University of Washington
Oregon
No. 3 Huskies Hound No. 15 Ducks, 3-0
September 30, 2011 | Volleyball
Sept. 30, 2011
SEATTLE - The third-ranked Husky volleyball team knocked 15th-ranked Oregon from atop the Pac-12 standings tonight with a hard-earned 3-0 win in front of 2,801 fans at Alaska Airlines Arena. Washington (12-1, 4-1 Pac-12) got contributions from up and down the lineup in picking up its fourth-consecutive victory by a 25-23, 25-17, 28-26 count.
"It was a good match for us," said Head Coach Jim McLaughlin. "We were stable and we were pretty consistent throughout against a really good team that does some stuff that other teams don't do. But we had good composure and aggressiveness, and we were good at big times when we had to be."
The Ducks (11-12, 4-1 Pac-12) came into the match riding a 10-match win streak, and earlier this season they had upset defending NCAA Champion Penn State. They hung tight throughout, but Washington wound up with the edge in hitting, .273-.189, and had the biggest statistical edge in blocks, as UW posted 14 to just three for Oregon.
Freshman Krista Vansant's 13 kills led the way, and she just missed a double-double with nine digs. Senior Bianca Rowland had six kills and a season-best eight blocks. Senior setter Evan Sanders was also outstanding at net with six block assists, while tossing out 37 assists. Junior Kylin Muñoz (10 kills, .348 attack percentage), freshman Summer Ross (5 kills without an error), and senior Lauren Barfield (8 kills and 5 block assists) all had strong evenings. Ariana Williams led Oregon with 13 kills while hitting .556, but she was the only Duck to hit over .200.
"I thought Evan set a good match," McLaughlin said. "Her distribution was good, and she pushed the quick. Then Summer did some things where she made a little play here or there that got us going that the stats don't show. She tends to do that, and it just goes unnoticed."
Oregon served to start the match and hit wide after a short rally. Rowland and Ross had an early block against Liz Brenner for a 3-2 lead. Oregon went into the net after a great Ross serve disrupted things, then Ross backed that up with an ace for a 6-2 lead and an Oregon timeout. UW earned its lead without a kill, but Muñoz ended that by putting one off the block and out for a 7-3 lead. Barfield and Vansant had a left side block and then Oregon clipped the antenna for an 11-6 edge. The teams traded sideouts for the next nine points, with Muñoz and Rowland registering emphatic kills en route to a 15-10 lead. Barfield's first kill on the slide out right made it 17-12, and then Barfield teamed with Ross to reject the Fischer swing for the first server point since 11-6. Oregon came back with two to cut it back to 18-14. Barfield connected again on the quick set from Sanders for a 20-15 edge, then Oregon sent one long after a tough Orlandini service, and the Ducks took their last timeout at 21-15 Dawgs. Ross hit for her first kill, but Oregon then won three-straight to cut the deficit to 22-19 and UW took its first timeout. The Ducks got another point back before a service error ended the run. A great save by Ross on the sideline eventually led to an Oregon attack error and UW got set point at 24-21. The Ducks saved the first two and UW needed its second timeout. Out of the break, Sanders set Vansant on the left and she pummeled it off the defense into the crowd for the 25-23 win. The Ducks held a slim edge in the hitting percentages, .222 to .219, but UW made up for it with three blocks and an ace to none for UO.
The Dawgs started off the second set with their fourth block, this one put up by Rowland and Muñoz. Washington missed three straight swings and then had a ball-handling error off a block and needed timeout down 2-6. Muñoz found a sharp angle out of the break to stop the bleeding. Holford then served up an ace off of Fischer to make it 5-6. The Huskies got back level at 8-8 as Barfield and Ross stopped Fischer on the left. The Dawgs inched back in the lead for the first time at 12-11 on a Duck error. Brenner went up for UO but found Sanders and Rowland waiting and the shot went back off Brenner for the Husky point. That prompted a Ducks timeout with UW ahead 15-12. An ace from Rowland into the middle pushed the lead to 17-13. Brenner was stuffed again on the next rally by Barfield and Sanders for a five point lead, and UW made the block party official with one more on the next rally from the same duo, and the Ducks called time again with UW up 19-13. Oregon snapped the run with a kill out of the break, then Barfield missed just wide on a tip, but Oregon donated serve for 20-15 UW. Ross found the crease in the defense for her third kill, then Muñoz connected for a 23-16 edge. A service error brought up set point for the Dawgs, and after a nice rally, Ross put it down from the right side for the 25-17 set win. Ross hit .600 in the set with three kills, and UW held Oregon to just .033 on offense driven by five Husky blocks.
The third set started with Barfield firing long, but Sanders went right back to her on the next rally and she adjusted for the kill. Ross and Rowland got the roof of Bergsma, then the Ducks sent one wide for 4-all. Rowland later teamed with Vansant to return another Duck swing back home for a 6-5 lead. The Ducks got just their second block off a Vansant tip attempt for a 10-8 advantage, but Barfield put down an overpass on the next rally and then Muñoz went deep and off the defense to tie it back up at 10-10. The teams traded sideouts until an Oregon ace gave them a 14-12 lead. Sanders and Rowland got the rejection to break the short run, then the same pair met again to stop Brenner and knot it back up. The longest rally of the night came on the next point, and Rowland capped it with a crosscourt blast to put UW back up 15-14. The run hit four on Holford's serve, after UO sent over a free ball and Vansant terminated in from the left. That forced Oregon's last timeout with UW up 16-14. The Ducks got the kill off serve-receive out of the break, then tied it with a block of a Vansant swing.
The teams went back and forth, with UW taking the one point lead and Oregon tying it up, until a kill by Bergsma made it 20-19 Oregon and the Huskies called time. Oregon missed serve out of the break, but the Ducks came back with kills on the next two points and the Huskies called time again. Rowland went right and put it off the block and down out of the break. Vansant and Rowland then blocked Williams on the slide to get even at 23. A long rally was then ended with Vansant ripping one up the line to earn a match point at 24-23, but Williams saved it with her 13th kill. The tide swung back to Oregon after Vansant missed just long, but she tied it right back up at 25-25 with a clutch kill. The Ducks then overpassed the serve and Vansant connected again for match point number two, but Oregon saved another. A Barfield kill on the slide earned a third chance. The final point may have doubled as the point of the match, as Sanders made a great save up at net and it popped up to Vansant who was all alone to pound it down for the final nail, 28-26. Washington hit .350 in the final set, with Vansant putting down seven kills, and Rowland had five block assists to go with three kills on four swings.
Tomorrow night the Huskies will be back in action against Oregon State, which already has three conference wins under its belt as well. First serve will be at 7 p.m.
