Sept. 19, 2008
Box Score
PULLMAN, Wash. -- The Washington State volleyball team wrapped up its non-conference schedule with a 25-21, 25-21, 25-21 win over Utah Valley University Friday night on Marcia Saneholtz Court before 1,059 fans at Bohler Gym.
It was also a memorable night as WSU junior libero Kelly Hyder (Huntington Beach, Calif.) became the school's career digs leader after she posted 15 digs to bring her three-year total to 1,260 digs. Hyder surpassed the 1,254 career digs of Shannon Wyckoff (Hunt), Cougar letterwinner from 1994-97, who was in attendance at Bohler Gym for WSU volleyball alumnae weekend festivities.
Washington State, 7-4, was led by Jackie Albright's 10 kills. Hyder's 15 digs led the match with Albright adding 11 digs and Brittany Johnson contributing 9 kills, 10 digs and 3 blocks. Renee Bordelon had 24 assists. WSU hit .213 for the match.
Utah Valley University's record dropped to 2-7. Kayli Broadbent led the Wolverines with 14 kills while Kristen Anderson had 9 kills and a match-high 4 blocks. Allyce Wilson had 20 digs and Chelsea Fa'alogo had 18 assists and Kristi Lindley had 16 assists.
The Cougars extended a first set 13-12 lead to a 20-15 advantage. After the teams traded pairs of points, Utah Valley rattled off a trio to be down by 22-20, forcing WSU to regroup with a timeout. Cassie Robbins landed a kill and Anderson answered with a kill for the Wolverines. Emily Rooney rolled a ball right over the opposite side of the net and then served for set-point. WSU claimed the 25-21 victory when Chelsey Garfield hit into the net. WSU's Johnson had five kills and hit .385 in the set.
WSU led throughout the second set but had a scare late when Utah Valley pulled to with two. Cougars hit a mere .175 but capitalized on the five service errors by the Wolverines who hit .156. Cougs win 25-21.
The third set was all Cougs after the first point but UVU scored three points as WSU was serving for set and match, ahead 24-18. Broadbent slammed down a kill, Fa'alogo served an ace and WSU freshman, Breann Nesselhuf, getting experience at the setter position, was called for a lift. Finally, WSU sub Catie Schuetzle slammed home the kill for the WSU 25-21 win.
"This match gave us the opportunity to use Breann Nesselhuf at setter in situations where she doesn't have a lot of pressure on her but she can get experience for one more match. I wish we had one more after seeing her play tonight. I thought she came in and did a great job of setting the ball to the outsides which is what she struggled with early in the season," WSU Head Coach Andrew Palileo said. "Meagan Ganzer got to go in and do some good things. And being able to use Catie at the end - those are good opportunities. But it can work both ways. The first two sets I wasn't happy with the way we were playing because we weren't controlling points on our side of the net. We were giving up too many easy points. The third set was better as we were able to handle with ball with much fewer errors."
Washington State opens the Pacific-10 Conference volleyball season at Arizona and Arizona State next weekend.
