Match Stats
- #11 Washington def. #25 Arizona 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-20)
- Washington moves to 21-4 (11-4 Pac-12); Arizona falls to 16-11 (8-7 Pac-12)
- Alaska Airlines Arena, Seattle, Washington
Juniors Courtney Schwan and Tia Scambray combined for 27 kills and a .338 hitting percentage as the 11th-ranked Washington Huskies halted Arizona’s momentum 3-0. Arizona came into the game winning their last 3 against top 25 opponents (#20 Oregon, #25 USC, #9 UCLA).
“Pleased with improvement, any time you can see that, over the course of a match or a season, improvement is something that we really value a lot, so it was nice to see that tonight,” said Washington head coach Keegan Cook. “Tia has been making a push here the last few weeks, she was outstanding tonight, she made some defensive plays in the second set that really sparked us to make a comeback, and then took that into the third set, so a really impressive performance by her.”
The win, while it was eventually a 3-0 sweep, was far from easily won. Washington trailed 11-17 in the 1st set and 10-15 in the second before coming back for wins.
The 3rd and clinching set was evenly-parsed through 6 points, but then Washington took command and never trailed for the rest of the game. Scambray had 8 kills in that final set, including the clinching 75th point of the match for Washington.
“That was a disappointing loss,” said Arizona head coach Dave Rubio. “I thought Washington served well and we didn’t handle it well. We had leads in first and second set but we just got stuck in some rotations. We just couldn’t side out when Penina (Snuka) was in the front row. I’m disappointed we didn’t fight more in set three.”
Two seniors from Arizona recorded double doubles – setter Penina Snuka had 34 assists and 12 digs, and outside hitter Kalei Mau had 11 kils and 12 digs.
Videos
Play of the Year contender?? Kara's solo roof ends a crazy point to pull UW within 2!!
Watch on Pac-12 Networkshttps://t.co/iPFKNr9yKc— UW Volleyball (@UWVolleyball) November 11, 2016
Press Releases
Courtesy Washington Athletics:
SEATTLE – Juniors Courtney Schwan and Tia Scambray combined for 27 kills and a .338 attack percentage between them, as 11th-ranked Washington had a big straight set win over 25th-ranked Arizona in front of 1,728 fans at Alaska Airlines Arena. The Huskies (21-4, 11-4 Pac-12) completed a season sweep of the Wildcats (16-11, 8-7 Pac-12) and stayed tied atop the Pac-12 with the 25-23, 25-20, 25-20 victory.
In each of the first two sets, the Huskies dug themselves out of deficits with staunch defense. In set one, the Huskies trailed 11-17 before a 9-3 run to tie it at 20, and then another 5-1 run to get the win. The second set saw the Huskies close on a 15-5 run, going from down 10-15, to the 25-20 win. By the third set, UW played from the front, and hit .450 in set three to finish it off. The Huskies kept pace with UCLA and Stanford as all three won tonight to go to 11-4.
Washington hit .286 overall for the match, getting better in each set, and UW held Arizona to .160 hitting. The teams were even in kills, 43 apiece, and even in aces, at three, but UW had a 10.0 to 5.0 blocking edge, with freshman Kara Bajema getting three solo blocks, and freshman Avie Niece getting five block assists.
Schwan led all players with 14 kills, hitting .353, and Scambray had 13 kills with a .323 percentage. Both also had eight digs apiece. Freshman Shayne McPherson dug up 15 Wildcat swings, and junior Bailey Tanner distributed 35 assists with six digs and three blocks. Junior Crissy Jones also had a nice all-around night with six kills, an ace, seven digs, and three blocks.
“Pleased with improvement, any time you can see that, over the course of a match or a season, improvement is something that we really value a lot, so it was nice to see that tonight,” said Head Coach Keegan Cook. “Tia has been making a push here the last few weeks, she was outstanding tonight, she made some defensive plays in the second set that really sparked us to make a comeback, and then took that into the third set, so a really impressive performance by her.”
Schwan rolled over the block and down for UW’s first point and 1-1 in the first set. Jones had a couple early kills, one out of the middle and another on the right, for 3-4 Arizona. Bajema had a solo block of an Arizona dump attempt and then put away a slide kill to tie it 5-5. The Wildcats had a couple blocks in a row to open an 8-5 lead. Down 6-10, the Huskies took their first timeout. Bajema’s second solo block got the Huskies a point out of the timeout. Tanner flipped one behind her head for a kill for 8-11 but the Wildcats scored the next two points to build an 8-13 lead before Avie Niece got a kill on an Arizona net violation. Scambray hit down a hanger above the net but two more Arizona points pushed the lead to 11-17 and UW used its final timeout. Bajema got a kill off a UA touch to get the sideout out of the break, then a Arizona error made it 13-17. Schwan went offspeed for a kill and two more Arizona hitting errors cut more off the gap to 16-18. The Husky block picked up two more points with Niece getting the lion’s share of one and then Jones rejecting another straight down as the Dawgs came all the way back to tie it at 20-20 and Arizona asked for the timeout. The Wildcats answered with two straight out of the break, but Niece finished in serve-receive from Tanner for 21-22. Washington then tied it up again at 22 with another Jones rejection, and the Huskies then took their first lead at 23-22 with an ace from Destiny Julye off the tape, forcing Arizona’s last timeout. Arizona’s next swing found the antenna to get the Huskies a set point at 24-22. They saved the first with a kill in serve-receive. On the next point, Scambray took a Tanner set and tipped it off the blocker’s hands and off the antenna for the kill and the win, 25-23. It was a 14-6 run overall by the Dawgs to the finish line. The Huskies hit just .154 but the five blocks pulled the Wildcats down to .091.
