MATCH STATS
- No. 17 Utah def. No. 8 Washington 3-2 (27-25, 26-24, 21-25, 23-25, 16-14)
- Utah moves to 13-3, 4-1 Pac-12; Washington falls to 13-3, 3-2 Pac-12
- Seattle, Washington
- Attendance: 3,019
- Box Score
SEATTLE – The No. 17 Utah Utes notched six more kills than No. 8 Washington, nudging past an injury-laded Husky squad in five sets for its first ever win in Seattle (in eight tries).
The teams split the first 10 points of Set 5, before Utah pulled away with a 4-0 run, including two kills and a block by junior middle blocker Berkeley Oblad. Down 12-8, Washington leveled the score with four-straight points, including a Shayne McPherson ace and a stuff by sophomore middle Avie Niece and Crissy Jones. A kill by senior outside hitter Adora Anae and a triple block by freshman outside Dani Barton, senior middle Tawnee Luafalemana and senior outside Carly Trueman gave Utah its first match-point try at 14-13. Barton notched two kills to close out the 16-14 victory and the upset.
The match was fairly even statistically, with Utah finding the space it needed in kills (75-69) and with help from five more Husky errors (29-24). The Utes hit .262 to UW’s .247 effort. Washington edged Utah 17-16 in blocks, while both teams managed four aces.
Anae led the way for Utah with 25 kills, 11 digs and three aces. Oblad (15) and Trueman (12) followed. Oblad hit at a team-best .433 clip and notched a team-leading 11 blocks. Luafalemana (9) and Barton (8) rounded out the Ute offense, while Kenzie Korber added eight stuffs. Sophomore libero Brianna Doehrmann pulled up a team-best 18 digs, followed by Anae (11), freshman outside Shannon Scully (10) and freshman setter Camryn Machado (10). Machado rounded out a double-double with 23 assists.
Senior Tia Scambray (19), freshman middle Lauren Sanders (17) and senior outside Carly DeHoog (15) paced the Washington offensive effort. Sanders hit at a stellar .762 clip with just one error in 21 swings, while also adding a team-leading 10 blocks. DeHoog, junior outside Destiny Julye and Niece chipped in five blocks apiece. McPherson managed a team-best 24 digs, followed by Scambray (11) and senior setter Jade Finau (11).
The teams tied 14 times in Set 1, including a 16-all knotup midway through with neither gaining more than a two-point edge. Utah scored six of the next nine to vault ahead 22-19 with help from a kill, a block and an ace by Anae. Kills by Trueman and Oblad put the Utes on the hill at 24-21, but Washington countered with four straight to earn a try of its own at 25-24. Sanders and Julye each notched a kill and teamed up on a block to aid the Huskies. A kill and a block by Anae capped a 3-0 run and the 27-25 win.
After splitting the first 14 points of Set 2, Washington surged ahead 11-8 with a trio of blocks by Sanders. Utah countered with a 4-0 run including a kill and block by Koerber to take a 12-11 lead. The teams tied at 12 sparking a string of six ties, last at 18 all. The Utes went up four at 24-20 with three Anae putaways. Two Julye kills and a block by Jones and Marion Hazelwood knotted things up at 24, before a Trueman putaway and UW hitting error wrapped up the 26-24 victory.
Two UW errors and an ace by Bailey Choy put Utah up 5-2 in Set 3. The Huskies took the lead at 8-7 and 10-9 including a pair of aces and two DeHoog kills. The Utes regained the advantage at 12-11 and went up by two at 16-14 with help from three kills and a block by Anae. The teams tied three times, last at 18, before Washington used a 5-0 run to pull away. Two Utah errors and a kill and a block by Scambray put the Huskies ahead 24-19. Another Scambray putaway clinched the 25-21 win.
