This weekend, No. 18 WSU women’s volleyball team (17-7, 7-5) suffered two losses against No. 17 Stanford (14-6, 8-4) and the University of California, Berkeley (9-13, 3-9) while on the road.

The Cougs lost against Stanford in three sets with scores of 25-18, 25-21, 25-21. WSU then suffered an upset in three sets against California on Saturday with set scores of 25-23, 25-17, and 25-22.

WSU senior outside hitter Kyra Holt led the Cougs with 11 kills, 10 digs, and two blocks in the game against Stanford. This was her 45th double-double in her career.

Sophomore outside hitter Mckenna Woodford clocked in six kills and two blocks while senior outside hitter Hailey Bethune had five kills and two blocks. Following closely behind her teammates was junior outside hitter Casey Schoenlein, who had five kills and one block.

Sophomore middle blockers Taylor Mims and Claire Martin each had four kills and Mims led the team defensively with four blocks while Martin had three. Junior setter Nicole Rigoni had 20 assists and nine digs for the night.

Stanford dominated WSU with its main weapon, freshman opposite/setter Kathryn Plummer, who contributed 17 kills and seven blocks. Redshirt senior middle blocker Inky Ajanaku had 10 kills and three blocks, while freshman setter Jenna Gray had 36 assists and five blocks.

Stanford hit .301 for the match, out-hitting the Cougs with 49 kills to WSU’s 35. Stanford, currently the best blocking team in the nation, won the defensive battle as well with nine blocks to WSU’s seven.

“I think we did some good things, but I don’t think we were as aggressive as we needed to be able to beat a team like Stanford and how well they are playing right now,” WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said. “It’s halfway through the Pac-12 season and teams are starting to adjust. We have to be ready to go from the get-go.”

Holt led the match against California with 12 kills and 11 digs for her 46th double-double. Woodford had nine kills (hitting .333), and Bethune contributed six kills (hitting .308). Martin led defensively for this match with six blocks, and was followed by Schoenlein and Mims with four blocks each.

Cal’s junior outside hitter Christine Alftin had 11 kills, leading the Golden Bears. Senior middle blocker Jenelle Jordan led the match with seven blocks and eight kills. WSU hit .113 for the match while Cal hit .136. WSU holds their rank at second in the nation for blocking, and won the battle with 11 blocks to the Bear’s eight. Cal tallied 38 kills to WSU’s 37.

“We had way too many errors against a not really great blocking team,” Greeny said. “We hit a lot of balls out-of-bounds and that’s a mentality problem: we have to be more aggressive. I thought we passed pretty well, but definitely made too many errors. Cal did a nice job of digging, being aggressive and we didn’t match that.”

Aggressiveness has been an issue for the Cougs as they start the second half of conference play. While the Cougs shine defensively with powerful middle blockers like Mims and Martin, WSU is starting to struggle, with kill errors playing a big part.

WSU will next play Oregon State (8-14, 1-10) on Friday at 7 p.m. and No. 20 Oregon (14-6, 7-5) on Sunday at 11 a.m. Both matches will be played at home in Bohler Gym.