University of Washington
USC
Huskies Suffer Another Heartbreaker In L.A.
October 30, 2010 | Volleyball
Oct. 30, 2010
LOS ANGELES - For the second night in a row, the seventh-ranked Husky volleyball team created a chance for a big conference road win, but the desired result remained a couple elusive points away, as eighth-ranked USC pulled out the five-set win. After over two hours, the Trojans (19-3, 8-3 Pac-10) came out with the 15-25, 25-17, 25-19, 23-25, 15-13 victory in front of 1,026 fans at the Galen Center.
The Huskies (17-5, 6-5 Pac-10) also had a tough five-set loss last night at UCLA. The Trojans evened the season series, as each team earned went the distance to get wins on their home court. The last four meetings between the two schools have gone five sets.
Senior Becky Perry had a great night for UW with 21 kills and a .320 hitting percentage, and junior Bianca Rowland had her best hitting night in three weeks, hitting .500 with 15 kills, her second-best total of the year behind the 17 she had in the first match with the Trojans. Junior Lauren Barfield also contributed eight kills with a .438 clip and added four blocks. The offensive numbers were near mirror images, as USC held the edge in attack percentage at .277-.267, but UW had a 65-64 edge in kills. The Trojans outblocked UW 12.0-8.0 and had five fewer service aces. All-American Alex Jupiter had a match-best 30 kills for USC.
Washington quickly shook off any lingering effects from last night's five-set setback in the first set this afternoon. The Huskies jumped out to a 7-2 lead to force USC's first timeout. Perry raced out of the gate with four kills in the stretch. At 9-6, UW went on another 4-0 run to prompt another USC timeout, as senior Kindra Carlson had a kill and an ace and Rowland and Jenna Hagglund teamed for a block. Hagglund got her first kill for a 10-point lead at 16-6. Carlson and Barfield got UW's fourth block of the set to bring up set point, and Carlson found the floor for the 25-15 win. The Dawgs hit .417 for the set and limited USC to .154. Perry dominated with seven kills on 13 swings (.538) and Jenna Orlandini dug nine balls.
Consecutive finishes by Rowland and Perry made it 5-3 UW early in set two, but USC got three of the next four to tie. The Huskies hit a lull and hit into three Trojan blocks during a 5-0 run that let USC open up a 14-9 lead. After going down six, an ace from Hagglund got UW within four at 20-16, forcing a USC timeout, but the Trojans closed on a 5-1 run to get the 25-17 win. After making just two errors in the first set, the Huskies were plagued by nine in the second and the Trojans won the battle at net with four blocks to none for UW.
The third set was similar to the second set early on, as USC erased an early deficit with a 4-0 run to take an 8-6 lead. The Trojans extended their lead with a pair of aces and forced UW's second timeout at 13-7. Kylin Muñoz snapped the run with a kill and Perry followed that with another to get it back to 13-9. The Huskies could not get closer than four points, however, despite aces from Kelcey Dunaway and Kelly Holford late in the set. USC took the 2-1 lead with a 25-19 win. The Huskies were strong on offense hitting .333 but the Trojans were even more efficient at .407 led by Jupiter who was dominant with nine kills and no errors on 12 swings.
With their backs to the wall, the Huskies buckled down and pulled out the closest set of the night, a back and forth affair with 10 ties and four lead changes. Late in the set, Barfield tied things up at 19-all with the kill, then a Hagglund ace inched UW up 20-19. The teams traded several sideouts, with Muñoz giving the Dawgs a 23-22 lead with the tough swing. Then a Jupiter miss got the Huskies two set points and the Trojans called timeout. Carlson missed her next serve, but Rowland punctuated the next rally with a kill to take UW to a fifth set with a 25-23 win. The Huskies had the hitting edge again in set four, .297-.222 with Muñoz hitting well with four kills and no errors on six swings.
Washington fell behind 4-2 in the fifth and needed a quick timeout. But a 3-0 run behind swings by Rowland and Muñoz and a USC miscue brought the Dawgs back even at 7-7. They couldn't grab the lead, as USC came back with two-straight to force another UW timeout. From 9-7 in the fifth, the Huskies got the sideout on every single Trojans serve, but USC did exactly the same on its end of things. The teams swapped points back and forth with UW getting within one and USC pushing the lead back to two. Carlson pulled UW within 13-12 with her 11th kill of the night, but the Huskies missed their next serve to get match point. Rowland saved the first with another smash, but Jupiter capped a fantastic night with her 30th kill on the next rally as USC pulled it out, 15-13.
UW will look to find a way out of its road funk next weekend when it travels to Pullman to face the Cougars Friday night at 8 p.m.
