Cougs Sweep WSU Drubs K-State To Gain Regional Semis

The second-round swoon song has been officially shipped to the archives.

The Washington State volleyball team left little doubt that this year, it was going to escape an upset in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament. The Cougars removed that doubt with a convincing 15-6, 16-14, 15-12 win over Kansas State Sunday in Bohler Gym.

The victory moved the ninth-ranked Cougars into the Pacific Regional semifinal round, where they will meet No. 6 Loyola Marymount Friday at Stanford. The win marked the first time the Cougars had won a second-round match, erasing the disappointing memory of last year’s loss to Oral Roberts.

“I’m going to presume that not one person is going to ask me about Oral Roberts,” Washington State coach Cindy Fredrick said at a post-match press conference. “But I do want you to know that in your honor, I told my team I wore the same tie I wore last year against Oral Roberts just to show you guys we weren’t even worried about that again.”

Fredrick’s Cougars (26-5) tied up the triumph about as quickly as the coach had knotted that natty red accessory around her neck.

WSU stumbled slightly in the second game - falling behind 7-1 - but the Cougars rallied after fighting off two Wildcats game points. During the sputter, former starting left hitter Shannon Wyckoff replaced Jennifer Canevari, who had been struggling in the front row. Wyckoff remained in the match.

After Washington State knotted the game at 14-14 on Keren Oigman’s block, Jennifer Stinson landed a kill two services later. WSU won the match on the next point when K-State’s Kim Zschau’s attempted kill landed low in the net.

“We picked it up (in the second game),” said Cougars setter Stephanie Papke. “I think that’s really some

of our strength this year, our ability to come from behind and really take control back in the game.”

The Wildcats, ranked 24th and done for the year with a 26-9 record, had little success controlling anything, especially Sarah Silvernail.

Silvernail finished with a match-high 24 kills although she fell below her conference-high .408 hitting percentage with a .354 average. She also accounted for a match-high 12 digs.

During one span in the opening game, Silvernail slammed five kills to the floor, two from her back-row position. The fifth kill that saw nothing but hardwood gave the Cougars a 13-6 lead. On the following point, Oigman (seven blocks) and Stinson (four blocks) scored on a blocked shot. The Cougs won the game when K-State’s Toie Young missed an attempted kill.

“I think when you watch the other team’s blockers when she’s (Silvernail) going up to hit, it’s always kinda fun ‘cause they look at each other and say, ‘You get it. You should of had it. Well, where were you!’” Fredrick said. “It was fun to see.”

But not quite as entertaining for the opponents.

“Sarah Silvernail is a great player,” said Kansas State’s Devon Ryning, a Washington product out of Enumclaw. “(Against her), you have to play your basic defense and dig the balls that are diggable. But at the same time, she’s going to put balls away. That’s Sarah Silvernail. That’s why she’s the Pac-10 (player of the year).”

The Wildcats, first time NCAA Tournament participants and a first-round winner over Cal State Northridge, played the Cougars close in the final game, matching the score at 6 and 7 and trailing by two at 14-12. But two late errors gave WSU the victory in a 90-minute match witnessed by 1,868 spectators.

“They’re a very, very good team. ” K-State coach Jim Moore said. “Very, very good teams keep the pressure on you constantly and they were able to do that.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo