Washington State volleyball can’t complete comeback in NCAA Tournament loss to Western Kentucky

OMAHA, Neb. – Paige Briggs had 17 kills and 14 digs as Western Kentucky ended Washington State’s comeback bid with a 3-2 volleyball victory in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.

The set scores were 25-22, 25-20, 21-25, 17-25, 15-10.

Lauren Matthews paced the Hilltoppers (23-0) with 20 kills and Nadia Dieudonna had 55 assists.

Pia Timmer had 13 kills and 10 digs for the Cougars (11-5). Magda Jehlarova and Julianna Dalton added 14 kills apiece

Julia Norville also had five aces for WSU, which won the third and fourth sets after dropping the first two.

WKU hit .300, while the Cougars hit .245 with 24 attack errors.

Western Kentucky advances to play second-seeded Kentucky (20-1) on Sunday

Washington 3, Dayton 2: Madi Endsley had 20 kills as the sixth-seeded Huskies (18-3) held off the Flyers (14-2) to advance to the round of 16.

Set scores were 25-18, 25-23, 24-26, 21-25, 15-11.

Claire Hoffman added 13 kills, and Samantha Drechsel had 11 kills and 14 digs for UW.

The Huskies advance to face 11th-seeded Louisville (15-2) on Sunday.