VOLLEYBALL
Sweetness: Cougs clip Vols
WSU beats Tennessee in four sets
to earn place in the
Sweet 16
By STEPHAN WIEBE
Moscow Pullman Daily News
Dec 2, 2018
PULLMAN — Four years ago, the Washington State volleyball
team’s freshmen, now seniors, endured a 1-19 Pac-12 Conference season.
On Saturday, the Cougars earned a spot in the NCAA
tournament’s Sweet 16 for the first time in 16 years.
The No. 19 Cougars toppled No. 19 Tennessee — yes, the
teams were tied in the rankings — in four sets in front of a raucous crowd of
nearly 1,800 at Bohler Gym. The set scores were 30-28, 25-18, 25-19, 25-13.
“In the two years in the past, this is where we (ended),
so we don’t know what it’s like to move forward from here,” said senior outside
hitter McKenna Woodford, who led the team with 19 kills.
“I can’t put into words just the fact that this is our
last game in Bohler, our huge group of seniors — we’re just honored and so
thankful that we were able to make this mark on the program and continue on
this year.”
The match’s wild first set set the tone for the Cougars.
The back-and-forth set featured nine ties, five lead
changes and seven match points, including five for the Volunteers. But each
time Tennessee (26-6) tried to close the set, the 16th-seeded Cougars (23-9)
responded.
Tennessee made it to match point first, but a Taylor Mims
kill from the left side kept the Cougars alive at 24-23 and a Jocelyn Urias
hammer on the right tied it at 24-24. From there, the teams traded points until
a big block by Claire Martin and Ella Lajos clinched the set for WSU, 10
nail-biting points later.
It was one of two clutch blocks in extra points for
Martin, a senior middle blocker who was in on seven blocks on the night. The
Cougars finished with 13 teams blocks to seven for the Vols.
“It’s just trust mostly,” Martin said. “I trusted Ashley
Brown next to me, Ella, Kenna, Taylor that they were going to set a good block
up and I just needed to close it.”
Washington State’s momentum carried it into a second set
in which the Cougars never trailed. A sneaky kill by Brown (43 assists, 10
digs) set up match point when the junior setter set up for a pass only to send
the ball backward over the net, where it fell to the court in front of the
unsuspecting Vols. WSU won the set on a Tennessee error.
Even when the Volunteers — unwilling to go out in a sweep
— won the third set, Washington State still left it with momentum. The Cougars
scrambled from a 10-point deficit at 20-10 to cut Tennessee’s lead to four at
22-18.
Washington State coach Jen Greeny said the team talked
midway through the set about trying to finish strong despite the Volunteers’
big lead.
“We called a timeout, I think we were down 18-11, and I
just said, ‘Hey, we’re not going to get all these points back at once, but if
we can get a little bit of momentum going into the fourth, that’s always a good
thing.’ And we did. We kind of ran off some points there in the third and got a
little momentum back.”
That was all Washington State needed.
The fourth set was the most decisive of the match. The
Cougars closed it with a 9-3 run, sealed by a Woodford kill that bounced off a
couple of Tennessee defenders and floated helplessly out of bounds.
The Cougar bench rushed the court to celebrate the team’s
first Sweet 16 since 2002.
Woodford, Mims (17 kills) and Urias (14 kills) led WSU’s
balanced attack, Penny Tusa (15 digs) and Alexis Dirige (18 digs) kept the ball
alive and a host of Cougars came in on blocks.
Tessa Grubbs tallied a match-high 21 kills for Tennessee,
which hit .219 to .273 for WSU.
“I thought Washington State played great,” Tennessee
assistant coach Tyler Adams said. “I thought both of their lefts (Woodford and
Mims) had really good games, hit for high numbers, bailed them out of a bunch
of situations.
“The crowd was great. It was a great environment to play
in.”
Familiar foe
The Cougars will face a familiar opponent in Friday’s
NCAA Regionals.
Washington State heads to Palo Alto, Calif., to take on
No. 1 Stanford — a team that’s beat the Cougars twice this season.
