As the No. 10 WSU women’s volleyball team (14-2, 4-0) continues to rise in the Pac-12 standings, its players are tallying up impressive weekly awards.

This week, sophomore middle blocker Taylor Mims received her first career collegiate honor in the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week. Mims stands at 6-3 with a quick and powerful spike that shoots like a bullet straight down into her opponent’s defense.

Mims was a key player in WSU’s victories over then-No.9 Stanford and California at home last weekend. The Cougars are riding a four-match winning streak with three of the victories coming over a top-10 opponent.

Mims had 13 kills and eight blocks in the 3-2 win over Stanford on Friday. On Sunday, Mims continued to pull through for her team, contributing eight kills and five blocks against California.

“I’m really happy about it, happy how our work in practice is showing through in each game and as a result of our work ethic,” Mims said. “The wins are kind of like a congrats, a present.”

Mims attributes the Cougars string of wins and strong start to the season to the pride the city of Pullman and the university takes in its athletic teams.

“Keep it up, it means a ton to us. We love our fans and support system,” Mims said. “It means the world to us that they’re there. It’s a tremendous help when we face big top-10 teams and playing in Pullman is so different from playing in different gyms because we have our fans and they are the biggest thing we have so it’s awesome when they come out to watch.”

This weekend, WSU travels to Oregon to compete against both Oregon State (8-7, 1-3), and No. 20 Oregon (11-2, 4-0).

“I know Oregon is ranked No. 20, but I don’t think we should put a number to them, and we shouldn’t put a number to ourselves, even though we’re ranked 10th,” Mims said when asked about the upcoming matches. “I really don’t think we should get a big head – just play like we usually play, whether it’s Stanford or another team, it makes no difference.”

Mims also discussed areas in which the high-flying Cougars can improve their play going forward in the Pac-12.

“I know a lot has improved already, but one thing I think we should work on would probably being more self-confidence,” Mims said. “We say we know how good we can be, but we need to play like that also. We need to know and acknowledge that we can hang with the top-10.”

After dominating Stanford in the first of five tension-filled sets, WSU fell 25-17 in the second set and a close 28-26 in the fourth set, all due to small errors.  

“Once we get in a rut of errors, our mindset dips down low and goes back to how we played last year, which was our biggest problem,” Mims said. “But we always say that was last year’s team and this is a new year. We just have to come in, take a deep breathe, and restart. We have to get better at being able to hit that restart button and take the game point-by-point, rather than worrying if we’re five points behind and the whole game.”

Mims continues to better herself for her team in pursuit of her own personal goals and development as a volleyball player.

“A personal goal for me is to be more dependable, know that my teammates can trust me, and every ball I get set, I have to know that I have the confidence to give my all for every point,” Mims said. “I love hitting. It’s my favorite thing. There’s a spot I hit about 80 percent of the time, and no one has ever stopped it.I also play left back, so they have me work on digging because I’m a target being in back row. I like playing defense because I don’t get to do it a lot, I think it’s a whole new world and it’s fun.”

Being a student-athlete comes with its own set of pressures and challenges. For Mims, changing her major last spring was one of such decisions she had to weigh.

“I’m changing my major to more sports management and business,” Mims said. “At first, I wanted to be a vet tech, but the way my schedule is I would have to pack a lot in. They don’t encourage us to do any labs or hard classes during season because we’re on the road so much. So my spring semester would be jam packed and I could try to do it, but knowing myself I wouldn’t apply myself enough. I really want to do something with sports.”

A basketball player in high school in Billings, Montana, Mims said that she likes going to the rec and playing for fun when she can. She also added what she likes to do in her spare time.

“Sounds weird, but I like to clean a lot,” Mims said. “If you ask my friends they’ll tell you I’m a clean freak. I like cleaning my room, doing dishes. I don’t mind it. I like to go on drives with my friends, explore the wheat fields. The little things. There’s not much to do here, so we make up our own stuff to do.”

Mims and the rest of the team will take on the Beavers at 7 p.m. on Friday and UO at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Friday’s match will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.