No. 9 Huskies Volleyball Team Takes Down Cougars In Three
Washington will travel to face Top-10 opposition in Stanford and Cal next weekend.
SEATTLE – The ninth-ranked Husky volleyball team picked up steam throughout its rivalry match with Washington State tonight, pulling away for a 29-27, 25-18, 25-15 victory in front of a season-best 3,865 fans at Hec Edmundson Pavilion tonight. Three Huskies posted double-figure kill totals as UW improved to 15-1 overall and 4-1 in Pac-10 play. WSU dropped to 6-9 and 0-5 in conference.
All-Americans Kindra Carlson and Bianca Rowland shared the team lead with 11 kills tonight, and senior Becky Perry also banged out 10 kills. Over the last two sets, Rowland finished every ball she touched, posting eight kills on eight attempts to hit .600 for the match. Senior Jenna Hagglund had 33 assists as the Dawgs outhit the Cougs, .325-.146 tonight, and redshirt frosh Jenna Orlandini led the defense with 10 digs.
“We made so many unforced errors in game one and game two we made no errors. We were behaving like we were tight,” said head coach Jim McLaughlin. “We dug ourselves in a hole, then all of a sudden we got out of it by making some really good plays at critical times. That’s the sign of a good team, but we’ve got to be better at stabilizing and being steady.”
In the first set, the Huskies fell behind by as many as six points midway through the set, with the WSU lead mounting to 14-8, before they began to mount a comeback. Muñoz got her first kill of the night, then Carlson pounded three-straight great serves that hampered the Cougars attack and ended in Husky points. The 4-0 run cut it to 14-12 and WSU took its first timeout. Rowland was blocked by Ganzer once but Hagglund went right back to her All-American middle on the next point for the kill to make it 15-13. Washington finally tied it back up at 16-all on Perry’s second kill of the set. The Huskies looked to have it in hand at 20-17, but a 4-0 WSU run helped forced UW’s final timeout. Two-straight kills from Carlson put UW back up one, but WSU earned the first set point on a ball-handling error. Carlson saved it with a booming kill, and then crushed an ace for UW’s first set point. WSU would save three set points, two on UW service errors, before a Perry kill made it 28-27, and Ganzer hit her next swing long to end the see-saw affair.
Barfield and Carlson combined for a block and an early 2-0 lead in the second set. WSU never got back even from there. At 6-5 up, UW went on a 3-0 run with a Rowland kill, an ace from sophomore Kelly Holford, and a WSU error off another tough serve from the sophomore. Back-to-back kills from Carlson and Perry made it 12-6 and forced WSU’s first timeout of the set. Barfield and Carlson got their second block-assist of the set on a Ganzer attack to double-up the Cougars again at 14-7. Rowland hammered another kill out of the middle and then Barfield posted her third block of the set, this one with Hagglund, for a 21-13 lead that necessitated a WSU timeout. On set point, Kindra found the corner to finish off the 25-18 win. Rowland was a perfect 4-for-4 in the set, as UW made just one error and hit .417 for the set.
An ace by WSU staked the Cougars to a 7-3 lead in the third set, but UW bounced right back with a 7-1 run to take back the momentum. Orlandini and Hagglund had aces in the run, and a Carlson kill followed by a WSU misfire made it 10-8 Dawgs. Kelcey Dunaway tossed in an ace and then her next serve was passed over and UW went straight to Rowland on the quick set for a kill and a 14-10 lead that prompted WSU to take time. The Cougars got the sideout, but Muñoz keyed another 4-0 run with two kills for an 18-11 lead. Out of another Cougars timeout, Rowland continued to roll with staggering swings on the next two points to put the Huskies up nine. Perry then rejected two-straight WSU attacks, one block with Barfield and the next with Dunaway to set up match point. Perry’s 10th kill of the night would end it one point later at 25-15. UW hit a match-best .440 in the third set, once again make just one error, and also posting four aces.
The Huskies will now head down to the Bay Area to take on Stanford and Cal. The Cardinal are ranked No. 1 in the nation heading into this weekend, with Cal at No. 7. They are the last two remaining unbeatens in the NCAA. UW will be at Stanford on Friday, October 15, and then head to Berkeley on Saturday. Both matches will be at 7 p.m.