“We’ve played down there before — this isn’t new to us,”
Woodford said. “I think that’s the greatest thing is we’re more prepared than
we think we are and we haven’t even prepared yet. We know what they’re like, what
their gym is like.
“It’s hard to beat a team three times in a row, so we’ll
see what we can do.”
Coachless Tennessee
The Volunteers played its two matches in Pullman without
first-year head coach Eve Rackham, who stayed home after giving birth to her
son, Jude, on Nov. 21.
Even though she wasn’t in Pullman, she stayed involved
with the team from afar and stayed in constant communication, Adams said.
“She’s as much a part of this team, even though she’s not
here, as anybody,” Adams said. “We know she’s proud of this group and the
effort we give every day.”
::::::::::::::::::::::
FOOTBALL:
No. 13 WSU headed to the Alamo Bowl to face No. 24 Iowa
State
17
This is ... not what we anticipated.
By Michael Preston Coug Center Dec 2, 2018, 12:54pm PST
Despite a disappointing finish in the final CFP rankings
considering the teams ahead of them, the Washington State Cougars are still
heading to the Pac-12’s No. 2 bowl game, taking on the Iowa St. Cyclones from
the Big 12 Conference in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas, on Dec. 28.
The 10-win and No. 13 Cougs exceeded all expectations
this year, finishing in a tie for first in the Pac-12 North and ending the year
with their most prestigious bowl appearance since the Holiday Bowl in 2003.
Wazzu has already set a school record for most consecutive seasons with a bowl
appearance at four and can set another record, for wins in a season, if they
can pick up their 11th.
Iowa State (8-4) finished No. 24 in the final CFP
rankings.
For the Cougs, they’re surely disappointed to not finish
in the top-12, thanks in large part to some blue blood bias on the part of the
CFP committee. Still though, in a season they were picked to finish fifth in
the Pac-12 North and win no more than half a dozen games, this is a hell of an
accomplishment.
Start making your travel plans for the fourth straight
season, Cougs.
::::::::::::
FOOTBALL:
Washington State to face Big 12 foe Iowa State in Valero
Alamo Bowl
UPDATED: Sun., Dec. 2, 2018, 2:11 p.m.
By Theo Lawson S-R of Spokane
The 2018 season may not end with a major New Year’s Six
bowl for Washington State, but it’ll still end at a place many fans and
prognosticators wouldn’t have expected it to when the Cougars opened fall camp
in the early days of August.
WSU (10-2, 7-2) will appear in its fourth consecutive
bowl game for the first time in school history on Dec. 28 when the Cougars take
on Big 12 opponent Iowa State (8-4, 6-3) in the Valero Alamo Bowl in San
Antonio, Texas. The Alamo Bowl will kick off at 6 p.m. and will be televised on
ESPN.
“We are excited to be a part of the Alamo Bowl against a
great opponent in Iowa State,” WSU coach Mike Leach said in a press release.
“The Alamo Bowl does a fantastic job with tremendous people hosting and running
the events. We look forward to a great week.”
The Cougars finished the season No. 13 in the last edition
of the College Football Playoff rankings, one place lower than they would’ve
needed to be to lock in a NY6 bowl. The Cyclones are ranked No. 24 in the CFP
and finished their regular season Saturday, scraping out a 27-24 win over FCS
opponent Drake.
If the Cougars didn’t crack the top 12 of the CFP
rankings and were shut out of a NY6 bowl, many projected that San Antonio would
be the destination for WSU and coach Mike Leach, who’ll be returning to the
state where he spent a decade, from 2000-09, as the coach at Texas Tech.
However, most predicted a matchup between WSU and No. 16
West Virginia. Instead, the Alamo Bowl grabbed another Big 12 team with an
identical conference record to WVU, but one with a lower national ranking.
“Anybody. Anytime. Anywhere. Don’t matter. We’re goin for
number 11! #GoCougs” WSU quarterback Gardner Minshew tweeted Sunday afternoon.
There may have been more zest and appeal in a game
between the Cougars and Mountaineers, who each have a Heisman Trophy candidate
at the quarterback position, but ISU, under the direction of third-year coach
Matt Campbell, still poses an interesting test.
