MATCH STATS
- #9 Washington def. California 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-23)
- #9 Washington improves to 21-6 (11-5, Pac-12); California drops to 13-13 (4-11, Pac-12)
- Seattle, Washington (Pac-12 Match)
- Attendance: 1,665
- Box Score
Seattle, Washington – Just a day after taking down the #2 team in the country, #9 Washington added to their week with a sweep of Cal. Similarly to their win over Stanford last night, the Huskies utilized a strong serve in overcoming Cal as it was key in multiple facets of the match.
In total, the Huskies logged seven aces in just three sets, as it comes a day after they posted 10 aces in the take-down of Stanford. Once again it was Tia Scambray (nine digs, three assists) leading the way as she had two aces while Courtney Schwan (seven kills, 14 digs) also logged two. Beyond giving the team an advantage over the deuce of aces from Cal, Washington’s serve benefited their defense as it kept the Bears on their toes and made things more difficult in getting in sync on offense. That was apparent as Cal hit just .133 despite out-digging Washington and holding them to below their block per set average.
Offensively, things were pretty good for Washington as well, as they hit .333 as a team. Amazingly, they reached that mark without any players reaching double-digit kills although Kara Bajema (nine kills, .316), Carly DeHoog (nine kills, .286) and Crissy Jones (eight kills, .421) were all close.
That mix of offense, defense and serving is what led Washington to the sweep even though Cal kept things close in the early going of first two sets behind Antzela Dempi (16 kills). However, in both sets Washington pulled away. They didn’t have quite the margin in the third, as Cal was the team with the edge at 22-19. Five straight Huskies points gave them match point, which they finished off at 25-23.
With the week now done for Washington, they will look ahead to road meetings with Oregon State and Oregon next week. For Cal, they still have one match in front of them for this week as they visit Washington State for a back-to-back tomorrow night.
PRESS RELEASES:
SEATTLE – Washington backed up its dramatic win over second-ranked Stanford last night with a strong all-around performance to sweep California one night later. The Huskies (21-6, 11-5 Pac-12) hit .333 as a team with five players posting five or more kills in a 25-16, 25-16, 25-23 win in front of 1,665 fans at Alaska Airlines Arena.
Washington has now won six of its past seven, and swept the season series against the Bears and has now won 11 straight in the series. Solid passing by seniors Tia Scambray and Courtney Schwan let senior setters Bailey Tanner and Jade Finau spread the ball around. Tanner finished with 20 assists and Finau had 16.
Schwan had seven kills without an error to hit .438 and led the Huskies with 14 digs. Kara Bajema and Carly DeHoog shared the kills lead with nine apiece, Bajema hitting .316 and DeHoog at .286. Crissy Jones didn’t make an error and put away eight kills for a .421 percentage, and Avie Niece had five kills and led the blocking effort with four block assists.
The Dawgs had seven aces to just two for Cal, and finished with 42 kills to 33 for the Bears. The .333 attack percentage is the highest for the Huskies in Pac-12 play, bettering the previous mark of .307 two matches ago against Utah, and continuing an upward trend.
“Really good clean volleyball, playing like the experienced players that they are,” Head Coach Keegan Cook said of the error-free matches for Schwan and Jones. “Nice to see Crissy have a night like that and Courtney as well. They were rock solid for us. Our setters managed the game well.”
The Huskies completed a stretch of four matches in seven days tonight, and now have over a week until they return to the court next Friday at Oregon State. Washington will enjoy a weekend off but then look to keep the momentum going next week on the road in Oregon.
“I told them that I hoped the Stanford match wasn’t the pinnacle of our season,” said Cook. “I hope that they’ve got passion on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. This is the first long week of practice we’re going to have in a while, and it might be our last one. Just hoping that they have the passion to attack the two or three things left on our list before December arrives.”
