University of Washington
Oregon
Washington Stymies No. 11 Oregon In Four
October 12, 2014 | Volleyball
EUGENE, Ore. – Washington received yet another major test to its unblemished record at 11th-ranked Oregon today, but time and again the Huskies were in the right spots at the right time to turn back the Oregon swings and produce a 21-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-16 victory at Matthew Knight Arena. The Huskies (17-0, 6-0 Pac-12) stonewalled the Ducks for 20 blocks, helped by stellar serving that produced nine aces and limited Oregon's options.
The Ducks (14-2, 4-2 Pac-12) came into the match hitting .293 but the Husky wall at net helped hold Oregon to a season-low .150 today. Oregon's previous low was .235 in their only other loss at No. 1 Stanford. Washington has now won three straight over the Ducks, and the past two in Eugene. This was UW's fifth win over a top-25 opponent this year.
Watch the Husky blocking highlights!
The Huskies hit .254 on the day, with Krista Vansant posting 16 kills after having just one in the first set. She also was one off her career-best with seven blocks. The 16 kills brought Vansant to 1,601 for her career, the fourth Husky ever to reach that mark, and she added 16 digs.
Junior middle blocker Lianna Sybeldon matched her career-best with 11 blocks, and junior middle Melanie Wade also had eight to go with three aces. Freshman Tia Scambray had 10 kills and three aces while hitting .286, and Kaleigh Nelson contributed eight kills and five blocks. Katy Beals had her second straight double-double with 22 assists and 10 digs, and junior libero Cassie Strickland had 12 digs and served a pair of aces.
Head Coach Jim McLaughlin credited the blocking success to the Huskies staying on task. “The girls are smart, they're staying on their assignments and the plan,” he said. “Oregon is a good team and you have to make some choices, but you have to see the setter and really read the type of set. Game one, I don't know how many errors we had but it seemed like everybody hit two out of bounds. But then we settled down, took care of the ball, hit the ball in, had better composure, and played the game a lot cleaner. We came in and did what we had to do against a good team.”
After a Ducks service error to start, Vansant roofed Brenner on the first swing of the match for a 2-0 lead, but the Ducks won five of the next six to go up 3-5 until Kaleigh Nelson terminated from the left. The Huskies tied it back at five but then Nelson and Scambray swung long to give UO a three-point run and UW called timeout at 5-8. Scambray tipped over the block for a point to stop the run and make it 6-8, and then Melanie Wade got the first ace for the Dawgs. A second straight Wade serve was shanked for another ace as UW tied it at 8-8 until Oregon got the next sideout. A Husky triple block centered around Sybeldon tied it at 10-all, then Scambray got an ace off the tape for an 11-10 lead. Wade and Nelson teamed for a block and then Wade followed with a transition kill as the Huskies moved ahead 15-13 and Oregon took its first timeout. But the Ducks answered with two to tie, as Vansant couldn't find the range on a swing from the middle. Nelson and Wade had put-aways to keep the Huskies inching ahead by one. A Vansant hustle dig led to a Scambray bump set back to Nelson who finished inside the pin for a two-point lead, but the Dawgs had a couple bad passes as the Ducks got back even at 18-18. Oregon went back ahead on a Brenner kill for 19-20, then Scambray connected for 20-up. But the Ducks killed in serve-receive and then UW had another bad pass and sent over a free ball that Oregon killed for 20-22 and UW needed timeout. Scambray was aced out of the break to increase the gap. The Huskies were in trouble again on the next point but Crissy Jones had a big stuff straight down for 21-23. The Ducks got the in call up the sideline to get to set point, and then dug Vansant several times leading to a Bettendorf kill to take the set, 21-25. Washington hit just .086 with only nine kills in the first set, while Oregon doubled that with 18 and hit .244. Washington had 5.5 team blocks and three aces while the Ducks just had one block and one ace, but UW had several poor passes late that hurt their chances.
Vansant, who had only one kill in the first set, started the second set with a kill on her first swing. Strickland boomed an ace off the defense into the seats, and then Jones got a kill off the touch for a 4-1 lead. The Ducks came back with a couple but Vansant put one away for a 5-3 lead. Scambray tooled the block, and then Nelson and Sybeldon had a strong side stuff for 8-5. Scambray had another transition kill after a Vansant dig for 9-5 and Oregon took the first timeout. Oregon got a kill in serve-receive but Scambray answered with a slam off a Beals set. Scambray then got a big stuff of Crittendon for an 11-6 edge. Jones killed a Tanner set and then Strickland bump set Vansant who targeted the back row Duck for a kill and a 13-7 lead as the Ducks took their final timeout. Oregon got an offspeed kill and then UW fell asleep as an overpass dropped in the middle of the court, but Jones got a much needed right side kill for 14-9. The teams continued to trade points, with Nelson getting a kill high off the hands for 17-12. Wade got back to the service line and dropped in another ace to get the lead back to six. The Dawgs hit the Ducks with another ace, this one from Tanner, for a 20-13 lead. Sybeldon converted in transition as the Huskies continued to run away. Scambray added another for 22-14, and then she went back to the service line and dialed up an ace. The Ducks had a small run but Vansant ended it by crushing one nearly straight down for set point at 24-17. Strickland then found the back corner on the fifth UW ace of the set to end it, 25-17. After hitting just .086 in the first set, the Huskies climbed to .400 in set two, with Oregon at .294. Vansant had seven kills in the frame after just on in the first.
