The Official Newsletter for Washington State Athletics

TGIF, Cougar Nation. Don’t let the Cougs get hot! We tried to warn them!

It’s too late as the WSU volleyball squad is ROLLING!

What all do we have in today’s Brew? Check it out below.

🏐 Six Pack Of Ws
🏈 Southern Swing
📚 Class Acts
🙌 And much more!

🎙️ THE INSIDE SCOOP

The next installment of the Inside WSU Athletics Podcast is here!

This week's guest includes Director of Cross Country & Track Wayne Phipps, along with Football Student-Athlete Brock Dieu.

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Six Pack Of Ws. WSU volleyball continued its impressive start to West Coast Conference play, earning a commanding 3-0 sweep (25-22, 25-16, 25-14) over LMU Thursday night at Albert Gersten Pavilion.

The win marked the Cougars' sixth-straight victory and improved their WCC record to 5-0 while sitting at 11-4 overall.

Lucie Blažková led the way with 13 points on six kills, three aces, and six total blocks, posting an efficient .429 hitting percentage. Eliana Ti'a and Melina Christodoulou each added nine kills, with Christodoulou hitting a blistering .529 without an error. Setter Italia Bernal kept the offense humming with 17 assists, five digs, and two aces, while Livia Ward chipped in 15 assists and two aces of her own.

Defensively, Tinons Munar Galmés anchored the back row with 13 digs, helping the Cougars limit LMU's rhythm and extend rallies. Washington State's front line was dominant at the net, out-blocking the Lions 9-5 and consistently frustrating their hitters.

🔼 Southern Swing. For the first time in 12 seasons, the WSU football team will square off against an SEC opponent, traveling south to battle #4 Ole Miss tomorrow in Oxford, Miss.

Coming off a bye week, the Cougars will be looking for its first win over a top-5 opponent since 2017 and a 30-27 victory over #5 USC.

Kickoff is on the SEC Network is set for 9:45 a.m. PT.

🏈 Previewing The Matchup

🔼 Class Acts. Not only are our Cougars having success on the field and on the court, but also in the classroom.

Each month Washington State Academic Services honors two student-athletes who demonstrate commitment to academics while participating in their sport. The honorees for the month of September are football's Brock Dieu and volleyball's Taryn Vrieling.

Dieu, a redshirt-senior offensive lineman, owns a 3.3 GPA while working towards his mechanical engineering master's degree. The Queen Creek, Ariz. native has started all five games at center. Prior to the season, Dieu was named to the Rimington Trophy Watch List, given to the nation's top collegiate center, and voted a team captain.

Vrieling, a senior from Kennewick, Wash., owns a 3.90 GPA while majoring in psychology and is expected to graduate this fall. Vrieling played her first two seasons at Idaho before transferring to Washington State prior to the 2024 season. This season, Vrieling has helped the Cougars to a 10-4 start including a 4-0 mark in the West Coast

🔼 Family Reunion. WSU rowing welcomed back over 150 alumni to Pullman on September 26-27 as the program is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and its 35th year being recognized as a varsity sport.

After a social event on Friday, over 70 former Cougs got to relive their glory days on the water down at Wawawai Landing, filling up nine eight boats on Saturday morning before a banquet and oar auction that night.

🤔 COUGAR TRIVIA

With the Cougars now a perfect 5-0 in conference play, we ask, how many times in program history has WSU volleyball started league action 6-0?

Got a guess?

Scroll down to see if you know your stuff!

📆 LOOKING AHEAD

*all times PT

Friday, October 10th
🏊 Swimming at Fresno State Invitational
🎾 Tennis at ITA Northwest Regionals (Berkeley, Calif.)

Saturday, October 11th
🏈 Football at Ole Miss @ 9:45 am PT
🏐 Volleyball at Pepperdine @ 1pm
⚽️ Women’s Soccer vs. LMU @ 7pm
🏊 Swimming at Fresno State Invitational
🎾 Tennis at ITA Northwest Regionals (Berkeley, Calif.)

Sunday, October 12th
🎾 Tennis at ITA Northwest Regionals (Berkeley, Calif.)

Monday, October 13th
🎾 Tennis at ITA Northwest Regionals (Berkeley, Calif.)

🐶 Click here to see the full Washington State Athletics Calendar

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Never

WSU has gone 5-0 to open conference play for just the fourth time in program history (1995, 2016, 2023). The program has never gone 6-0 to start a conference schedule.

👏 Have a great weekend!