University of Washington
Colorado
Tight Sets Go Washington's Way In Sweep
October 26, 2014 | Volleyball
SEATTLE – The third-ranked Husky volleyball team posted a hard-earned sweep against Colorado this afternoon, with the Dawgs saving five set points over the first two sets before dominating the third to complete a 28-26, 31-29, 25-14 victory. A crowd of 2,900 at Alaska Airlines Arena saw the Huskies (21-0, 10-0) win for the 27th straight time at home and wrap up the first half of Pac-12 play unblemished.
Washington had to save two set points in the first set, and three in the second set to take the 2-0 lead into intermission. There were also 30 tie scores over just the first two sets. Things went more smoothly in set three as the Huskies finished off the Buffaloes (13-9, 5-5 Pac-12). Washington hit .275 for the match, holding Colorado to .198. The Buffs had 55 digs compared to 42 for UW, but the Huskies had 51 kills to the 44 of Colorado and made five fewer errors.
Junior libero Cassie Strickland had three of the five aces for the Huskies, giving her nine for the weekend. Her first ace of the day was her 100th, and she moved into 10th-place on the career record charts, now with 102. Her second ace came on set point up in the second set.
Watch some of the highlights of the win over the Buffs in 60 seconds.
Senior Krista Vansant had a team-high 15 kills and eight digs despite an off-night in attack percentage, hitting a season-low .143. Freshmen Tia Scambray and Crissy Jones came through again and again, with Scambray posting 12 kills while hitting .370, and Jones putting down eight kills without an error for a .533 percentage. Lianna Sybeldon also had eight kills at a .429 rate, and senior Kaleigh Nelson hit .294 with six kills.
“We battled. We never really found a rhythm,” said Head Coach Jim McLaughlin. “What we did well is we served well and we showed some heart, and made plays when we had to make plays. (Colorado) has got good length and speed, and a couple really good outside hitters, and they set the quick a lot, so we knew on paper it was going to be a dog fight, and I'm happy we got out of here in three.”
Sybeldon got the Huskies on the board first with a transition kill set by Bailey Tanner. Another Sybledon kill made it 3-2 Dawgs. Tanner fed the middle again, this one to Melanie Wade for a kill and 4-3. The teams were even through ten points. An ace gave Colorado its first lead at 6-7, but a Scambray swing evened it up. Jones tapped down a ball above the net for 8-8. A four-point run gave Colorado an 8-12 advantage and the Huskies had to take timeout. Sybeldon got a kill out of the break to snap the run but Colorado then won three more as the Buffs got digs and converted in transition to make it 9-15. Jones connected from the right to stop that run. Colorado then hit into the net and Katy Beals served up an ace as the Huskies climbed back within three at 12-15. Another kill from Scambray made it 14-16 Buffs. Kaleigh Nelson's first kill of the day made it 16-18. But Colorado got a sideout from Taylor Simpson and then won a long rally with another from Simpson for 16-20 and UW took its last timeout. Sybeldon got UW back on the board with a hard smash, and then Vansant and Sybeldon put down the first block of the match for the Dawgs for 18-20 and Colorado took its first timeout. The Huskies served into the net out of the timeout, but Vansant came back to win the rally on a tough out of system kill. A Wade shot was dug above the net and Vansant hit it down for 20-21. Then Cassie Strickland hammered her 100th career ace at a perfect time, tying it up at 21 and forcing the Colorado timeout. Her next serve caught the tape and just fell back for an error and 21-22. But Vansant finished the Tanner set to tie it again. A triple block in the middle edge the Huskies back up by one, 23-22. Colorado answered with a block of Vansant for 23-all. Wade was then blocked on a slide and it was set point Buffs. A long rally with several near-blocks by the Dawgs was finally ended by Nelson for 24-24. Colorado got the kill in serve-receive for 24-25. Colorado had an easy swing above the net but shanked it out to keep UW alive. Wade's tough float serve was then overpassed and Scambray banged it down for a UW set point. But Wade sent her next serve long. Beals went to Sybeldon in serve-receive and she lined a missile down for another set point chance. Tanner checked in and took all the spin off her serve that was passed roughly, and the ensuing set was a double, bringing the see-saw set to a close, 28-26, for the Dawgs. Sybeldon was outstanding in the set with five kills on six swings without an error.
