The Cougar volleyball team is about to play two games in the same week against teams that are not Washington State, and that is exactly the kind of midseason grind we should be talking about. Before you scroll past to check the football score, read this: Volleyball hits the road for Boise then hosts Fresno State in the same week is the kind of scheduling that separates a good season from a forgettable one, and TV tip times locked in for Pac-12 men’s hoops slate reminds us that winter sports are already locking in their calendar while the fall teams are still grinding. Korey Schroeder will be on the mic for Boise State and Fresno State, which means the voice of Cougar volleyball is calling the shots for the two biggest matches of this stretch. That matters. Schroeder has been the steady hand through rallies and timeouts, and hearing his call on the road in Boise and back home against the Bulldogs gives this week a rhythm that feels familiar even when the opponent is not.
Our take is simple: this is the week the team proves whether it can handle the travel and the turnaround. Boise State is not a pushover, and Fresno State will have seen the film from the road trip. The Cougs have to win the first one to set up the second one, and that is the kind of pressure that either sharpens a team or breaks it. We have seen too many promising seasons derailed by a Tuesday night loss in a gym nobody remembers. This is the chance to avoid that trap. The volleyball program has been quietly building something solid, and a sweep of this two-game set would send a message that this team is not just hanging around. It is contending.
We also think this is a good moment to remember that Cougar sports are not just about the big stadiums. The AI and moral disengagement study from WSU researchers shows that what happens in the lab matters too, even when it has nothing to do with a kill or a dig. Pullman produces thinkers who study how people react when they think their jobs are disappearing, and that kind of work is just as Coug as a five-set win. But we are not dragging that study into a volleyball story. We are just saying that the same university that puts Schroeder behind a microphone also puts researchers into labs, and both are worth your attention.
Here is the concrete point to watch: the Fresno State match is the one that will tell us more. Boise is the trap. Fresno is the test. If the Cougs drop the first one, the second one becomes a survival game. If they win the first one, the second one is a statement. Schroeder will have the call for both. Do not just listen for the score. Listen for the tone in his voice. That will tell you everything about where this team really is. Go Cougs.