Just two teams in the Big 12 are giving up fewer than 400
yards per game this season and only two are ranked top 50 in total defense. TCU
is one of those and ISU is the other, allowing 351 yards per game. The Cyclones
are also better-equipped to handle an offense such as WSU’s Air Raid, giving up
just 228 passing yards per game.
ISU had its season opener against South Dakota State
cancelled and the Cyclones lost three of their first four games, to Iowa,
Oklahoma and TCU, before snagging a Big 12 win against Oklahoma State and
closing the season with seven victories in their final eight games.
The only other loss for ISU came to a Texas team ranked
No. 15 at the time, but the Cyclones did manage to bag a few ranked wins of
their own, beating then No. 25 Oklahoma State 48-42 and No. 6 West Virginia
30-14 the following week.
In defeating the Mountaineers, ISU held quarterback Will
Grier to 11-of-15 passing and just 100 yards through the air in the worst game
of the season for the Heisman Trophy candidate. WVU finished the game with 152
yards of total offense – its lowest toal of the season.
Led by Minshew, the national leader in passing yards per
game, the Cougars have their first 10-win season in 15 years. The Alamo Bowl
will be their fourth consecutive postseason appearance, after trips to the Sun
Bowl (2015) and Holiday Bowl (2016, 2017). WSU, which played in the New Mexico
Bowl in 2013, is 1-3 in bowl games under Leach.
The Cougars have played in the Alamo Bowl one other time
in program history, edging Baylor 10-3 in 1994. This will mark the first-ever
meeting between WSU and ISU.
::::::::::::::
WSU FOOTBALL
Washington State finishes No. 13 in final College
Football Playoff rankings, misses out on NY6 bowl
UPDATED: Sun., Dec. 2, 2018, noon
Spokesman-Review by Theo Lawson
PULLMAN – There will be no New Year’s Six bowl game for
the Washington State football team despite the program’s first 10-win season in
15 years.
The Cougars finished No. 13 in the final edition of the
College Football Playoff rankings, eliminating the possibility of an appearance
in one of the prestigious New Year’s Six bowl games. The NY6 games – the Rose
Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Peach Bowl, Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl – take
the top 12 teams in the country.
WSU (10-2, 7-2) dropped five places from No. 8 to No. 13
last week following a loss to Washington in the Apple Cup and stayed stagnant
when the final rankings were unveiled Sunday morning on the College Football
Playoff show.
Florida (9-3), LSU (9-3) and Penn State (9-3) all ended
the year with one more loss and one fewer win than WSU, but finished ahead of
the Cougars in the final CFP rankings – at No. 10, No. 11 and No. 12
respectively.
It’s presumed the Cougars will still be invited to an
attractive non-NY6 bowl, most likely the Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. The
Alamo Bowl pits the Pac-12 Conference against the Big 12 Conference. Before the
weekend, most media outlets projected that the Cougars would play West Virginia
in the Dec. 28 game, held at the historic Alamodome. The Alamo Bowl will kick
off at 6 p.m. PT and air on ESPN.
No. 9 Washington (10-3) and No. 17 Utah (9-4) were the
only other Pac-12 teams to wind up in the final CFP rankings. The Huskies will
play in the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl by virtue of beating the Utes 10-3 in Friday’s
Pac-12 championship game.
The Cougars stayed in front of Penn State and kept their
place at No. 12 in Sunday’s Associated Press Top 25 rankings. UW moved up one
spot to No. 9 and Utah fell three spots to No. 20 after the Pac-12 championship
game.
::::::::::::::::::::
COUG WOMEN’S BASKETBALL:
WSU 95, Boise State 71
Lewiston Trib
PULLMAN — Burying its foe with an avalanche of 3s,
Washington State hit five of its first six from deep and ran away with a
nonleague win over Boise State at Beasley Coliseum.
On fire, the Cougars scored the tilt’s first nine points
and 17 of the first 20 to open up a double-digit advantage right off the bat.
After the Broncos made a small run to start the second
quarter, cutting the WSU lead to nine, the Cougars responded with the knockout
blow, rolling off a 20-0 run that put BSU away for good. The run was sparked by
Borislava Hristova, whose defense turned into easy offense as the WSU star
scored eight of her game-high 30 points during her team’s double-digit run.
