MATCH STATS
- #7 Washington def. RV Washington State 3-1 (25-19, 25-18, 21-25, 25-22)
- #7 Washington improves to 11-1 (1-0 Pac-12); RV Washington State falls to 11-2 (0-1 Pac-12)
- Pullman, Washington (Pac-12 Conference Match)
- Box Score
Pullman, Washington – #7 Washington emerged victorious on the road against rival RV Washington State for a Pac-12 opening victory.
Crissy Jones starred in the match for the Huskies, leading Washington in kills (18), hitting percentage (.375) and finishing second on the team in digs (13). She was one of two players who had double-digit kills and a hitting percentage over .300 – along with Carly DeHoog (11 kills while hitting .320).
Neither team hit at a high rate with a few athletes exceptions to the rule (such as Jones), as Washington came out on top in that category .222-.170. A big part of that was 14 blocks for Washington and 12 for Washington State in addition to the Cougars ability to hold All-American Courtney Schwan to a .163 hitting percentage (although she logged 13 kills). For Washington, although they gave up 20 kills to Taylor Mims, they limited her to a .191 mark.
In set one, things were tight early, but Washington eventually pulled away. They had a similar score finish to the second, but the score was tied just twice with one lead change as the Huskies held a steady edge throughout. Ella Lajos (six kills while hitting .357 and seven blocks) was big in Washington State staying alive and winning the third as well as keeping within striking distance in the fourth. However, in the closest of the sets, Jones and Schwan loomed large as Washington pulled out the road win.
Although they played in Pullman, this is actually the closest match to home that the Huskies have in the first couple weeks of Pac-12 play. They’ll now head to Arizona State before a trip to Los Angeles for the two area schools next week. Washington State is starting a road trip too, although theirs is one match shorter. They go to Arizona on Saturday and also see USC and UCLA next week.
PRESS RELEASES:
PULLMAN, Wash. – The atmosphere and intensity of the four set win for the Huskies tonight made it clear that Pac-12 play has arrived. Washington went into enemy territory and scored a big victory over the rival Cougars, 25-19, 25-18, 21-25, 25-22, in front of a vocal 1,910 fans at Bohler Gym. The season debut of All-American senior Crissy Jones was worth the wait, as Jones led the Huskies with 18 kills and added 13 digs for a double-double.
The Huskies (11-1, 1-0 Pac-12) controlled the first two sets before Washington State (11-2, 0-1 Pac-12) grabbed the third. A back-and-forth fourth set had 11 ties and six lead changes before the Huskies won four of the final five points, with three kills from senior Courtney Schwan, to finish the job. The Huskies got the road win over the Cougars for the eighth straight season.
“A tale of two matches really,” said Head Coach Keegan Cook. “It had a bit of everything. We played clean volleyball and followed the game plan for two sets and things went smoothly. Coming out of the break, WSU played with great effort and intensity. It was a gritty battle from then on out.”
Jones, who missed all of nonconference play coming back from an ankle sprain suffered right before the season opener, came out swinging with six kills in the first set alone, finishing with 18 on a .375 attack percentage. Schwan added 13 kills and nine digs with five blocks and an ace. Senior Carly DeHoog had 11 kills on a .320 percentage, and sophomore Avie Niece made a big contribution off the bench with five kills and five blocks, hitting .375. Senior Tia Scambray had a match-high 18 digs and served a couple of aces.
The big night for Jones “says a lot about who she is,” said Cook. “She continues to do whatever the team needs to be successful. We asked her to play outside hitter on two days of practice after a month-long injury. Whether or not she was ready, she was willing and the performance speaks for itself.”
In a match-up of the second (WSU) and third-ranked (UW) blocking teams in the NCAA, the Huskies finished ahead with 14 blocks compared to 12 for the Cougars. The Huskies finished hitting .222 and WSU hit .170.
Bailey Tanner also fought through some adversity as she was fighting an illness most of the day and was a gametime decision. She still started, and set 47 assists, and impressed Cook with her resilience. “Bailey is a tremendous competitor. She played through illness and managed the offense in a tough environment,” he said.
