No. 10 Washington State downs Grand Canyon, earns third-consecutive first-round sweep

PULLMAN, Wash. — Iman Isanovic had a team-high 16 kills in her first-career NCAA Tournament match as No. 10 Washington State (25-7) defeated Grand Canyon (23-8), 3-0 (25-12, 31-29, 25-17) Friday night in Bohler Gym.

Pia Timmer added another 15 kills for the Cougars, and Magda Jehlarova finished with seven kills and three blocks to tie the all-time Pac-12 career blocks (756) in a third-straight NCAA First Round sweep for WSU (the Cougs also swept Northern Colorado in 2021 in Waco and UNLV in San Diego in 2022).

Libero Karly Basham finished with 10 digs on the Cougar back row, while Isanovic, Timmer, and Argentina Ung each added another seven digs.  Ung tallied three kills on the night with 41 assists, and the Cougars improved to 14-0 on the season when hitting .300 or better as a team— Washington State finished its first round match at .375 (54-15-104) hitting as a team.

WSU had eyes on a program record for hitting efficiency in the opening set as the Cougars finished the first with a .600 team hitting percentage, winning 10-of-12 sideout points (83 percent) in the first.  WSU went on a 7-0 run early in the match to watch its lead balloon to double digits, eventually winning the first, 25-12.

Grand Canyon improved its hitting numbers drastically in the second, going from just .130 hitting (7-4-23) in the first to .283 (18-5-46) in the second set.  GCU saw the first two set point opportunities when Timmer strung together three-consecutive kills to flip the script and give the Cougars a look at set point.  Isanovic and Jehlarova eventually combined for back-to-back kills to bring the Bohler crowd into a frenzy as the Cougars survived four total GCU set points in the second to win the set, 31-29.

Washington State carried the momentum of its second-set comeback win into a third set in which it hit .345 as a team (15-5-29), while winning 13-of-17 (76 percent) of sideout points as it finished off its 15th sweep of the season.

The 10th-ranked Cougars will turn their attention to Dayton (32-2), which survived a five-set thriller in Friday’s opening round against Pepperdine.  Washington State and Dayton will return to Bohler Gym for a second-round match tomorrow night, beginning at 7:02 p.m. on ESPN+.

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