The Cougars’ Alexys Swedlund dropped in five of her
career-best 24 during the run while also helping to stymie any offensive threat
by the Broncos with a pair of blocks as WSU completely shut things down on the
defensive end of the floor.
“Well obviously I could not be happier for our team,” WSU
coach Kammie Ethridge said. “It is exactly the kind of effort that we have been
just begging them to give and to show and what they haven’t been doing and why
everything has been such a struggle.”
BOISE ST. (5-2)
Coleman 1-6 0-0 2, Harrell 1-4 0-0 2, Christopher 5-7 0-0
11, Hermida 1-12 2-2 4, Lupfer 4-12 2-2 12, Bowers 3-9 2-2 8, Galeron 1-2 0-0
3, Toth 0-0 0-0 0, Hodgins 1-7 4-6 6, Loville 7-9 1-2 18, Woerner 2-6 1-2 5,
Totals 26-74 12-16 71.
WASHINGTON ST. (4-4)
Hristova 11-20 4-6 30, Levy 5-7 0-0 13, Kostourkova 4-5
1-3 9, Molina 4-8 0-0 9, Swedlund 9-14 1-1 24, Motuga 0-5 3-4 3, Subasic 2-4
0-0 4, Jones 0-1 0-0 0, Molina 1-1 0-0 2, Molina 0-0 1-2 1, Totals 36-65 10-16
95.
Boise St. 15 14 20 22—71
Washington St. 30 26 16 23—95
3-Point Goals—Boise St. 7-27 (Christopher 1-1, Hermida
0-7, Lupfer 2-9, Galeron 1-2, Hodgins 0-3, Loville 3-4, Woerner 0-1),
Washington St. 13-23 (Hristova 4-5, Levy 3-4, Molina 1-3, Swedlund 5-8, Motuga
0-2, Subasic 0-1). Assists—Boise St. 10 (Christopher 5), Washington St. 26
(Molina 11). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Boise St. 39 (Lupfer 7), Washington St.
40 (Kostourkova 12). Total Fouls—Boise St. 17, Washington St. 15. Technical
Fouls—None.A—547.
::::
VOLLEYBALL: Career Efforts Lead To A Run-Away Win Over
Boise State
Washington State blitzed the Broncos early and never
looked back in a 95-71 win.
From WSU Sports Info
Next WSU Women’s Basketball game: at Gonzaga 12/9/2018 |
2:00 PM
PULLMAN, Wash. - In one of its most complete offensive
efforts in program history, Washington State women's basketball (4-4) ran away
with a 95-71 win over Boise State (5-2) Saturday afternoon at Beasley Coliseum.
From the opening tip the Cougars broke the Broncos, scoring the first nine
points of the contest and 17 of the first 20 to open up a double-digit
advantage.
Burying BSU with an avalanche of three-pointers, the
Cougars hit five of their first six from deep in the first quarter while
shooting a scorching 75% from the floor to start the game. After the Broncs
made a small run to start the second quarter cutting the WSU lead to nine, the
Cougars responded with the knockout blow, rolling off a 20-0 run that put BSU
away for good. The run was sparked by Borislava Hristova who's defense turned
into easy offense as the star scored eight of her game-high 30 points during
the five-minute stretch.
Just behind Hristova, senior Alexys Swedlund dropped in
five of her career-best 24 during the run while also helping to stymie any
offensive threat by the Broncos with a pair of blocks as WSU completely shut
things down on the defensive end of the floor. In all, the Cougars shot 62.9%
from the floor in the first half while draining 11-of-17 from deep to close out
the half. With a healthy lead at the break, the Cougars let off the gas in the
second half while still maintaining a nearly three touchdown advantage over the
Broncos throughout the second half.
WSU Coach Kamie Ethridge:
"Well obviously I could not be happier for our team.
It is exactly the kind of effort that we have been just begging them to give
and to show and what they haven't been doing and why everything has been such a
struggle. We really talked about how if we could clean up our effort and give
better effort across the board, every one of us, a lot of mistakes would be
covered up. We came out and they just played unbelievably hard maybe for a full
game for the first time this year."