Down 15-12 midway through Set 4, Washington rallied with six straight points, four on blocks, three by Sanders, and two on DeHoog kills, to go up 18-15. Utah knotted the score at 19 on a Scully ace. The teams tied at 20, 21 and 22, before kills by Scambray and DeHoog gave UW a set-point try at 24-22. DeHoog downed the final point of the set to send the match to a decisive fifth set.
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy: Utah Athletics
Behind multiple career-high efforts, the No. 17-ranked Utah Utes (13-3, 4-1) outlasted the No. 9-ranked Washington Huskies (13-3, 3-2) in a five-set thriller (27-25, 26-24, 21-25, 23-25, 16-14) Friday night at the Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle.
After leading the match 2-0 and dropping the next two sets to force a fifth set tied 2-2, the Utes’ five-set win marked the first time in history that Utah has beaten Washington in Seattle. Utah also snapped a three-game losing streak against the Huskies.
Utah and Washington traded points to open the match until the Utes led 13-12 and the Huskies rattled off three straight points to head into the media timeout leading 15-13. Utah responded out of the timeout, scoring six of the next eight points to lead 19-17, forcing a Washington timeout. A kill from Berkeley Oblad gave Utah set point at 24-21, but Washington scored two straight points which would lead to a Utah timeout. The Huskies scored two unanswered points out of the timeout to continue its momentum and Utah would take its final timeout trailing 25-24. A kill and a block from Utah gave the Utes set point and Adora Anae recorded the final kill to give Utah the set, 27-25. Oblad registered seven kills in the opening set, while Anae added in six kills for the Utes.
After going back-and-forth early in the second set, Washington put together a 4-0 run to take the lead 11-8, but Utah responded with a 4-0 run of its own to regain the lead at 12-11. Both teams continued trading points until the set was tied 18-18 and Utah took the lead 22-18 after recording three kills and a block during the 4-0 run. An Anae kill led Utah to its first set point, leading 24-20, but another late rally from Washington tied the second frame back up at 24-24, which would force Utah to call its second timeout. Carly Trueman recorded a kill out of the timeout and a hitting error from the Huskies would give Utah the second set 26-24 and a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set proved to be like the previous two with neither the Utes nor the Huskies building any separation early in the set. Utah took a 15-13 lead heading into the media timeout, but the Utes would find themselves tied with Washington late in the third set, 19-19. Washington then went on a 5-0 run to record its first set point, 24-20, and force the second Utah timeout of the set. Utah scored two points out of the timeout, but it wasn’t enough as Washington would take the set, 25-20, off a kill from Tia Scambray.
Tied 11-11 in the fourth set, Utah went into the media timeout on a 4-1 run ending with a block from Oblad. The Huskies rallied and scored four straight points which would call for a Utah timeout with the Utes trailing 16-15. Washington recorded two blocks out of the timeout, but a service error from the Huskies would end the 6-0 run. Tied 20-20, both teams went point-for-point until Washington registered two kills in a row to lead 24-22. A kill from Tawnee Luafalemanacut the deficit to just one point, but Washington recorded a kill the next point to take the set 25-23 and force a fifth set.
Utah built a lead in the fifth set after putting together a 4-0 run to lead 9-5, but a 3-1 run from Washington cut the Ute lead to just 10-8. Utah countered with back-to-back blocks from Oblad and Kenzie Koerber which pushed the Utah lead to 12-8. The Huskies scored four consecutive points to even the set at 12-12 and would lead Utah to call its final timeout. Tied 14-14, Dani Barton tallied two consecutive kills to help the Utes pick up the win in five sets, 16-14.
Utah will close out the weekend on Sunday against Washington State. The Utes and Cougars will face off at 11 a.m. PT/12 p.m. MT at Bohler Gym in Pullman, Wash.
GAME NOTES
Utah earned its first ever victory over Washington in Seattle. The Utes were winless in seven tries when facing the Huskies on the road.
Adora Anae tallied a match-high 25 kills. Anae is now just 6 kills shy of becoming Utah’s all-time kill leader.
