Lucky No. 7 for Washington State's volleyball team

Dec. 1—For the Washington State volleyball team, a trip to the NCAA tournament in late November or early December is almost as guaranteed as heavy winter snowfall on the Palouse.

The No. 24 Cougars (22-9) qualified their seventh consecutive national tourney and will begin against UNLV (26-4) at 5 p.m. today (ESPN+) at the Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego.

"I think this time of year, everybody is good (who) has made it this far," 12th-year WSU coach Jen Greeny said. "UNLV is a tough team and they've had an incredible year as their record shows."

Here are three things to know ahead of today's match against the Runnin' Rebels:

Prepared by a tough Pac-12 schedule

The Pac-12 is one of the top conferences in the NCAA when it comes to volleyball, and it shows in the bracket.

There are six Pac-12 teams in the 64-team tournament, including top-seeded Stanford, third-seeded Oregon, sixth-seeded USC, the seventh-seeded Cougars, eighth-seeded Washington and unseeded Colorado.

WSU tied a program record with 14 conference wins this season, the most under Greeny.

Greeny said the daily grind of Pac-12 play helps alleviate the pressure of the big stage

"The pressure typically comes in the Pac-12 day in and day out," Greeny said. "You never have an easy match and it's just getting through the grind of the Pac-12 (that) is really where the pressure comes."

WSU's Big Four

Despite WSU being a deep team that spreads the wealth around statistically, four Cougars snagged all-conference honors.

Top honors went to first-teamers Magda Jehlarova and Pia Timmer, while Laura Jansen and Katy Ryan each were named honorable mention.

WSU is a team full of diversity and all four players hail from different countries.

Jehlarova is a senior middle blocker from the Czech Republic who is first in the Pac-12 with 1.50 blocks per set.

Timmer is a senior outside hitter from Germany with 1,248 career kills, ninth all-time at WSU.

Jansen is a senior outside hitter from the Netherlands whose 390 kills lead the group this season.

Ryan is a sophomore opposite-side hitter from Rathdrum, Idaho, who is on the rise after being named to the Pac-12 all-freshman team a year ago.

Greeny said she was surprised Jansen didn't get a first-team nod after posting better stats this season than many players on the list.

"I'm not sure if coaches just really weren't looking at stats as much this year compared to some of the other players that were on that first team," Greeny said. "But it is what it is — a little chip on our shoulder once again.

"Everybody is playing well right now — those four especially — so we'll see if we can keep that going into this weekend."

Scouting UNLV

Last year, unseeded WSU swept Northern Colorado in the first round before being swept by fifth-seeded Baylor in the second round.

This time, WSU could have its hands full with a tough UNLV team that rattled off 17 straight wins before falling to Utah State in the Mountain West Championship.

The Runnin' Rebels are paced by "great setter" Jenna Gabriel (10.4 assists per set) and "outside hitters that can kind of do everything."

"It's always hard when you haven't seen a team before," Greeny said. "You're going into a new situation. It kind of takes you back to the first week of preseason where you almost have to focus a little bit on yourself and then make some in-game adjustments when you go along."

Wiebe may be contacted at (208) 848-2260, swiebe@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @StephanSports.