University of Washington
UCLA
No. 5 UW Sweeps By No. 7 UCLA
October 18, 2007 | Volleyball
Oct. 18, 2007
SEATTLE - Washington volleyball coach Jim McLaughlin has preached all season long to his team that they need to start every match strong, especially in the ever-so-tough Pac-10 Conference. Tonight, McLaughlin got just what he has been looking for, as his fifth-ranked Huskies started fast against No. 7 UCLA and never looked back on their way to a sweep of the Bruins. Behind 13 kills each from Christal Morrison and Stevie Mussie, the Huskies dominated for much of the match to run their record to 18-1 overall and 7-1 in Pac-10 play.
"We've talked about it, we've addressed it and then we talked about it some more," McLaughlin said about how he has been stressing to his team to come out fast. "We're starting to respond to it. Maybe we're [the coaching staff] helping them a little bit in their preparation. Come November, we've got to be very good from start to finish."
Despite his fifth-ranked Huskies having just one loss coming into tonight's contest, McLaughlin felt that his team still had room for improvement, especially early in matches. The Huskies have taken on their coach's challenge as of late, coming up with a number of big wins, including a win on the road last week over then No. 2 Stanford.
The Huskies strong start against UCLA showed up in the box score of game one, as Washington hit .425 and sided out at 76 percent in the opening stanza and held UCLA to just a .180 hitting percentage. Morrison led the charge early on for UW, tallying seven kills and hitting .538 in the first game.
Playing just their sixth home match of the season, the Huskies fed off the emotion of the crowd on the way to extending their school-record home winning streak to 37.
"We're just happy to be home because we haven't played here in awhile," said Mussie. "We love playing in front of our home fans and we know we can always feed off of them."
Huskies libero Tamari Miyashiro gave the crowd of 1,904 a show throughout the match with her ability to dig the spikes of the Bruins, but especially in the first game when she had 12 of her match-high 24 digs.
"She's big time in so many ways," Huskies head coach Jim McLaughlin said about Miyashiro's play on the night. "She just makes everyone around her better and that's a sign of greatness."
The second game was much closer as UCLA led late 21-19, before the Huskies took control down the stretch for a 30-27 win. The two teams went back and forth throughout the game, which featured 11 tie scores and four lead changes.
Mussie paced the Huskies in game two, recording five kills and hitting .500. Teammate Jessica Swarbrick made her presence felt at the net in the game, finishing with three kills, a .500 hitting mark and five total blocks. One of her kills came on a powerful hit from the middle that brought the crowd to its feet.
"Any time you beat the Bruins, the tradition they have, the coaches they have, the players they have ... it's a great win," said McLaughlin. "In game one we played really well. After that it was hit and miss a little bit but we got the win,"
The Huskies finished the night with a .315 hitting percentage, after hitting just .243 against California last Thursday and a season-low .167 against Stanford last Friday.
"Our percentage was way up in game one and then we dropped a little bit," said McLaughlin. "It was mostly a function of our passing. When we pass well our hitting numbers are the best."
Besides the combined 26 kills from Morrison and Mussie, the Huskies also received 12 kills from Becky Perry and seven more from Swarbrick. Three UW players hit better than .300, led by Swarbrick's .538 clip. Perry finished at .444 and Morrison hit .333.
Jenna Hagglund finished the night with 45 of the Huskies 51 assists, Morrison added 12 digs for her seventh double-double of the season, and Swarbrick led UW with six total blocks. Washington finished with 11.5 team blocks on the night, while UCLA had just 4.5.
The Bruins Ali Daley finished with a double-double, her 12th of the season, tallying 12 kills to go with her 13 digs. Kaitlin Sather and Rachell Johnson also finished with double-figures in kills, as Sather had 12 and Johnson had 10. Nellie Spicer led the Bruins with 43 assists.
Washington faces its fourth-straight ranked opponent when they host No. 4 USC tomorrow night. Match time is set for 7 p.m. The Trojans (17-2, 6-2 Pac-10) were 3-1 winners over Washington State tonight.
NOTES: Washington has won six of the past eight against UCLA ... The Bruins lead the all-time series 40-12 ... Washington led throughout all of game one ... UCLA hit just .146 on the night ... with three games played tonight, Morrison is now seventh on the UW career list in games played at 387 ... Swarbrick is now tied for eighth on the UW career list in block assists with 281 for her career ... Mussie and Hagglund both had six digs for the Huskies ... UW committed just three service errors, compared to UCLA's nine ... The Huskies remain tied for first in the Pac-10 with Stanford. Both teams are 7-1 ... Washington is looking to set a new single-game regular season attendance mark tomorrow night against USC. The current record of 6,216 was set last year against Washington State.
