SEATTLE – Nobody ever said Pac-12 play would be easy, and opening up on a rival's homecourt is a proper introduction. The sixth-ranked Husky volleyball team was taken in to a fifth set by a Washington State squad that came in on an 11-match winning streak, but the Dawgs silenced the 1,458 fans and a packed student section in Bohler Gym with a dominating 15-4 win in the final set. The 22-25, 25-15, 25-11, 20-25, 15-4 victory was a thrilling glimpse of what's to come, as UW improves to 11-0 and 1-0 in the league.
Washington earned its 12th win in a row over the Cougars (11-2, 0-1 Pac-12) and sixth straight win in Pullman in a match with plenty of momentum swings. The Cougars used a late run to grab the first set and fire up the crowd, but the Dawgs asserted themselves by controlling the second and third sets from beginning to end. WSU fought back with the first five points of the fourth set and made that lead hold up. But in set five, the Huskies took it to another level, rolling off a 12-1 run from 3-3 to the final 15-4 score.
Watch highlights of the Husky win.
The last time the Huskies and Cougars went five sets was also the last time the Huskies allowed as few as four points in a fifth set. Back in 2011, UW closed the regular season in Pullman and came back from 0-2 down to win the fifth set in a similar 15-4 fashion. Tonight, the Huskies had the edge in nearly all the stats, hitting .282 to WSU's .083, and outpacing the Cougars in kills (62-49), digs (67-53) and blocks (15.0-10.0), but Washington State had four aces to one for UW.
“I saw a team that is kind of working through two identities,” said Head Coach Keegan Cook after his first career conference win. “One where they are trying to be the team that we're known as, siding out above 70-percent and being all over their defensive assignments, and then a couple sets where we were missing assignments and not communicating well in a loud, tough environment. Washington State packed the gym, I hope we return the favor.”
Sophomores Courtney Schwan and Tia Scambray each had double-doubles with Schwan earning 14 kills and a career-high 20 digs, and Scambray collecting 13 kills and 13 digs. Melanie Wade had eight kills and matched her career-high with nine blocks, and Lianna Sybeldon had nine kills and five blocks. Sophomore Carly DeHoog also chipped in eight kills without an error for a .421 attack percentage.
Bailey Tanner had 26 assists and five digs and also did some work in the front row with a kill and two block assists, while senior Katy Beals had 25 assists and nine digs, and served the decisive run in the fifth set, as she kept WSU out of whack with six straight serves at the end. Senior Cassie Strickland also stepped up late with a big serving run, and added 12 digs and five assists.
Cook said the serving was the key to the fifth set run. “In the end, we looked a little bit more like an aggressive serving team in that fifth set, and pushed them off the net a bit and the block was there to make it hard on their outsides,” Cook said.
The Huskies delivered a quick strike on the first point of the match, with Scambray passing to Tanner who set Schwan for a kill. The Dawgs put up the first roof of the match with Sybeldon and Jones getting the rejection for an early 4-1 lead. Jones landed her second early kill to make it 6-4 Dawgs. Carly DeHoog posted back-to-back kills, one for a sideout and one in transition for an 8-5 advantage. The Dawgs pushed out to a four-point lead, but a 3-0 run by WSU got them back within one at 11-10. Sybeldon hammered her first kill on a quick set by Tanner for 13-11. A couple blocks by Wade and Jones kept UW moving forward with a couple of blocks on the right pin to reach the media timeout with a 15-12 advantage. Beals found Wade in transition on the next rally to get the lead back up to four. The Cougars rallied once again with three in a row on a Husky service error, a rare miss from Wade and a WSU ace, but DeHoog broke UW out of that with a finish from the left. Another three-point Cougars run tied things back up at 19-19, the first tie of the set, and the Huskies called timeout. UW regained the lead with a kill by Wade in serve-receive, but WSU answered with a setter dump. The teams swapped points twice more to 23-all, Jones getting one kill but WSU blocking her in transition a point later. On the next point, a Jones swing appeared to be touched by a Cougar defender on its way out, but the refs did not give UW the call, and then WSU followed that with an ace to get to set point, 22-24, and force the Dawgs into a timeout. The Huskies were out of system on the next point, and Scambray was blocked to end the first set, 22-25. The Huskies wound up hitting just .188 in the set to the .200 of WSU, with the Cougars helped by a pair of aces and six kills from Kyra Holt.
