University of Washington
Oregon
Huskies Miss Chances In First Setback At Oregon
September 25, 2010 | Volleyball
Sept. 25, 2010
EUGENE, Ore. - The seventh-ranked Husky volleyball team had its 12-match season-opening win streak ended tonight, as 15th-ranked Oregon pulled out the four-set win at McArthur Court. Washington (12-1, 1-1 Pac-10) had four points in the fourth set to take things to a fifth, but couldn't cash in, and Oregon (14-0, 2-0 Pac-10) hung on for the 25-20, 13-25, 25-20, 30-28 victory.
Washington led several key stat categories, outhitting the Ducks, .282-.275, and posting 11.0 blocks against 7.0 for Oregon, but the Ducks out-dug the Huskies, 65-49. Senior Kindra Carlson had 20 kills and senior Becky Perry added 15. Junior Bianca Rowland hit .550 with 13 kills and sophomore Kylin Muñoz had another efficient night with eight kills to just one error for a .304 percentage. Jenna Orlandini had 20 digs, her third match this year with at least 20 digs. Oregon's Alaina Bergsma led all players with 21 kills and hit .559.
"We were good in spurts again. We led in just about every category except the win, and that's what matters," said head coach Jim McLaughlin. "Kelcey was so good serving, she got them in a lot of trouble; we just need more people doing it. We're going to learn from this and have a better awareness. Oregon's a good team but we can beat them down the road. We just made some errors, that's kind of been our story, if we make errors teams are with us. When we stabilize we're awfully good but we have to do it for longer periods of time."
The Huskies will now return home after more than a month on the road, as they host USC and UCLA this coming Friday and Saturday at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. Both matches will go off at 7 p.m.
In the fourth set, Washington had a number of swings to send things to a fifth, but the ball wouldn't bounce their way. After trailing 17-15, the Huskies won eight of the next 12 points to take a 23-21 lead. A kill by Perry gave UW a pair of set points, but Oregon got a kill from Heather Meyers and then a block from Bergsma and Ariana Williams on a Carlson swing to tie the set back up. Perry earned UW another set point with a tip on the next point, but Bergsma answered with a kill. The Huskies then had to save two match points, with Perry and Carlson coming through on each. A block assist from the senior outside hitters got the Huskies another chance at 28-27, but UO's Katherine Fischer closed the match out with three consecutive kills. The Huskies significantly outhit the Ducks in the fourth, .256-.200, but were hurt by four service errors while the Ducks made none.
Oregon took the first set 25-20, hitting an impressive .448 while UW was firing well too at .323. Neither team had more than a two-point lead until the Ducks broke open a 17-17 tie with a 4-1 run to take a 21-18 lead. Carlson broke the run with a kill, but the Huskies then made two-straight errors and needed timeout. Kelcey Dunaway finished the next point with a kill, but the Ducks closed it out with a block to hand the Huskies their first set loss, and first deficit in any match this year.
How would the Huskies respond? With a dominating second set that silenced the crowd. Muñoz and Dunaway teamed up for a stuff for a 5-2 lead, prompting an early Oregon timeout. Then Rowland and Carlson diverted back-to-back Bergsma attacks, and Carlson followed with a kill for a 9-4 lead and another quick Ducks timeout. Oregon closed to within two points, but Muñoz stopped the bleeding, and UW went on another 8-1 run to put the set away, the majority coming on Orlandini's service. Perry had three-straight kills during the run. An ace off the hand of Dunaway gave the Huskies set point, and Rowland banged one down from the middle for the 25-13 win. Washington seemed to get a tip on every Oregon attack in the set, holding the ducks to .068 for the frame. Carlson and Perry had six kills apiece without an error, and Orlandini had 10 digs in the second set alone.
After the break, the third set followed a similar pattern to the first. Washington had an early 7-3 lead after a block from Dunaway and Perry, but Oregon scored the next four to tie. The Ducks took a three-point lead at 14-11, prompting a UW timeout, then the Huskies rallied back immediately with the next three points, starting with a Rowland kill, then an ace from Carlson, and a block by Hagglund and Rowland. But the Huskies stalled at 18-all, losing five-straight points uncharacteristically. A kill from Bergsma put Oregon back on top with a 25-20 set win. Rowland was deadly in the third set with five kills on six swings, but Oregon hit .517 as a team and UW managed just seven digs in the third.
