Huskies Fail To Close Out 'Cats In Tucson

TUCSON, Ariz. – The shorthanded Huskies are continuing to battle and play excellent for stretches, but sustaining that level and closing out matches has been the challenge, as it was today in a five set loss to Arizona in the McKale Center. Washington (17-8, 9-6 Pac-12) took the first and third sets to go in front, but the Wildcats (14-12, 4-11 Pac-12) answered back each time, snapping a 12-year, 22-match win streak for the Huskies in the head-to-head series.
 
The final score was 20-25, 25-18, 12-25, 25-19, 15-10 for Arizona. Washington hit a phenomenal, nearly perfect .917 in the third set, getting 11 kills on 12 swings without an error, but the Dawgs did not hit above .200 in the other four sets, and finished at .182 for the match. Arizona had 16.0 blocks and hit .216 as a team.
 
Arizona's last win in the series came in 2010. The Huskies, already without starting opposite Madi Endsley who was lost for the season on Sept. 30, are 2-3 now in five matches without starting outside hitter Emoni Bush, who sprained her ankle three weeks ago. The Dawgs have also lost their past three five-set matches.
 
Marin Grote was outstanding from start to finish for UW, getting 14 kills on 24 swings to hit .542 and adding three blocks. Claire Hoffman had 15 kills and Shannon Crenshaw had 10. Lauren Bays had 17 digs and Sophie Summers had six blocks with four kills.
 
Set one saw the Huskies take a 14-9 lead on a Grote solo block, and go on to a 25-20 win where each team made its share of attacking errors, but the Dawgs had four blocks to help the cause.
 
Arizona had a 4-0 run to go from 9-9 to 13-9 in the second set. The Huskies had it within two points at 18-16, but Arizona answered with a 5-1 run to pull away.
 
Then Washington put on a clinic in the third set, going on a 9-1 run on service runs from Bays and Audra Wilmes to take a 12-4 lead and never looking back. Crenshaw killed all four of her swings in the third set as UW made zero attack errors and Arizona dug only one ball.
 
But Arizona scored the first three points in the fourth set and five of the first six to quickly reset. It was 10-5 Arizona in the fourth before the Huskies fought back within a point at 12-11 and 13-12, but UW couldn't get even. At 20-17, Arizona scored four in a row to break it open.
 
Washington couldn't get its passing dialed in in the fifth set and that bled into the offense, which had just four kills with four errors in the last set. Arizona hit .300 on the other side, jumping out to a 4-1 lead, and pushing it to 10-5. Two more blocks down the stretch helped Arizona put it away.
 
UP NEXT: Washington heads to Tempe for a 12 noon match on Sunday against Arizona State. The match will be live stream only via ASU's website.