WSU improved to .500 on the year for the first time after
winning its third-consecutive games. The Cougars have now won the last two
matchups with the Broncos and are in the lead 20-19 in the all-time series.
The Cougars' 95 points tied for the 10th most in a single
game in the NCAA era. It was their most points scored since scoring 107 against
Oregon in the Pac-12 Tournament March 6, 2014. The 95 points followed a 91
point effort against USF Thursday marking the first time in program history the
Cougars scored at least 90 points in back-to-back games.
The Cougars' hit 13 three-pointers, including 11 in the
first half, tied for the fourth-most in program history.
WSU's 26 assists were also the fourth-most in a single
game and were the most since posting 24 against Portland State Dec. 3, 2004.
Chanelle Molina led the way with a career-best 11 assists to go along with nine
points and six rebounds.
Borislava Hristova posted her eighth-straight
double-digit scoring effort while eclipsing the 20-point mark for the fifth
time and the 30-point mark for the second time on the year. It was her fourth
30-point effort of her career. She finished her day 11-of-20 from the field while
tying a career high with four three-pointers.
Alexys Swedlund's 24 points set a career high for the
senior while marking her second 20-point effort of the season. She added three
steals and a career-best two blocks to go with three rebounds.
Freshman Shir Levy hit double-figures for the first time
in her career with 13 points including hitting 3-of-4 from deep.
Redshirt-freshman Celena Molina notched her first career point, a free throw
with :38 seconds to play that pushed the Cougars to 95 points.
WSU shot a season-best 55.4% (36-of-65) from the floor
and 56.5% (13-of-23) from deep.
Boise State put three in double-figures led by Jade
Loville with 18 points. Riley Lupfer and Jayde Christopher added 12 and 11
points, respectively.
:::::::::::::
MEN’S BASKETBALL Cougs fall in heartbreaker to New Mexico
State, 69-63
WSU battled back, but unable to pull off the upset.
By Kyle Sherwood
Dec 1, 2018, 8:20pm PST Coug Center
The Washington State Cougars put up more of a fight than
expected in Las Cruces, but committed eighteen turnovers in a loss to the New
Mexico State Aggies on Saturday night, 69-63.
NMSU, ranked 115th on KenPom’s laptop, would probably be
the 10th or 11th best team in the Pac-12 this year, so this should give you
some preview of what WSU’s “easiest” road trips in conference play will look
like.
The Aggies pulled out to a double digit within the first
six minutes of the game thanks to some hot shooting from the outside after the
Cougars seemed to let every three-pointer go uncontested. New Mexico State made
six threes in the first eight minutes
WSU battled back and forced a few turnovers and hit some
threes of their own to coincide with the Aggies going ice cold at the flip of a
switch to pull within three points at the six-minute mark, before setting for a
33-25 deficit at the half. C.J. Bobbitt led all scorers in the first half, tallying
11 of his 15 points before halftime.
Robert Franks, mostly quiet in the first half, took over
in the 2nd, dropping eight points in the first five minutes, leading the Cougs
to making up the deficit and tying the game at 38-38. Franks missed two free throws
at the thirteen minute mark which apparently meant everyone in the crowd won a
free chicken according to the NMSU radio team
Franks picked up his fourth foul at the eleven-minute
mark, but the Cougs were able to stave off his absence with threes from Viont’e
Daniels and Jervae Robinson, and WSU was able to match the Aggies bucket for
bucket upon Frank’s return. New Mexico St only led by one point at the
three-minute media timeout. But the first three-pointer of the season for Shunn
Buchanan right out of the break put the Aggies up four and they didn’t look
back for the remainder of the game. New Mexico shot free throws for the
remainder of the game to extend their lead and make the final tally look much
less close than the contest actually was.
CJ Elleby led all scorers with 18 points and 9 rebounds.
Up next, WSU will head home to battle Idaho for the 274th
Battle of the Palouse. The Vandals have won three of the four matchups since
hiring Ernie Kent, including last season by 27 points, so revenge will be on
everyone’s minds. Idaho is 3-4 so far this season.
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