Anae also recorded 11 digs to earn her eighth double-double of the season.
Berkeley Oblad recorded her first career double-double after registering a career-high 11 total blocks and 15 kills, while recording a .433 hitting percentage. Oblad also recorded a career-high seven digs.
Camryn Machado totaled a career-high 23 assists, while also earning her first career double-double with a career-high 10 digs.
Brianna Doehrmann notched a season-high 18 digs, while Shannon Scully added in 10 digs.
Kenzie Koerber recorded a career-high 8 total blocks.
Bailey Choy finished the night with 41 assists. Carly Trueman totaled 12 kills, Tawnee Luafalemana pitched in nine kills, and Dani Barton added in eight kills for Utah.
Courtesy: Washington Athletics
Forced by injuries to shuffle the deck in a big way, the ninth-ranked Husky volleyball team brought out a lineup vastly different than any used this season, but still showed their characteristic fortitude. Down two sets to none against a talented 17th-ranked Utah squad, Washington rallied to force a fifth set and even came back from 8-12 down in set five to tie it at 14-14, but Utah came up with the final two points to end what was nearly one of the best comebacks in school history, keeping a season-high Alaska Airlines Arena crowd of 3,019 fans hanging on each point.
The final score of 27-25, 26-24, 21-25, 23-25, 16-14 for Utah definitely does tell the score, as the teams were rarely separated by more than a handful of points in any set all night long. The first four sets all had at least 12 tie scores. The Huskies saved three set points in the first set and had one chance of their own, and UW again saved four set points in the second set, only to find themselves down 0-2 at intermission. But for the second time in the past four matches, UW came back to force a fifth. Just two weeks ago, UW also came all the way back from 0-2 down to beat Arizona State in five in Tempe.
While the Dawgs ultimately fell to 13-3 and 3-2 in Pac-12 play, Head Coach Keegan Cook couldn’t help but be impressed. “I told our players how fortunate we are that we have a team where we don’t have to worry about character, and resiliency, and grit, and a bunch of other intangibles that we have,” said Head Coach Keegan Cook. “We’ve got it. To perform like that against a team who’s that good in spite of the week that we’ve had in terms of injuries and new lineups, just says a lot about us from a character standpoint.”
The missing pieces today for UW included senior All-American Bailey Tanner, out with a broken finger suffered during the USC match last week. Another All-American senior, Courtney Schwan, could only play a few rotations in the back row due to an ankle injury suffered in practice just yesterday. Senior setter Jade Finau, however, returned after missing three matches with a finger injury of her own, and Washington went with a 6-2 setter rotation of Finau and true freshman Natalie Robinson, who had previously only seen five sets of mostly spot serving duty.
Robinson went out and had 34 assists and nine digs while Finau had 28 assists and 11 digs for a double-double as they helped the Huskies hit .262 for the match, slightly above Utah’s .247 mark. Many of Robinson and Finau’s assists went to Lauren Sanders, as the freshman middle had the match of her young career, with a career-high 17 kills and just one error on 21 swings for a fantastic .762 attack percentage. She killed her first nine swings of the match, and also added 10 blocks for a double-double.
The other major lineup shift was senior Tia Scambray moving back from libero where she has started all season into the outside hitter role she played the past three years. Scambray took to the challenge readily, and looked as if she’d been never skipped a beat on the outside, as she led the Huskies with 19 kills, hitting .261 for the match, and she added 11 digs and four blocks. Sophomore Shayne McPherson started at libero and matched her career-high with 24 digs. Senior right side Carly DeHoog totaled 15 kills and five blocks, and junior Destiny Julye had eight kills as the second left side hitter and added five block assists.
“What a welcome to Pac-12 volleyball for Natalie Robinson, really nice job setting half the 6-2. Tia Scambray, I’m not surprised that she had the match that she had. She did a lot of things that we’ve seen her do for years. We needed her, and she stepped up and did an outstanding job leading us in kills tonight.
