Good afternoon, Coug fans!
It’s Rivalry Weekend, and fans across the state are gearing up for some epic showdowns between your Washington State Cougars, and our one true enemy: the University of Washington Huskies.
Football starts things off tonight, as I’m sure you’re all aware, but joining them in Seattle to make their mark and try to take the city is our favorite volleyball team.
This isn’t the first time this season WSU and UW have faced off- their last matchup took place on the previous Apple Cup weekend- September 26th. The Cougs were able to take majority of the sets, winning the series 3-2.
The Cougs will enter this round 19-10 compared to UW’s 23-4. This is no cause for alarm, seeing as Cougs thrive under pressure. One fun thing to hold onto is WSU’s far closer defeat by UCLA, where the Cougs fell 2-3, whereas UCLA was able to shut UW down entirely, beating them 3-0. The only other losses on UW’s schedule have been Utah, which we saw from experience is a tough match, and us.
During the last meeting, junior Pia Timmer had a big game with a total of 31 kills, 4 aces, and 7 blocks during the match. However, you might have noticed the outside hitter hasn’t been playing the past few matches, and her absence was especially felt against Utah on Wednesday when the Cougs fell 0-3.
While this matchup won’t help the Cougs climb up to the conference championships, there is still room for the NCAA tournament, along with crushing UWs hopes for heading to the conference championship (assuming all the dominos fall where they need to).
And seeing as our exciting football section will wrap up tonight, you’ll have more Coug sports to root for tomorrow after all! Game is at 1 pm PST on Pac 12 Networks, you don’t want to miss it! And what else would you want to watch?
I personally love rivalry weekend, I’ve always been amused and fascinated by the nature of rivalries, and on a personal anecdote, this is the first Thanksgiving and Apple Cup series I was not able to enjoy with my dad. So give your loved ones an extra hug from me, unless they’re Husky fans! Go Cougs!