DeHoog put away the first swing of the match to give the Huskies the opening point. Jones connected for her first kill of the season on the left pin to make it 2-2. Schwan and Marion Hazelwood tied it at 5-5 with UW’s first stuff. Jones had a kill on the pipe set for 7-all. Hazelwood got all of a stuff to snap a 3-0 WSU run to make it 9-10, then Scambray drove an ace to the back corner to tie it back up. A tough serve from Shayne McPherson forced a WSU setting error for a 12-11 lead and McPherson got credit for the ace. Sanders put one down in transition and then the Huskies got a left pin rejection by Schwan and Sanders to take a 15-12 lead into the media timeout. Schwan drilled one up the line for a kill in serve-receive for 16-13. The lead shrank to one as the teams continued trading points. Jones crushed a Tanner set straight to the floor and then WSU missed one wide for 21-18 Dawgs and the Cougars took timeout. Some outstanding digs from Schwan and Scambray extended a marathon rally that Jones finally ended with a swing off the block for 23-18, and then Jones got another down to cap the 5-0 Husky run on McPherson’s serve and make it set point at 24-18. On the second chance, Sanders hit down an overpass to end it, 25-19. Jones’ first set back couldn’t have been more impressive, as she led all players with six kills on 12 swings without an error, as the Dawgs hit .323 compared to .188 for WSU.
The Cougars took the first two points of the second set but UW answered with three in a row, including a pair of stuff blocks by Sanders for a 3-2 lead. Jones laid out for a dig and then Tanner hit Schwan for a kill to make it 6-3. Washington then won a marathon rally with a series of digs for 7-3 and WSU took timeout. The Huskies served long out of the break but Sanders slammed a slide to get it right back. The Cougars rallied within a point but DeHoog answered with a left side finish for 10-8. Avie Niece subbed in and got a big stuff for 11-8. DeHoog crushed another on the right side for 14-10, and then Sanders stuffed one down on the next point to build the lead to five. Schwan had a roll shot dug but got a second chance and threw the fastball for the kill for 17-12. Schwan put another away in transition as the Dawgs kept pushing on Jones’ serve for 19-12. Tanner poked a tight dig deep for a kill and 20-13. Schwan had a perfect pass and Niece crushed a quick set for 22-15. Jones put away two more on the left to get the Huskies to set point at 24-16. WSU saved two Husky chances but a perfect pass from Scambray let Tanner go to Sanders on the quick and she hammered it for the win, 25-18. The Dawgs rolled to a .371 mark in the second set and held the Cougars to .121, with Jones putting down another five kills and Sanders getting three blocks.
Washington State came out hot to start the third set and won seven of the first 10 points to force the Huskies to call timeout. Jones snapped the WSU run with a kill from the back row out of the timeout, then Niece and Tanner teamed for a block for 5-7. Niece threw up a roof to pull UW within one at 7-8, but the Huskies had some shaky passes and WSU pushed back ahead by four at 8-12. A Jones left side kill and a stuff by Sanders cut the gap in half to 10-12, and then DeHoog killed an overpass off a tough Scambray serve. Schwan had a pancake dig and Tanner went to her knees to set Jones for a kill to tie it up at 12s. Then Scambray pegged the Cougar defense for an ace to move UW back on top, 13-12, and force a WSU timeout. The Cougars clawed back in front by two but UW evened it again at 16-all on a Cougar error. The Huskies made a couple errors to drop back behind, 17-20. UW hit long again for 19-23 and used their last timeout. Niece subbed back in out of the break and killed a quick set in serve-receive, but WSU floated a shot that found the back corner for set point at 20-24. Sanders saved the first with another quick out of the middle, but the Cougars put their next swing away for the win, 21-25. The Cougars hit a very hot .414 in the third and UW hit just .091 for the frame.