Scambray buried one crosscourt for an early point but Arizona held the lead, 6-4, through an error-prone first 10 points. Washington trailed, 5-8, and had an overpass on serve-receive, but Tanner went up to reject the Wildcat swing for a big point. Scambray lasered one up the line in transition to pull the Huskies within two at 8-10. A 3-0 Arizona run pushed the lead to 10-15 at the media timeout. Arizona served long out of the timeout to snap the run, and on the next rally, Scambray laid out for a pancake, and then refused to free ball it over, taking a swing and putting it down softly in the middle for 12-15. One of the most impressive plays of the year went Washington’s way as Bajema got up for a solo block after some outstanding saves from Jones and Tanner earlier in the rally. That made it 14-16 Arizona and forced an Arizona timeout. The Huskies pulled even at 17-17 on a service ace from Bajema shanked into the seats. Then UW started another block party, as Niece had one that was covered but stuffed the next swing down for the lead, 18-17. Schwan then smashed a Tanner set in transition for 19-17 and Arizona needed timeout. Out of the break, a Scambray dig led to a Schwan roll kill for 20-17 before Bajema served just long to end the 6-0 Husky run. But Schwan got the serve right back by putting away at Tanner set, and then Niece and Jones returned the Wildcat swing to sender for a 22-18 lead. Jones terminated with authority from the right pin to get the Huskies to set point at 24-19. Arizona saved the first, but punched a tight set over and out on the next point as the Huskies took the 2-0 lead, 25-20. Much like the first set, all told it was a 15-5 Husky run from 10-15 down to the 25-20 win. Washington hit .242 in the set with five kills from Schwan, and held Arizona to .073 thanks in part to four more blocks.
A long rally was ended by Scambray out of the back row on the first point of the third set. Scambray tooled the block as the Huskies held a 4-2 lead, but Arizona got a netcord-ace as part of a 3-0 run to take a one-point lead. Scambray put away back-to-back kills on the left to put the Huskies back up, 7-6, and then Bajema ran a transition slide and smoked it up the line for 8-6. Jones then dropped an ace for 9-6 and Arizona needed timeout. Arizona broke the 4-0 run with a kill just inside the block, but Tanner had a running set to Scambray again who found the corner for 10-7. The Wildcats hit long out of the middle for 11-7 and Arizona quickly used its second timeout. Again Arizona got a kill in serve-receive out of the break but Schwan answered right back, hard off the block, for 12-8. The Wildcats got within two but UW responded right back with two straight huge kills for 14-10. Scambray poked through the block for a 16-13 lead as the teams went back and forth. Tanner went to Schwan out of the back row and she slapped it to open space for 17-13. An outstanding dig from Jones led to a bump set from Tanner over her head and Schwan finished up the line for a big roar from the crowd at 20-15. Tanner and Niece got up to roof the Wildcat swing for 22-16. Tanner turned on a dig and smashed it hard for a kill to 23-18, and then Niece finished in the middle for match point at 24-19. After one sideout from Arizona, Tanner went to Scambray at the left and she hit off the block and out on UW’s side for the win, 25-20. Washington’s offense was on a roll in the third, hitting .450, with both Schwan and Scambray hitting .583, seven kills from Schwan and eight from Scambray, and nine digs from McPherson.
Washington has just two home matches remaining, the next one coming this Sunday against Arizona State, with first serve at 11 a.m.
Courtesy Arizona Athletics:
SEATTLE, Wash. — Arizona was unable to hang on to five-point-plus leads in each of the first two sets as the 11th-ranked Washington Huskies swept the Wildcats in Seattle, 25-23, 25-20, 25-20.
“That was a disappointing loss,” said head coach Dave Rubio. “I thought Washington served well and we didn’t handle it well. We had leads in first and second set but we just got stuck in some rotations. We just couldn’t side out when Penina (Snuka) was in the front row. I’m disappointed we didn’t fight more in set three.”
The Cats equaled Washington’s 43 kills, but Arizona had more than double the attack errors (23-11). UA hit just .160 in the match while the Huskies hit .286. The Huskies outblocked the Cats 10.0-5.0.
Penina Snuka (34 assists and 12 digs) and Kalei Mau (11 kills and 12 digs) both tallied double-doubles in the match. For Snuka, it was her 10th straight match with a double-double, giving her 19 for the year.
After leading the conference in double-doubles each of the last three seasons, Snuka has trailed Utah’s Adora Anae all of this season. Tonight, Snuka claimed the conference lead in double-doubles for the first time this season as her quest to lead the Pac-12 in double-doubles all four years continues.
Once again, Arizona was led by its back-row defense. Arizona outdug Washington 50-47. Three Wildcats, including Laura Larson, who has had double-digit digs in all but one Pac-12 match for Arizona this year.
On a night where some of Arizona’s offensive weapons struggled to score, Katarina Pilepic picked up the slack, netting 10 kills on just 26 swings. It was Pilepic’s ninth double-figure-kill match this season.
The Huskies battled back from a six-point deficit to take the first set, using a 9-3 run to tie the match at 20 after Arizona led 17-11. UW scored five of the final six points to win it 25-23. UA hit just .091 in the set. It marked Arizona’s seventh straight match in which the first set was decided by two points.
Washington erased another big Arizona lead in the second, coming back from a 15-10 deficit on its way to a 25-20 victory.
There was no early deficit to come back from in the third as the Huskies cruised to a 25-20 victory to sweep the match.
UP NEXT: Arizona heads to Pullman on Sunday to take on Washington State at 12 p.m. MST on the Pac-12 Networks.
FOLLOW THE CATS: For continued coverage of Arizona volleyball, follow the team on Twitter and Instagram (@ArizonaVBall).
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