The WSU Cougars (8-1) defeated the Liberty University Flames (5-4) in three straight-set wins, on Saturday in the final match of The Cougar Challenge in Pullman.

The Cougars are not ranked but improved their record to 8-1 while Liberty (5-4) lost for the fourth time in a row. The sets final set scores were 25-18, 25-19, 25-21.

“I am overall pretty happy with the way that we played,” head coach Jen Greeny said. “With having such a young team, there is a lot that we can work on going forward especially next week as we start getting into Pac-12 play.”

Senior libero Alexis Dirige laid out on multiple plays and led the team with 10 digs.

“Alexis is awesome, she has been our starting libero now, this is her fourth season and she is somebody that is really consistent,” Greeny said. “You can just count on her to put it on the line every day.”

Many players contributed to the victory, including freshman Pia Timmer, who had 9 kills, 27 attacks, and 12 points. Junior Penny Tusa, contributed 10 digs and redshirt freshman Hannah Pukis led WSU with 26 assists.

“I think this game was pretty good, … [this] is something we can learn from and there is always something we can improve on,” said Timmer.

Although Liberty lost the match, it did have a player who stood out. That was junior Casey Goodwin, who had 10 kills, and 28 attacks.

WSU will begin the UTRGV Tournament at 8 a.m. on Friday in Edinburg, Texas. Their first match is against Houston Baptist.

“We still have so much to work on that every day in practice we are just focusing on getting better,” Greeny said. “Not really focused on the results or the record but just trying to get better.”