The big match from Sanders came after a steady week of practice, said Cook. “Lauren, and all of our middles and setters have worked to execute better. We were not satisfied with that after the L.A. weekend and so that was one of our primary focuses throughout the week, so to see Lauren Sanders have a match like this just tells us we’ve got something we can carry with us for the rest of the season.”
Sanders put away the first kill for the Huskies on a quick from Finau for 1-1. The first kill for Scambray tied it up at 4-4. Natalie Robinson’s first career assist came to Crissy Jones on the right and she then set Julye on the left for a finish for a 6-6 tie. Robinson floated an ace to make it 12-all. Two straight errors from the Utes got the Dawgs a 15-13 lead at the media timeout. Utah tied it up with two but Julye smashed one crosscourt for 16-15 Dawgs. Utah had three straight to move up by two, but a fifth and sixth kill from Sanders in the middle kept the Huskies within striking distance. An ace from Utah forced the Huskies into a timeout down 19-22. DeHoog put away a tough set out of the break but Utah answered right back. Scambray tooled the block but Utah responded again for set point at 21-24. Marion Hazelwood saved the first with a kill from Robinson, and then Sanders and Julye got the first block of the match for UW to make it 23-24 and force a Utes timeout. Out of the break, a tough serve from McPherson forced Utah to free ball it, and Robinson set Sanders who put it away to tie it up, 24-all. Scambray had a dig on the next point and Julye found a sharp angle in transition to suddenly put the Dawgs up, 25-24, and force Utah’s last timeout. Utah saved the Husky set point chance with a serve-receive kill, then scored a block to retake the lead. A third straight point went to the Utes after a long rally, as they came back to grab the set, 25-27, winning the final three points. Washington outhit the Utes, .361 to .327, led by an incredible seven kills on seven swings from Sanders, but three blocks for Utah to just one for UW and five more Utah kills made the difference.
A kill from DeHoog and then a block from DeHoog and Sanders gave the Huskies the first two points of the second set. The teams were even through the first 10 points. Sanders kept plugging along with her ninth kill for 7-all. The Husky block got revved up with three straight rejections, DeHoog getting the most of two of them and Scambray roofing the other as UW went up 11-8. But Utah quickly regrouped and scored the next three in a row to tie it back up at 11-11 and the Huskies called timeout. Scambray ripped one up the line to make it 13-all. Utah moved ahead by two points but the Dawgs got even again at 17-17 with a kill from Sanders and then Julye hitting down a 50-50 ball. A Ute kill was backed up by a stuff block to crack open a two point Utah lead at 18-20 and force UW’s final timeout. Washington let a costly free ball drop into the middle of their side for a Utah kill out of the break and Utah made it a four-point cushion at 18-22. Utah reached set point at 20-24, but Scambray saved the first with a big swing in serve-receive from the left, and then her service was overpassed and Julye put it down for 22-24, forcing a Utah timeout. Out of the timeout, it was the exact same sequence for the Dawgs, an overpass that Julye put away for 23-24. Just like set one, the Dawgs came all the way back and tied it up at 24-all as Jones and Hazelwood rejected the next swing from Utah, and the Utes used their last timeout. Utah got the kill out of the timeout to get a fifth set point chance, and this one proved to be the clincher, as the Huskies hit one wide to fall just short yet again, 24-26. Utah hit .316 in the set while the Huskies hit .220, with the Dawgs winning the blocking battle this time with six, but the Utes had a 19-13 digs advantage.
