The Washington State University women’s volleyball team is on a seven match losing skid heading into Friday’s upcoming match against the No. 16 ranked Arizona Wildcats.

WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said at Tuesday’s press conference she knows the tough schedule they have ahead of them and she is prepping the team for a tough match to end their losing streak.

Greeny optimistic that her team can win against the nationally ranked teams in the No. 16 ranked Wildcats and the No. 18 ranked Sun Devils from Arizona State University in the upcoming week.

“It has been a tough stretch of nationally ranked teams,” Greeny said. “But that’s what we really enjoy playing in the Pac-12 … competing against nationally ranked opponents and to hopefully beat those teams and become nationally ranked ourselves.”

The Cougars played their last home game on Oct. 5th where they competed against No. 19 ranked UCLA.

Greeny pointed out the silver lining in playing so many away games during the first half of the season.

“The second half of the Pac-12 season we will definitely get some home cooking,” Greeny said. “We just gotta continue to be tough and fight.”

Greeny also acknowledged the depth this team has and how it has helped the team in ways it had not in previous years.

“I think the depth is mostly helpful in practice,” Greeny said. “We get a lot of quality work in practice, more so than we have in the past … but you know if somebody is having an off night, it is always nice to be able to put somebody else in. Knowing that there are other people on the bench that can contribute is definitely helpful.”

Greeny gave praise to senior middle blocker Chelsey Bettinson who has been putting up impressive numbers this season in her senior year. Bettinson has a 1.46 blocks per set average which ranks No. 3 in the Pac-12 and 12th nationally.

“Chelsey [Bettinson] has done a fantastic job not only battling injuries throughout her career but just really hanging in there and competing day in and day out and working really hard I am really happy for her in her senior season to put up those kind of numbers pretty consistently. I am really proud of Chelsey [Bettinson] and the progress she has made on the court,” Greeny said.

This week, the team will be facing their seventh and eighth nationally ranked opponent over the past five weeks.

WSU will have their next game in Tucson, Arizona where they will play against No. 16 ranked University of Arizona on Friday Oct. 17 at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network.

Reporting by Alex Clark