Vansant and Jones had back to back kills for an early 2-1 lead in the third set. Vansant had a rejection on the weak side one-on-one with Bettendorf, and then Wade followed with a block for a 5-2 Husky lead. The Huskies went up 6-3 but then slipped up with their communication on a few points and Oregon won four straight to take the lead until missing serve for 7-7. Scambray was blocked and then Jones missed wide and the Huskies needed timeout down 8-11. A perfect Strickland pass out of the break let Tanner set Vansant back row for a kill, and then Scambray got an ace off the tape for 10-11. An Oregon error had UW back level at 11-11. Tanner had a great dig that led to Vansant finding the back corner and the Huskies went up 12-11 and Oregon took time. Oregon ended Tanner's service run out of the break and then went back ahead with a transition kill for 12-13. Oregon served up an ace before hitting into the net for 13-14. UW got back even on another Oregon miss, but Brenner kept the lead with a kill. Wade finished the Tanner quick set for 15-all, then UO missed wide to put UW back up one. The Huskies got a rejection from Wade and Vansant for 17-15 and Oregon took the timeout. Strickland had a dig and Vansant killed in transition for 18-15 before Oregon broke the run with a kill from the right. A tight set to Nelson was wiped off the block for a kill, and then she tooled the blockers on the right for 20-16. A diving save from Vansant allowed Scambray to laser one to the sideline, and Scambray added another two points later for 22-17. A third Scambray finished answered two Oregon points for 23-19. The Huskies got to set point after Oregon sent a free ball too far and out. Sybeldon and Vansant then rejected a Ducks swing to clinch it, 25-20. Washington hit .355 in the third set with Oregon finishing at .229. Vansant hit for six kills on 13 swings without a miss and Scambray added four kills.
The fourth set started the way the third ended, as Jones and Sybeldon posted a block. The Ducks made a couple more errors as the Huskies improved their standing to 4-0 and Oregon took an early timeout. Vansant posted another rejection to extend the early run, and then Sybeldon and Jones added another rejection straight down and Oregon took timeout again at 6-0 as Scambray's serve continued to flummox the Ducks. Vansant had a good look at the next point, but was blocked to get Oregon on the board. Sybeldon answered with a quick strike for 7-1. Two more blocks, one from Jones and one from Wade pushed it to 9-3. Nelson crushed a Beals set from the left past the block for 10-4. Wade tapped an over-dig down for a kill for 12-5. Strickland had a perfect pass and Beals found Sybeldon again for a big swing for 13-6, then Oregon missed wide trying to avoid the Husky block. The Huskies got out of sorts on a couple points in a row and Oregon got back into it at 14-9 and UW called its first timeout. Jones bailed the Huskies out by blocking a tip attempt after UW was nearly aced. But Oregon trimmed two more off the lead for 15-11 until Vansant found the back line for a kill in serve-receive. Vansant rolled one over and down for 17-12 as Oregon continued to apply pressure. A Ducks misfire got it back to 18-12, and then Wade and Nelson rejected Brenner as UW was on a 3-0 run to get more breathing room. Vansant and Wade backed that up with another rejection on the next point. The teams played one of the wildest rallies of the season with frantic digs and sets from nearly every player on the floor, until it finally ended with a bad set by Oregon as the Husky bench leaped up to celebrate the 21-12 lead. Wade put one down to keep UW moving towards the finish. The Huskies reached match point after another wild rally, as Oregon scrambled to save a Husky shot and was able to get it back in play, but Beals went quickly to Sybeldon for a finish. The final point ended, fittingly, on a block, Washington's 20th of the night, with Scambray and Sybeldon closing it down to cap it, 25-16. The Huskies had a stunning 9.5 team blocks in the fourth set alone, forcing Oregon into a -.116 attack percentage, with nine kills against 14 errors. Sybeldon had five block assists and killed three of her four swings.
The Huskies remain in a first-place tie in the Pac-12 with Stanford at 6-0, two matches clear of the rest of the conference. But UW will have to face two more top-25 teams on the road next week at Arizona State next Friday and at Arizona next Sunday.