Niece started the fourth set off with a transition kill on the first point. Niece slammed another on the quick and then DeHoog found open floor to tie it at 4-all. Schwan dialed up an ace for a 6-4 lead and then a Cougar error pushed it to 7-4 and WSU called timeout as the Dawgs were on a 5-point run. Out of the break, Jones hunted down a rejection in the middle of the net to keep the run going. The Huskies added one more for 9-4 before the Cougars scored to snap the 7-0 run. Jones had a big crosscourt kill to end a rally and a mini Cougar run for 11-7. Washington stalled on offense and the Cougars put together a 6-0 run to force UW into a timeout down 12-14. Schwan came through with a kill in serve-receive out of the break to stop the bleeding, and then Niece followed that with a transition kill to tie it back up. Niece and Schwan then combined for a block as the Dawgs pushed back ahead by one, 15-14. Schwan tooled the block for a 16-15 lead, but WSU came back with a pair as the lead changed hands. Jones pushed through the block and down to tie it at 18-all. Destiny Julye subbed in to serve and the Dawgs scored on a WSU error for 19-18. An intense rally was ended by Hazelwood who hit down a fast-moving overpass for 21-19 and the Cougars took their final timeout. WSU tied it back up at 21-21 with a block, but Schwan got a big kill out of the back row to regain the lead. Sanders and Schwan then teamed for a stuff to get one point closer at 23-21. Schwan hit off the block and out on UW’s side for match point at 24-22. The Dawgs got a free ball off a tough Scambray serve and Tanner went to Schwan again whose hard shot ricocheted off the defense into the stands for the clincher, 25-22. Schwan’s five kills in the fourth helped close it out, including three over the final five points of the match.
The Huskies will stop off back in Seattle for a day before going right back out on the road to Tempe, Ariz. to tackle the Sun Devils this Sunday at 1 p.m. in a match shown live on Pac-12 Networks.
WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE…
PULLMAN, Wash. — The Washington State volleyball team (11-2 overall, 0-1 Pac-12) dropped the opening Pac-12 Conference match of 2017 season to No. 7 Washington (11-1, 1-0) Wednesday night before 1,910 fans in Bohler Gym.
The Huskies won the match with set scores of 25-19, 25-18, 21-25 and 25-22.
Cougars junior Taylor Mims led the match with 20 kills which equals her career-high, while junior McKenna Woodford added 10 kills for WSU. Freshman setter Penny Tusa had a double-double with 17 assists and 17 digs and Ashley Brown tallied 23 assists. Jocelyn Uriashad eight kills, hit .375 and served two aces. Ella Lajos had six kills, hit.357 and led the match with seven blocks. Alexis Dirige added 13 digs and Claire Martin contributed five blocks.
The match had 28 tie scores, 11 of which came in the fourth set, and a total of 13 lead changes, six of which were in the last set.
In team statistics, Washington won kills (57-50) and blocks (14-12) while the Cougars out-dug the visitors 58-56. UW hit .222 for the match and held WSU to a .170 hitting percentage.
WHY & HOW…
WSU Head Coach Jen Greeny said, “I thought we came out of the game break really well. We started serving much better in the third and fourth sets, and I think that’s what we were really missing in the first two sets. I think our passing could have been a lot better and we just made some silly mistakes. I think those will get better as we go along in the season. We weren’t serving tough so we talked about serving much more tough so that we could get them more out of system and get our blocking and defense a little more in sync. I thought it was pretty quiet on the court and we just needed to play with a little more intensity and passion, and I think we did that out of the game break. It was a very good Washington team and we just have to continue on to the next one.”
“It’s a fantastic atmosphere we have in Bohler Gym so great thanks to all the fans that came out tonight. You guys really don’t know how much it gives us a home court advantage. We’ll see you when we are back here in October.”
Junior middle blocker Ella Lajos on her performance tonight said, “I felt in the beginning it was kind of rough, but our serving started to pick up so that really helped force (the Huskies) out of system so I was able to read better, stay stopped and then go up hard. We need to be a lot more fired up. We were kind of playing timid and we just need to go out there and swing. We kind of half hit it, but we need to come out with the fire that we had in the locker room beforehand.”
About the Challenge Review System, Lajos said, “We all just come together and say whatever way this goes we just have to fight through the next point and get it going. (We need to) just try and get fired up whether it goes our way or not.”
Junior outside hitter McKenna Woodford said, “I think put a pretty solid block up on me in that second set. The first set I had them a little bit but in that second set I didn’t quite see the block and they’ve got some tall kids in the middle so I wasn’t quite smart enough with where I was placing the ball.”
About not having senior opposite Casey Schoenlein in the lineup tonight, Woodford said “It’s huge. We’re really looking forward to having her back; just having that blocker out there, those hands, and having another offensive weapon. I feel like we are a little too predictable right now, so having Casey back and her fire and her passion and her grit she is what this team is about, so we’re really missing her.”
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