WSU volleyball claims first place in WCC after beating Beavs

In a battle of “Pac-2” schools, the Washington State Cougars weathered a rough second set to beat the Oregon State Beavers in four sets on Thursday at Bohler Gym in Pullman.

The set scores were 25-15, 16-25, 25-20 and 25-18.

WSU (11-5, 6-1) and OSU (4-12, 2-4) are West Coast Conference affiliate members for the next two seasons before they will be joined by five Mountain West schools and the WCC’s Gonzaga in a reborn Pac-12 Conference.

But for now, the Cougs and Beavs are WCC schools and the Cougs are sitting pretty in first place with a 6-1 league record. The Beavers sit in seventh place at 2-4.

However, WSU was playing to avenge last season’s five-set loss to Oregon State on Oct. 29, 2023, in Pullman.

WSU senior Katy Ryan, the WCC’s reigning Offensive Player of the Week, racked up six kills on a .750 hitting percentage in the first set. The senior from Rathdrum, Idaho, totaled seven kills and two blocks.

The Cougs won the first set, but dropped the second as the Beavers flipped the script.

In the third set, the Cougs relied on Sage Brustad, who finished the match with 19 kills and six digs.

After sophomore Emma Barbero’s ace — one of eight on the night for the Cougs — Idaho transfer Taryn Vrieling provided one of her 10 kills to clinch the Cougars’ third-set victory.

Oregon State did not go away in Set 4, tying things at 6-6 and crawling within one at 16-15 before Lucie Blazkova, the reigning WCC Freshman Player of the Week, posted two more of her eight blocks and Brustad added four more kills to clinch the set, 25-18, for the match win.