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Huskies Win Fifth And Final Europe Match

by gohuskies.com
Jun 19, 2022

VOLPIANO, Italy – Washington Volleyball finished up its string of five matches in five gyms around Slovenia and Europe today with a four set win against Pallavolo Volpiano in a match on the outskirts of Turin, Italy. The Huskies will have the next three days to travel through the Italian and French Riviera before heading back to Seattle on June 23.
 
Washington overcame Volpiano, a B1 level professional Italian squad, by a count of 25-15, 25-18, 19-25, 26-24. In just her second match of the trip, after joining the team a few days into the trip due to her Team Canada duties, Emoni Bush led the attacked with 11 kills, while Marin Grote posted 10 kills and four blocks.
 
Head Coach Keegan Cook talked about how the matches gave feedback on the progress made over the spring and what challenges come next this fall.
 
"From a competition standpoint, to see the areas of growth that are ahead of us," said Cook. "It's been one of our best springs in a long time. We leave here more motivated based on what we've experienced from some really nice players and teams over here. Hopefully it launches us into a great summer training/lifting period. We won't get to see them until August, but I'm excited to see how they come back and we'll be ready to go in August."

 
Washington was able to give extended playing time to players who have yet to see extensive game action, and experiment with different lineup combinations and positions.
 
"We're going to need sixteen players here competing at as high a level as possible, so one of the great benefits of this trip was getting to see some of our younger athletes compete and experience stress, and sometimes distress, and that's foundational to becoming the players they want to become," says Cook. "It's not easy, but I feel good about the experience they've had here, and know that it's part of a larger story."
 
Emoni Bush hammered the first swing of the match for a kill on the right. Down a couple points early, Powell threw one down to make it 7-8, and Grote connected on a slide for 8-9. Bush had a block for 11-all, then Summers blocked one for 12-11 Dawgs. A Bush left side kill pushed it to 15-12. Another Grote slide kill and a Bush ace made it 21-15, and UW kept rolling to a 25-15 win.

 
The second set had an early ace from Molly Wilson for a 2-0 lead. Audra Wilmes checked in with her first kill for 4-1. Bush tipped for a kill on the right to make it 9-4. Grote and Endsley met for a block as the lead hit 16-7. A back row blast from Bush made it 19-11, and then Grote ended a Volpiano run with a solo block for 23-18, an UW won the final two points for the 2-0 lead.
 
Endsley had a kill and a solo block on the left for a 4-2 lead in the third, but the Dawgs gave up a run to go down by three. Summers had a block to provide a spark and an ace by Endsley evened it back up at 15-15. But Volpiano answered with a 3-0 run, and went on to win the third set, 19-25.
 
In the fourth set, a couple kills from Summers had it tied up through six points. A block from Grote and Wilmes made it 8-9, and then the Huskies pushed into the lead. Summers had a stuff and then Wilmes dropped in an ace, and a block assist from Summers-Endsley gave UW a 15-12 lead. Grote took over as the Huskies passed the 20-point mark, as she had four UW kills in a row. A late run from Volpiano put the Huskies under some pressure, down a set point, but Hoffman crushed a kill to save it, and then UW went up on another Hoffman kill off an overpass from a tough Wilmes serve. On UW's first match point, Endsley smothered a tip attempt, putting it down on Volpiano's side for the 26-24 win.

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