Utah grabbed an early lead in the third set, 2-5, but a DeHoog kill and an ace from Scambray got UW back within a point. Sanders registered a new season-high 12th kill and a Utah error had it evened back up at 7-7. Finau found Julye in transition for a crosscourt blast as UW inched ahead by one. Julye dialed up an ace for a 10-9 Husky lead. The lead swung back to Utah but Scambray banged off the block to tie it at 12. The media timeout came with Utah on a 3-1 run for a 13-15 Husky deficit. Julye and Sanders got on a stuff block to get the Huskies back even at 16-all. Sanders lasered one to open court and then Finau got a transition set to Scambray who finished to get the lead back to the Dawgs. A 3-0 Husky run on a Jones kill, a Scambray finish, and a Utah attack error built a 22-19 Husky lead and forced a Utes timeout. Out of the break, Scambray got all over a Utah quick attempt and rejected it, and another Utah error made it 24-19 Dawgs as the Utes used their last timeout. Utah saved the first with a kill on its first swing, and the Huskies sent one wide for 24-21, and used their first timeout. Out of the break, Robinson set one back to Scambray on the right and she hit off the block and down to cap the set, 25-21. The Dawgs posted a .300 attack percentage in the third, holding Utah to .138, with Sacmbray killing four of five swings.
A couple early Ute errors got the Dawgs a 4-2 lead to start set four. Robinson back set to DeHoog who ended a long rally by going off the block from the right for a 7-6 lead. The teams continued trading sideouts for several points, tying up again and again, until Utah killed an overpass to take a two point lead at 11-13. Scambray tipped off the block and down for 12-13, but Utah scored the next two points to take a 12-15 lead at the media timeout. Julye and Niece had a key block to break the Huskies out of the rut, and then UW surged on Niece’s serve, as she provided two huge digs that lit up the Husky bench and a huge slam from DeHoog on the right tied it up at 15-15. Washington’s block then got rolling again as UW roofed three in a row, Sanders in on all three and DeHoog shutting down the right pin. All told it was a 6-0 Husky run on Niece’s serve before she missed one just long. DeHoog had another kill for 19-17 but Utah got a lucky netcord ace to tie it up at 19-19 and the Huskies called timeout. Julye came out with a big kill out of the break to regain the lead. The teams traded service errors for 21-up. At 23-22, Scambray got a dig and Finau found DeHoog for a rip from the right and the Dawgs reached set point at 24-22, forcing the last Utah timeout. The Utes took care of the first one with a kill in serve-receive, and UW used its final timeout at 24-23. The Dawgs got a good pass from Scambray, and Robinson set DeHoog who nestled one to the back corner to take it, 25-23, and force a fifth. The Dawgs hit .300 for a second straight set, holding Utah to .163, with DeHoog carrying the Dawgs in the fourth with seven kills on a .462 percentage, with 10 assists from Robinson.
Utah put down its first swing in the fifth but UW did the same, with Scambray adding to her total. Scambray and Niece got a block for UW’s first lead at 3-2. Niece’s first kill all match knotted it at 5-5, but the Utes then went on a 3-0 run to make it 5-8 at the media timeout. UW overpassed for a second-straight point and it was killed for 5-9, but Sanders broke the run by putting down a deflection above the net for 6-9. Sanders had another quick kill from Finau for 7-10, and the Dawgs took another point on a big McPherson dig and a Scambray transition kill. But Utah responded with two consecutive blocks to go back up four, 8-12, and force the Huskies into a timeout. The Utes missed their next serve, and then Niece and Jones built a wall that put the Ute swing straight down for 10-12 and now it was Utah into a timeout. McPherson then aced the Utes to pull the Dawgs within one. Utah rallied with a serve-receive kill out of the break, but the Dawgs answered with a stuff on the next point for 13-all. A wild rally contained a few out of system swings for the Dawgs but Utah ultimately prevailed with a block to reach match point at 13-14, and the Huskies used their last timeout. Out of the break, Robinson hit Niece on a quick set and she put it through the block to keep the Dawgs alive. Utah hit back with a right side kill to get a second match point try, and after another frantic rally, Utah got a swing through the Husky block and down to bring the marathon match to an end, 14-16.
Washington will rest up and aim to bounce back on Sunday afternoon, hosting the 25th-ranked Colorado Buffs at 3 p.m.
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