University of Washington
Arizona State
Huskies Get Defensive In Sweep At No. 17 ASU
October 18, 2014 | Volleyball
TEMPE, Ariz. – The third-ranked Huskies have won in a variety of ways this season, and tonight they relied on their defense to pick up another big road win over a top-20 opponent, sweeping Arizona State in the Wells Fargo Arena 25-19, 25-20, 25-18. Washington (18-0, 7-0 Pac-12) hit a season-low .202 but held the 17th-ranked Sun Devils to just .103 on offense with 55 digs and eight blocks in the three sets.
Washington ran its win streak in Tempe to 13 in a row and earned its sixth win over a ranked opponent. The Sun Devils created a boisterous arena by bringing in students camping out for Saturday's football game, pushing the attendance up to 4,185, but the Huskies took the crowd out of it with a big first set run and then early leads in sets two and three.
Senior All-American Krista Vansant led UW in both kills and digs with 16 kills and 13 digs. Junior Melanie Wade had an excellent all-around match with seven kills on a .429 attack percentage, plus an ace and five blocks. Freshman Crissy Jones was one off her career-high with eight kills, hitting .375. Junior setter Katy Beals posted a double-double with 17 assists and 10 digs, while redshirt freshman setter Bailey Tanner had 23 assists and six digs.
Arizona State took a 10-6 lead in the first set, but after erasing that deficit, the Huskies never trailed by more than a point the rest of the night. “The way the match started we were in for a dogfight,” said Head Coach Jim McLaughlin. They were in a rhythm, and we make three unforced errors and call a timeout down 10-6, and next thing we lock in and it was our game from that point on.”
Washington had a big edge in kills, 46-28, and out-dug the Sun Devils, 55-50. UW also had three aces to one for ASU and led in blocks, 8.0-7.0. The only thing to give pause was an uncharacteristic 21 attack errors.
“To come in here in the Pac-12 and take care of business is a big deal, but if we can just keep the mental intensity and stay on the path of improvement, there's lots of stuff to improve on,” McLaughlin said. “We were high in our unforced errors, and that's something we have total control over, but we hung with it and mostly were in control. Early in the season there are aggressive errors and you support it, but when you get good you just have to manage your game better. The team's improving collectively, I'm just challenging them to keep the mental intensity.”
Arizona State scored the first two points in the first set before Crissy Jones put one away from the right side. Melanie Wade then converted a Bailey Tanner quick set in transition for 2-2. Vansant's first kill of the match came for 3-4 ASU. Scambray drilled one off the defense for her first kill and a 5-6 count. The Sun Devils opened up a three-point lead until Kaleigh Nelson scored from the right for 6-8. Scambray was blocked and the Huskies called the first timeout down 6-10. Jones and Lianna Sybeldon got UW's first block out of the timeout to snap the run, and then Jones killed from the right to back it up. ASU overpassed the tough Scambray serve and Jones hammered it down for a third-straight point. Washington then ended a long rally with another block from Sybeldon and Jones to tie it at 10-10 and force the ASU timeout. Coming back out, Scambray floated one to the back corner for UW's first lead at 11-10. UW had a free ball chance on the next point but Vansant's tip attempt was blocked to snap the 5-0 run. A Strickland serve was overpassed and Vansant was on top of it for a kill and a 13-11 lead. Scambray had a dig and Vansant finished to extend it. Vansant and Wade had a big rejection of Gardner on the right for 16-13. Nelson killed two from the right to keep the Huskies trading points. ASU missed a serve and then hit one wide for a 20-16 Husky edge. A Sybeldon swing put ASU in trouble and they misplayed the set for a 21-16 UW lead and ASU took time. The Sun Devils got the next point but Vansant tipped for a kill to answer. Vansant finished another back and forth for a 23-18 lead. Wade and Nelson had a stuff to get the Huskies to set point at 24-18. On the second chance, Vansant struck from the middle of the net to clinch it, 25-19. The Huskies hit .238 in the set and held Arizona State to a .156 mark. Vansant had six kills, with Jones adding four on a .571 percentage and Nelson getting three at a .750 clip.
A Strickland jump serve got UW a free ball and Wade finished for a 2-1 edge in the second set. Vansant put down two in a row from the left for a 4-2 lead. Wade put one away on a slide and then teamed with Scambray for a stuff. Vansant followed that up with an ace shanked off the defense for a 7-3 lead and Arizona State took timeout. Vansant's serve continued to do damage, as ASU overpassed the first one out of the break and Wade hit it down, then an out of system swing for the Sun Devils was missed into the net for a 9-3 lead. But Arizona State got right back into it with a 3-0 run as UW missed two good swings long and wide. Wade killed in serve-receive to stop the bleeding and make it 10-6. ASU shaved two more off the gap until Sybeldon tapped down an overdig for 11-8. Jones got a kill high off the hands, and then Scambray dug a rocket and Vansant killed one in transition to get the lead back to 13-9. Sybeldon tipped for a kill and then ASU missed wide for 15-10. Jones crushed one from the right and Scambray went up the line on the left to maintain the lead. A Sun Devils miscue extended the Husky lead to 19-13 and ASU took its last timeout. ASU got a kill from Macey Gardner out of the timeout, but Scambray tipped over and down for 20-14. The Devils pulled within four, but Jones found the back of the line with one swing from the right, and then tipped over the block to open space for a 23-17 edge. Another tip, this one from Vansant, landed for set point at 24-18. Arizona State increased the suspense by saving a couple, but Wade got one down inside the blockers to end the set, 25-20. The Huskies hit .273 in the set ahead of ASU's .205 mark. Wade had five kills on eight swings in the set without an error for a .625 percentage, while Vansant had five kills and Jones added four more.
ASU got the first point of the third, but UW had a 3-0 run on a Vansant kill, a Wade tip into the campfire, and a Sun Devils error. ASU came back to tie it up, with Vansant connecting to the near corner for a 4-3 lead. The Huskies had some diving saves to keep a point alive, with Nelson angling a free ball over, and then Wade made short work of the next ASU swing with a stuff for 5-4. A pair of ASU attack errors got the Huskies a four-point lead, and a Scambray kill off the back row defense was followed by an ASU setting error for a 12-7 lead. Vansant hammered two more kills, and ASU put one in the net as the lead pushed to 15-9 at the media timeout. Vansant and Wade then roofed the Devils out of the break for 16-9. Just when the Huskies were pulling away, ASU rallied with a 3-0 run, blocking a Wade swing and then serving up an ace. Beals went to Vansant on the right side for a kill to snap the run but missed wide on her next swing out of the back row for 17-13. ASU served one long and then took timeout at 18-13. Washington came out of the break rolling, however, as Wade served up an ace on the first point. Her next serve was overpassed and Scambray jumped up to nestle it back down on ASU's side for 20-13. Wade's serve put ASU out of system and forced another error, and then Scambray polished off the Beals set for 22-13. The Sun Devils broke the 5-0 Husky run, and then added two more, and the Huskies took timeout with the lead down to 22-16. A perfect Scambray pass let Beals set it back to the freshman Scambray for a kill out of the timeout, and then UW reached match point by digging in on defense and forcing an error for 24-16. ASU saved a couple match points but then served one into the net to end it, 25-18. The Huskies rolled despite hitting just .079 in the last set, because they limited ASU to just six kills and eight errors for a -.056 mark.
The Huskies will now head to Tucson to take on the 16th-ranked Wildcats on Sunday. Arizona defeated Washington State in four sets tonight. First serve for that match is 3:00 p.m. and Pac-12 Networks will carry it live.