A transition kill from Jones off a Tanner set opened the match. The first block from Jones and Sanders came on point two. A couple UW errors got Cal on the board, with Jones tying it up at 4-4 with a second kill. Cal didn’t get its first kill until the 12th point but it gave them a 7-5 lead. Avie Niece hit a quick Jade Finau set down in serve-receive and then Lauren Sanders and Bajema tied it at 8-8 with a stuff in the middle. Cal forced a Husky timeout with a 3-0 run for 9-12. Bajema got her first kill to snap that Cal run out of the timeout. A Cal error and a Sanders kill off a Cal overpass got the Dawgs back even at 12-12. Two more Bears errors made it 14-12 Dawgs and Cal called time. Schwan buried a transition set out of the timeout and then a Cal net violation made it seven straight and 16-12 before Cal broke Shayne McPherson‘s serving run. The Bears got two back but Jones drilled one from the right for 17-14. Niece had a bump set up at the net and Schwan ran it down and flipped on over the block to the court for 19-15 and the Bears used their last timeout. A rightside finish from Schwan and a Bear miss extended the lead to 22-16 Dawgs. Finau laid out for a pancake dig and Dehoog finished for 23-16 and then Finau had a transition set to Bajema after a great Schwan dig to bring UW to set point at 24-16. Schwan then closed out the set with UW’s first ace for the 25-16. All told it was a 16-4 run for UW after trailing 9-12. The Huskies heated up to a .345 mark by set’s send, with Schwan hitting .714 with five kills and she also had four digs.
Errors hurt both teams to start the second set as Cal took a 4-2 lead. A quick twitch dig from Scambray led to a DeHoog offspeed kill for 5-6 Bears. Sanders dropped a tip over and down to level it at eight. McPherson got an ace off the net cord for UW’s first lead at 10-9. Jones approached in the middle and pounded one off the defense and out for a 13-10 lead. Niece then roofed a Bears swing down at an angle for 15-11 at the media timeout. A Bears rotation error gave Jones an ace out of the timeout. The lead reached eight as Bajema hit off the block and out long for 20-12 and the Bears took time. But Schwan kept the Dawgs rolling with an ace to cap a 5-0 run. Cailin Onoskosubbed in to serve and DeHoog had two more kills on the right to keep UW pushing towards the finish. An ace from Tanner got UW to set point at 24-15, and then junior Destiny Julye‘s first kill of the night ended it, 25-16, for the Dawgs. UW hit .333 in the second set while Cal was at .207. Six different Huskies had at least one kill and UW had four aces in the set.
Kills from Bajema and Jones got UW moving in the third set, and a block from Niece and DeHoog leveled things at 4-4. The teams traded sideouts, with DeHoog providing a couple more kills, but a 3-0 run by the Bears gave them a 10-8 lead, but DeHoog finished from the right to get UW right back. Schwan saved a point by digging a Cal swing off a Husky overpass and then Bajema put it away for 10-11. Scambray smacked two more aces in a row to get UW back even at 13-all and the Bears took timeout. Schwan rolled one over and down to cap a great rally to put the Dawgs up one, but Cal retook the lead with a UW block error and an ace. Bajema destroyed a Finau set to the floor for 17-18 Bears. But Cal had a kill in serve-receive and then an ace for 17-20 and the Huskies called time. Scambray got a dig and Bajema put one off the block from way off the net for a big point for 18-20 but the Bears answered with a block. Jones crushed another inside approach and Cal missed one wide as UW closed to 21-22 and Cal took timeout. Out of the break, Scambray went down for a great dig and Jones killed in transition to tie it up at 22-22 and then another tough serve forced Cal into an error as UW pushed ahead by one. Niece then came through on a Tanner set in transition to get the Dawgs to match point at 24-22. Scambray missed serve to snap the 5-0 Husky run, but Cal hit one long on the next rally to end it, 25-23. Washington outhit the Bears, .325 to .184, in set three, with four kills apiece from Bajema, Jones, and DeHoog.
SEATTLE – Senior Antzela Dempi had 16 kills and libero Amanda Kirtley registered a season-high 14 digs but the Cal volleyball team fell to No. 13 Washington 25-16, 25-16, 25-23 on Thursday night at Alaska Airlines Arena.
Freshman Mima Mirkovic added six kills and six digs for the Bears (13-13, 4-11 Pac-12) while freshman Preslie Anderson had three blocks.
Cal held an early lead in each set, and kept it for most of the third. The Bears led as late as 22-19 in the third set before the Huskies scored five in a row to reach match point. Cal staved off one match point before Washington closed it out.
“We can be very, very good but we need to be more consistent,” Cal head coach Matt McShane said. “We keep improving. I’m proud of the way we played. For us to go on the road and fight all the way to the end is admirable.”
Kirtley finished one dig short of her career-high while Dempi registered her most kills in a match since putting down a career-high 21 on Sept. 9 against Louisiana.
The Bears played without starting outside hitter/libero Christine Alftin and starting setter Mackenzie Albrecht, who are each captains who missed the match because of injuries.
Cal returns to action Friday night at Washington State at 7 p.m.
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