris, and sophomore outside hitter Kyra Holt all tied in kills for the night with 14. Bettinson made her presence felt, tallying 9 blocks. She said Cougars were not lacking cohesion during the match.

“Overall we played really well as a unit,” Bettinson said. “There’s just a couple of things we need to clean up. We’re on the right track.”

Harris also had a strong night defensively with 15 digs and 7 blocks. Holt made an impact both at the net and in the back row with 2 blocks and 14 digs.

USC junior outside hitter Samantha Bricio paced the Trojans on their way to victory. Bricio had a match high in kills with 28, and also tallied 13 digs and two blocks.

“Our blocking and passing could have been a lot better,” Holt said.

Yesterday against UCLA (11-4, 2-2), the first set was neck-and-neck into the double digits, with seven kills from both teams within the 11 point mark, but the Bruins eventually won the set 26-24. The second set kicked off with a 4-1 Cougar lead, but the Bruins came back with a vengeance, tallying a 25-16 win. In the third, the two teams spent a good portion of the set tied, but this time the Cougs finished with a 25-22 win. The fourth went back and forth throughout with the Bruins coming out ahead 25-23.

“Even when we have a quick turn-around, we still need to come back fighting with all of our energy and just give it all that we have,” Holt said in a postgame interview.

Holt led the team in kills with 20, trailing just behind the leader of the day, UCLA freshman outside hitter Reily Buechler, who had 21. WSU senior middle blocker Ver’Leea Hardaway also had a big night offensively with 12 kills and a .476 hitting average.

“(A difference we’ve made offensively) is to hit the ball and not tip so much, because tipping doesn’t really intimidate anybody,” Hardaway said after the match.

UCLA sophomore libero Taylor Formico stole the show defensively with 24 digs in the match, followed by WSU junior libero Kate Sommer with 13.

The Cougars’ conference schedule continues next weekend as they head south to take on the No. 11 Ducks Friday and Oregon State the following day with both matches slated to start at 7 p.m. Live stats for the Oregon game will be available on wsucougars.com and the Oregon State game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 networks.