The Dawgs came out fired up in set two with a block by Wade and Schwan, and then kills from both players to help open up a 4-1 lead. Schwan stumbled a bit on one approach but turned it into a tip kill as UW grabbed an 8-3 lead. WSU closed within a pair, but the Dawgs bounced right back with a 4-0 run with a stuff block from Jones and Sybeldon, and a pair of Cougar misses, with WSU calling timeout at 12-6. Wade capped off one of the longest rallies of the night with a final swing to the left corner for a 16-10 Washington advantage. Wade and DeHoog then crushed a block straight down for 18-11. Sybeldon rocketed a couple of sideouts in serve-receive, keeping UW with a six-point cushion. After Scambray tipped over and down for a 21-14 lead, the Cougars called time. Out of the break, WSU missed long and then Scambray found WSU's fingers for a kill for 23-14. Tanner flipped one back to Sybeldon for a big spike to get the Dawgs to set point, and a long rally was wrapped up by Scambray from the left to clinch the 25-15 win. Sybeldon was on fire in the frame, with five kills on six swings without a miss, as UW outhit WSU, .258-.029.
The Huskies took the first four points of the third set, as WSU made two errors, then DeHoog and Wade had a rejection and Scambray killed an overpass off a tough Katy Beals serve. Beals had a dig that led to a Scambray kill for a 6-0 lead, then Schwan had a one-fisted dig of a big WSU swing and DeHoog killed the Beals set to force the Cougars to take time at 7-0. The Cougars got their first point out of the break but Scambray banged one off the block to take it right back. Schwan had a kill then a Wade serve led to a free ball for UW and a Sybeldon transition kill for 10-3. Jones knocked one off the blocker's noggin and over and out for a point to make it 14-7 Dawgs. Scambray got the touch call for a kill and then Wade and Scambray teamed up for a block to push to a 16-7 lead and force WSU's last timeout. Schwan dove for a dig and Beals set DeHoog for a right side transition kills to make it 19-9. Two more Schwan put-aways got the Huskies to set point at 24-11, and on the first chance, Wade got a dig and Schwan killed one more to end it, 25-11. The Dawgs hit a sizzling .462 in the set and held WSU in the negatives with a -.034 mark. Schwan and Scambray each had five kills in the set and Beals had nine assists.
In the fourth set it was the Cougars coming out strong, getting the crowd back into things with the first five points and a number of terrific digs, forcing the Huskies to call timeout. Freshman Destiny Julye subbed in for the first time after the break, and she got the first set and put it down inside the block for UW's first point. Wade and DeHoog then stuffed one to inch a little closer. Perhaps the play of the match came when Schwan ran to and leaned over the scorer's table to keep the ball in play, then ran back over and read the setter dump to score a solo block, making it 4-7. Wade stepped in to set Jones for a kill on the right side to get UW within three again at 8-11. But the Cougars got hot again with a 4-1 run that forced the Huskies to take timeout down 9-15. The Dawgs ran a play for Tanner as an attacker, with Beals setting her in serve-receive and she put it away to make it 11-17. Washington was the recipient of a clear blown call on a serve by Wade that replays showed landed well in-bounds, but was called long. Down eight points, the Huskies got two straight blocks from Sybeldon and Jones to scratch within 13-19. The Huskies could get no closer than five points down the stretch, and WSU earned six set points at 18-24. Wade saved the first with a kill high off the block, then Schwan went up the line to cap a long rally for 20-24. But WSU closed out the next point with a kill in serve-receive, sending things to a fifth, 20-25. The Huskies hit just .171 in the set compared to .220 for the Cougars.
Schwan hit down an overdig on the first point of the fifth set for the Dawgs. Schwan added two more well-placed off-speed kills as the teams went back and forth to 3-3. Jones killed in serve-receive from the right for a 4-3 Dawg lead. Strickland, serving for the first time all match, banged a jump serve that put WSU out of system and they swung long, and another WSU error on the next point made it 6-3 and the Cougars took time. Another Strickland serve got UW a free ball, but it wasn't until several swings that Scambray went high hands for the kill. The Dawgs added another on a Cougar miss before Strickland missed serve to snap the 5-0 run. But Scambray came right back with a left side finish in serve-receive. Schwan had her 20th dig on a crucial rally that Scambray killed again for 10-4 and WSU called its final timeout. Out of the break, Wade and Tanner roofed the Cougs for 11-4 as Beals continued firing some excellent serves. Wade terminated another and then WSU hit one too sharp and wide for 13-4. The Cougars overpassed another Beals serve and Scambray got up to knock it down for the kill to get to match point. After a brief back and forth, Wade and Tanner teamed up to block down the final Cougar swing, the 15th UW block of the night. Washington did not make an error in the final set, killing nine on 19 swings for a .474 percentage, with the tough serving playing the biggest part in holding WSU to -.188.
The Huskies return home to face Colorado on Sunday at 6 p.m. and UW will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the 2005 NCAA Champions during the match.