A couple early Vansant kills and a stuff from Wade and Nelson got the Huskies an early 4-2 lead in the second set. Nelson and Wade combined for another roof for 5-3. Sybeldon hammered two more to keep the Huskies on top, 9-7. Three early service errors by the Dawgs kept Colorado right on UW's heels. UW blocked Colorado three times on one point but the Buffs picked them all up and earned a kill to take their first lead, 10-11. Nelson answered from the left to tie it. Vansant's serve was overpassed and Scambray hit it down for a 12-11 lead. The Huskies took a 14-12 lead and had several swings on the next rally, but Colorado dug them all and came back with a 3-0 run to the media timeout leading 14-15. Sybeldon had to make the pass out of the break but it was solid and Scambray put it away up the left sideline. Jones then hit from the right to put UW back up 16-15. A great Tanner dig was bump set by Strickland to Scambray for another kill to extend the run, and then Tanner served up an ace shanked into the seats for 18-15 and Colorado called timeout. A Buffs kill broke the four-point run, and then a block forced Sybeldon's first error, but Colorado missed serve for 19-17. The Buffs answered with two more to tie it up at 19. Vansant got one down off the block to get the lead back, but she was then blocked on a tip attempt. Vansant was blocked again on her next swing as Colorado went ahead 20-21 and UW called time. The Buffs misfired on their next attempt for 21-21. The Huskies made a blocking error but CU gave back a service miss. The Buffs then hit too long and called timeout with UW up 23-22. Washington came up with the dig from Vansant and Beals set Scambray for a kill and set point Huskies at 24-22. Colorado got a kill to save the first, and then Scambray was rejected to tie it up. Scambray got another swing on the next point and missed just wide and UW took timeout down a set point, 24-25. Colorado's serve missed just out out of the timeout. On the next point, Wade picked up a tip and Vansant hit from out of the back row to get a set point for the Dawgs. Colorado saved it with a kill, and then the Buffs went up with a kill on a Husky overpass. Nelson hammered from the right in serve-receive for 27-27. The Huskies got a free ball on the next point but Sybeldon misfired to give CU another chance. Scambray saved that by slamming one through the block. Vansant and Sybeldon swung it back to the Dawgs as they got up to reject the attempt from Neira Ortiz Ruiz for 29-28. Colorado saved that set point with a kill from Simpson, but Vansant answered for 30-29. Strickland rotated back to serve, and she found the range with her powerful arm, hammering it off the back row and out to give UW another nailbiting win, 31-29. Colorado hit .200 in the set, just ahead of UW's .196, but UW had three more total kills, 19 to 16.
The first couple Husky points in set three came from Jones, who hammered crosscourt from the right side. A kill from Nelson followed by a couple Colorado errors and a back row finish from Vansant made up a four-point Husky run to take a 7-4 lead and force the Buffs into an early timeout. Colorado broke the run with a quick kill, but Scambray responded from the left. Jones had another big kill for 10-7, and a long rally ended in a Buffs error for 11-7. Another CU error extended it to five. The Buffs earned two-straight, but Sybeldon got one to fall, and then Strickland rocketed another ace for 14-9. Two more Strickland serves got Colorado in trouble and Vansant had the answer at the end of both for a 15-9 lead and Colorado's second timeout. Out of the break, Strickland took something off and it was overpassed to a waiting Vansant who pounded it down for 17-9. Colorado snapped the 5-0 run, coming back with a 3-0 run of its own before Vansant ended that with a sharp left side kill for 18-12. Vansant crushed a combo down for a kill, and then Wade and Nelson teamed up to roof Austin for a 22-13 edge. Scambray terminated straight to the court from a fast Beals set, and then a Buffs error gave the Huskies match point at 24-14. There would be no more drama in the third set, as Nelson and Sybeldon got a final stuff at net to finish things off, 25-14. The Huskies heated up to .455 in the third set, holding Colorado to .147. Vansant came on with six kills on 14 swings without a miss and Scambray and Jones combined for six kills on 11 swings with no errors.
Washington now faces a quick turnaround back on the road, as they head to Los Angeles to begin the second round of conference matches, starting at USC on Wednesday, Oct. 29, and followed with UCLA next Friday, the 31st.
