WSU women’s volleyball continued their hot run through the preseason, winning two of their three matches this weekend at the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raider Bash.

The Cougars had a strong start, kicking off the tournament Friday night with a 3-0 win over Virginia Tech (25-22, 25-22, 25-22). Sophomore outside hitter Kyra Holt led the team with 12 kills and a .455 hitting average. Senior middle blocker Ver’Leea Hardaway followed with 11 kills.

“It’s nice to see (Hardaway) playing really well,” Head Coach Jen Greeny said in an interview with wsucougars.com after the game. “Holt came up with some pretty big numbers as well.”

Friday night was “a good night all-around” with strong passing and ball movement, Greeny said

Saturday morning, the Cougs faced Belmont and picked up their second sweep (25-15, 25-16, 25-9).

“It’s tough when you have a big night match and win, and then come back and play first thing in the morning,” Greeny said. “You never know how your team’s going to come out, but I thought we did a fantastic job.”

Holt led the team in kills for the second match in a row with 12, and a hitting average of .524. Hardaway followed with 9 kills for the match. Junior libero Kate Sommer led the team in passing with 12 digs.

That evening, WSU fell to No. 12 Illinois 0-3 (25-20, 25-20, and 25-23).

“We can definitely play a lot better than we did tonight,” Greeny said after the loss. “I don’t think we were executing really well offensively.”

Senior outside hitter Jaicee Harris led the team in kills with 14 and a hitting average of .417. Middle blocker Chelsey Bettinson followed with 10 kills. Illinois’ redshirt junior outside hitter Jocelynn Birks totaled 16 kills against the Cougs, leading the match.

Greeny said that Illinois had a big block, which is not something the Cougars had seen yet this season.

“It was a great match for us to play and a good tournament here at Middle Tennessee,” Greeny said. “We need to watch the film from tonight and learn from it and be better next time.”

           Washington State hosts their first home tournament of the season, the Cougar Challenge, which starts at 7 p.m on Thursday with a match against Idaho in Bohler Gym. The team will then play Portland State and Loyola Marymount Friday. Live stats for the tournament will be available at wsucougars.com.

Reporting by Bridgette Larsen