WSU volleyball had one of the best weeks in recent program history last week, defeating No.4 University of Washington Huskies (11-1, 1-1) and No. 9 UCLA Bruins (10-2, 1-1) on the road.

The Cougars (12-2, 2-0) snapped up two different road losing streaks, each over 15 years long.

On Wednesday, WSU traveled to Alaska Airlines Arena to kick off conference play against a highly touted rival Washington. The Cougars had not won on the road against the Huskies since November of 2001, and had not beaten Washington in 13 straight matches.

Initially, it seemed both streaks would continue as the Huskies took advantage of passing miscues from the Cougars, cruising to a (25-16) set one victory.

As the match progressed it was clear that it would not be just another loss in a long streak for WSU. After correcting their passing in the second set, the Cougars rattled off three straight set victories, ending the losing streak against the Huskies with a (3-1) victory in Seattle.

“I’m super proud of this team,” Head Coach Jen Greeny said on wsucougars.com after her first win over the Huskies as the Cougars leader. “I think we had some nerves going in. Our passing was pretty atrocious in that first set and then we settled into it and the second set was so much better. We relaxed and I think they got a lot more confidence as the match went along.

It was a defensive struggle between both teams, as both sides hit well below their average with an identical .181 hitting percentage for the match.

The Cougar defensive effort was headed by senior outside hitter Kyra Holt and freshman libero Alexis Dirige, who were each in double-digit digs. Dirige had a career high 24 and Holt with a strong 14.

WSU’s blocking was also strong in the match. Led by sophomore middle blocker Claire Martin and junior outside hitter Casey Schoenlein, both players tallied 7 individual blocks.

The offense was led by Holt as well, as she completed the other half of her double-double with 21 kills hitting .264 for the night. Sophomores middle blocker Taylor Mims and outside hitter McKenna Woodford also had a good match. Mims hit .318 for the match, while Woodford racked up double digits in kills.

The Huskies were led by junior outside hitter Courtney Schwan, who had a double-double, scoring 15 kills and 12 digs. Junior outside hitter Crissy Jones had a 10 kill night, but hit just .093 on the match due to six attacking errors. Junior outside hitter Carly DeHoog was also a factor in the match with 7 kills on .538 hitting.

The UW defense accomplished the rare feat of out-blocking the Cougars. UW had 15 team blocks to WSU’s 13 behind UW freshman middle blocker Kara Bajema’s career high 12 blocks and junior outside hitter Tia Scambray’s six.

Freshman libero Shayne McPherson led the Husky defense in digs with 20, followed by Scambray and Schwan who had 13 and 12 respectively.

Despite the stout defense from UW, the Cougars found ways to push through, relying on heart and perseverance to get the team to a place it hadn’t been in 15 years.

“We kept working in practice and pushing each other to new levels,” Holt told wsucougars.com of her first win over the Huskies. “We have a belief in the team and a connection with everyone. It’s awesome.”

After getting past a tough Washington squad, the Cougars traveled to Southern California to take on No. 9 UCLA.

Just 48 hours after getting their first win on the road against Washington in 15 years, WSU would try to end an even longer losing streak of 19 years against the Bruins.

WSU got off to a fast start, taking the first two sets of the match on comebacks after being down early in both sets.

In the third set the Cougars came very close to the sweep, but UCLA took the set and rode the momentum through the fourth to force a deciding fifth and final set.

WSU fell behind early in the set, but was able to reel the Bruins back in and stay close enough to force a duce. The Cougars would take the final set 18-16, taking the match (3-2).

For the second time in the week, WSU played a defensively focused game, hitting just .222 itself and holding UCLA to a .190 hitting percentage.

The Cougar defense was anchored by blocks, as WSU out-blocked UCLA 15 to six in the match. Martin was again the leader in blocks for the Cougars as she racked up nine individual blocks in the 5-set match. Woodford and Mims were also major contributors on the block for WSU, with seven and six individual blocks respectively.

Martin currently sits 12th in the country with a mark of 1.56 blocks per set and Mims at 19th with 1.49. They anchor a Cougar front line that is third in the country in blocks per set.

The Cougar’s attack was led once more by Holt as she tallied 18 kills and an ace. Mims also had a strong night offensively as she hit .321 with 13 kills to go along with her six blocks.

UCLA had a dynamic attack, with five different players reaching double digits in kills including junior outside hitter Reily Buechler, who was second on the team with 15 kills but was also strong defensively as she finished off her double-double with 13 digs.

The Bruins had a strong attack Friday night, but their biggest strength is defense. UCLA currently ranks second in the Pac-12 in opponent hitting percentage behind only the Cougars, so it is no surprise that the match was a defensive struggle for the most part.

The Bruin block wasn’t as prevalent as WSU’s, but UCLA out-dug the Cougars 81-71, and held WSU to just a .222 hitting percentage on the match, .04 points lower than average.

WSU was able to overcome the menacing UCLA defense and come away with its second top 10 road upset of the week.

The AVCA coaches’ poll on Monday to see where the Cougars rank.

WSU will play No. 11 Stanford to Bohler Gym on Friday at 7 p.m. and the University of California, Berkeley, on Sunday at 11 a.m.