An Apple Cup sweep

Sep. 22—There may not be a better way of saying "don't let the door hit you on the way out" than what No. 7 Washington State showed on Thursday.

The Cougars volleyball squad beat the Washington Huskies 3-0 with set scores of 25-17, 25-19, 25-15 in front of a packed Bohler Gym.

"It was packed tonight, once again — we love it," Washington State coach Jen Greeny said. "I don't think people realize how important it is to have this home-court advantage."

Here are some of the highlights from the latest, and perhaps one of the last, editions of the Apple Cup Series.

Money talks

Thursday's match was also the beginning of Pac-12 play for the Cougars. It was also the first match to have what will become a tradition for other conference foes who come through Bohler Gym.

"Moneytalks" by AC/DC played before the game — a not-so-subtle jab at Washington and other Pac-12 schools' decisions to leave the conference after this year.

Greeny said it was her idea to play the song, but will have another one queued up when Oregon State, the only other school other than Washington State to not yet leave the conference, comes into Bohler Gym.

"We'll play 'We are Family' when Oregon State comes," Greeny said. "But we're not happy about (Washington leaving). We like the rivalry, we liked going on the road together, trying to beat (Pac-12) teams together. (Washington's) volleyball team didn't choose to leave, but their school did. ... We'll try to send a lot of those teams out with a bang."

Starting off strong

Starting off strong and building an early lead is one thing a lot of coaches, regardless of sport, preach heavily. Steeper hills — harder climbs.

The hills the Cougars created for the Huskies weren't Everest, but it was enough.

Washington State (11-1, 1-0) opened the first set with a 9-2 lead, the second set with a 9-3 lead and the third with an 8-3 lead.

Aside from the opening points of each set, Washington (9-3, 0-1) only got within three points of the Cougars on a few occasions: in the second when it cut Washington State's lead down to 20-17 and then 22-19; and a string of points in the third set when the Huskies tied the Cougars at nine, 10 and then 11 points both ways before WSU rattled off seven straight to take an 18-11 lead.

Killing it

Another clear advantage for the Cougars were on kills. The home team had 40 total kills off 78 attacks and was hitting at a .385% clip. Washington converted 30 kills off 88 attacks and hit on only a .170% mark.

Graduate outside hitter Iman Isanovic and fifth-year outside hitter Pia Timmer accounted for more than half of WSU's kills. Isanovic had a game-high 13 and Timmer added 10.

Timmer along with fifth-year libero Karly Basham also helped neutralize the attacks of the Huskies. Timmer had eight digs while Basham had a game-high 13.

"We have a lot of trust in each other," Isanovic said. "We clearly worked hard on our defense. So, at no point in time are we anxious. ... Obviously, it's a rivalry game. They came here, they want to be the best that they can."

Other highlights

One of the highlights of the match came in the second set. After a long rally, Basham rushed to the sideline to save a ball that looked like it was going into the second row after a miss-aimed receive by the Cougars. WSU got the point and went up 19-13.

Timmer and fifth-year middle blocker Magda Jehlarova were brick-wall solid at the net late in the third set and had crucial blocks that helped accelerate the Cougars' 7-0 run. Timmer finished with two total blocks and Jehlarova had five total for the match.

Up next

Washington State will continue Pac-12 competition against Arizona on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Tucson, Ariz., at the McKale Center.

Kowatsch can be contacted at 208-848-2268, tkowatsch@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @Teren_Kowatsch.