University of Washington
Washington State
Carlson Drives Huskies Past Cougars In Three
November 05, 2010 | Volleyball
Nov. 5, 2010
PULLMAN, Wash. - Fifteen kills off the right arm of senior Kindra Carlson provided the punch that the 11th-ranked Husky volleyball team needed to take down the rival Washington State Cougars in three sets tonight. Washington (18-5, 7-5 Pac-10) earned its first road win since September with a 25-17, 25-16, 25-23 victory in front of 1,203 fans in Bohler Gym.
The Huskies had lost five straight on the road, all against Top-15 teams, and endured frustrating five-set losses at both UCLA and USC last week, but the Dawgs said enough is enough tonight in completing the season sweep over the Cougars (6-16, 0-12 Pac-10). Washington outhit Washington State, .316-.114 tonight, and led 8.0-4.0 in blocks and 51-35 in digs.
Carlson had one of her best nights of the season, posting a match-high 15 kills while hitting .583 (one error in 24 attacks), her second-best percentage this year. She added 10 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. Fellow senior Becky Perry added 11 kills and senior Jenna Hagglund handed out 34 assists. Redshirt freshman Jenna Orlandini had 14 digs from her libero spot.
In the first set, junior Lauren Barfield earned back-to-back kills to put UW up 6-3 early. The Huskies then opened things up with a 5-0 run on the serve of sophomore Kelcey Dunaway. Sophomore Kylin Muñoz got her first kill, and then Carlson and junior Bianca Rowland roofed a swing from Marcelina Glab. An attack error from Meagan Ganzer followed and UW owned a 12-5 lead. Washington State never got closer than five the rest of the way. Muñoz added two more kills late in the set for a 20-13 lead, and a Perry finish made it 23-15 and WSU called time. Another Perry swing brought up set point and a WSU miscue ended it at 25-17. Carlson had four kills on five swings in the set and Perry and Muñoz added three apiece.
After a WSU attack error to start the second set, Perry put down consecutive Hagglund sets for a quick 3-0 lead. Muñoz then posted a solo rejection of Brittany Tillman to give the Dawgs a 5-1 cushion. Washington went on a 3-0 run that prompted a WSU timeout, as Barfield and Perry assisted on a block and Carlson shot one down for an 11-5 advantage. But Carlson found the floor again right out of the break, and a third kill over the short span made it 14-6 Huskies. Rowland and Carlson found space in the Cougar defense on consecutive points and then Rowland and Hagglund teamed up for the rejection and a 19-10 lead. WSU used its last timeout, but UW quickly came up on set point after a Perry finish. Barfield stood up to Tillman on set point and scored the solo stuff to end the set at 25-16. UW hit a sizzling .500 for the set with 15 kills and just two errors on 26 swings. Carlson had six on eight attempts and Rowland was 3-for-3. WSU hit just .054 in the frame.
After intermission, UW found itself trailing for the first time as the Cougars grabbed a 6-3 lead early. The Huskies trimmed the lead to two points on several occasions, the last coming after a Carlson and Barfield block that made it 12-10 in favor of the home team, but WSU bounced back with three-straight for its biggest lead at 15-10. Muñoz ended the run with a kill, and then the Monroe native met Lynnwood's Rowland at the net for a block, followed by a kill by Perry to bring it back to 16-13 and force a WSU timeout. Orlandini assisted on another Perry swing, and then Carlson hammered another one down to cut the deficit to 18-17 and force another WSU timeout. The Huskies finally drew even on the first rally out of the break on a ball handling error from WSU. Another Carlson kill made it 20-19 Huskies, but WSU came back with two straight for a 21-20 edge. A Cougar error put the Dawgs back up one, and kills by Rowland and Muñoz helped hold the lead. With match point at 24-23, sophomore Kelly Holford flustered the Cougs with a tough float serve and Ganzer made the error for the 25-23 UW win. UW hit just .167 in the set but held WSU to .094.
The Huskies will now close out the regular season with four of their final six matches at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. Next weekend brings the marquee match-ups as No. 2 California visits on Friday for a 7 p.m. match and No. 3 Stanford is right behind on Saturday, also at 7 p.m.
