University of Washington
Hawai'i (2nd Round)
UW Onto Sweet 16 After Wearing Down Wahine
December 07, 2014 | Volleyball
SEATTLE – On a night where senior Krista Vansant became the Washington career kills leader, the Pac-12 Player of the Year made sure she'd be able to add to her record, as Vansant led the Huskies to a 3-1 win over Hawaii in a hard-fought NCAA second round match. Vansant needed just four kills to pass Husky Hall of Famer Christal Morrison for the top spot in the recordbooks, but went on to post a match-high 22 tonight in the 25-20, 19-25, 25-16, 25-14 win in front of 3,983 fans at Alaska Airlines Arena.
With the win, the third-seeded Huskies (31-2) advance to the round of 16, where they will play hosts once again, as Seattle was one of four pre-determined Regional sites before the year. Washington, which faced and defeated Hawaii (22-7) for the third time in the past five NCAA tournaments, gets yet another familiar postseason foe next week, as 14th-seeded Nebraska will trek to Seattle for a match next Friday, Dec. 12, at 6:30 p.m. Pacific time. The other two teams en route are BYU and sixth-seeded FloridaState.
Watch highlights of UW's 3-1 win over Hawaii in 60 seconds.
This will be the ninth time in the past 12 years that the Huskies have reached the Sweet 16. To get there, UW had to withstand a great fight from Hawaii, which posted 86 digs to prolong countless rallies and also held UW without a service ace for the first time all season. But the Huskies were able to hold Hawaii down to a .088 attack percentage, while hitting .273 on the night, and UW held a big edge in the blocking numbers with 15.5 to 6.0 for Hawaii.
Vansant now has 1,878 career kills, passing the 1,859 of Morrison. “There's no words to describe how awesome it is,” Vansant said of the record. “Beating Christal Morrison, a four-time All-American, the MVP of the Final Four, she's no slouch, obviously. But it's really a tribute to my team, and Jim helping me out these last four years. I couldn't do it without them.”
Fellow senior All-American Kaleigh Nelson also had nine kills on a .333 attack percentage with five block assists. Pac-12 All-Freshman selection Tia Scambray had eight kills without an error to hit .286 and she had a season-high 18 digs. The Pac-12 Libero of the Year, Cassie Strickland, also matched her career-high with 25 digs, and redshirt freshman setter Bailey Tanner also had a double-double with 25 assists and 12 digs.
Junior Melanie Wade led the way at net with eight block assists, to go with five kills on a .417 attack percentage, and her counterpart, Lianna Sybeldon, had seven kills, hitting .316, with six blocks.
“We started out really well, and Hawaii put some pressure on us, and we had to handle some adversity,” said Head Coach Jim McLaughlin. “We more made an adjustment just in how we approached the thing, instead of making a bunch of tactical changes. Just be ourselves and do what we do, and just be better at what we do than what they do … We came out and we won the serve and pass, and I think we had a little more effort, and I liked the mentality of the team, and that allowed us to kick in and get going.”
Hawaii took the first two points but Tia Scambray got UW on the board with a kill on a touch call. The Rainbow Wahine then had a trio of errors as the Huskies went up 4-2. Melanie Wade killed her first swing on the Jade Finau set and then Vansant had a solo block of a tip attempt for 6-3. Vansant pummeled her first kill for a 9-5 edge. A big block assist from Sybeldon and Sybeldon and Courtney Schwan was followed by a back row kill to the sideline by Vansant. Schwan then banged the Bailey Tanner set down on the right for a 13-7 lead and Hawaii took its first timeout. Strickland missed her next serve out of the break to snap the 3-0 run, but Wade came right back with a quick kill for 14-8. The Rainbow Wahine got an ace off the top of the net that fell over, but Wade and Nelson closed down a huge stuff for 16-10. After a Hawaii point, a Vansant blast went off a Hawaii player's foot and back in play, and Hawaii got the kill, and then the Huskies overpassed for an error and the Dawgs took timeout with the lead down to 16-13. Hawaii got one more off the lead until Finau went to Vansant in serve-receive and she delivered. Kaleigh Nelson's first kill got down inside the block for 18-15. Vansant's record-breaking kill came two points later, as she hammered one up the right sideline for a 19-16 edge. The teams continued swapping points, with Scambray delivering from the left for 21-18. Finally UW strung a second point together on a Hawaii error and UH took its last timeout. Hawaii got the sideout out of the break, but Nelson shoved one down from the left for a response. Another Nelson blast got the Huskies to set point at 24-20, and Vansant hit off the block on the next rally, and the Wahine couldn't find it and it fell to end the set, 25-20. The Huskies hit .255 in the set and held Hawaii to just .043 as both teams posted 21 digs, Strickland with nine alone. Vansant had five kills on nine swings without an error.
Hawaii got off to a quick start in the second set, staking a 1-5 lead and forcing a Washington timeout. Nelson came with a kill out of the break, and then Wade and Nelson posted a rejection for 3-5, but Hawaii answered back with a pair. Freshman Crissy Jones checked in for the first time at 5-9 down. Sybeldon and Vansant roofed a Hawaii swing for 6-10. Kalei Greeley capped a long rally with a back row kill, and then Scambray let a serve go up the sideline and it landed in and the Huskies needed timeout down 7-14 with a Hawaii on a 3-0 run. Scamray tooled the block out of the break to snap the run. Wade and Vansant got one back with a stuff after the tough Scambray serve, and then Wade and Nelson went to the other side and ended another point with a stuff for 11-15. Nelson slammed one from the right to the floor for 12-16, but Vansant missed one wide as the gap went back to six at 12-18. Scambray had a kill and then the Dawgs had a triple block in the middle to cut it to 16-21. The first kill of the day for Jones made it 17-22, but Hawaii came back with a kill and a block of a Nelson tip for set point at 17-24. Wade saved the first one with a slam, and Vansant kept it going with a sharp swing to the sideline for 19-24. Nikki Taylor ended it for Hawaii, 19-25 with a kill from the right side, to tie the match at a set apiece. Washington hit just .162 and Hawaii moved up to .216. Hawaii won the serve and pass, hitting two aces to none for the Huskies, while UW missed four serves for the second set in a row.
Vansant broke one through the block on the second rally of the third set for 1-1. Finau got a pancake dig that led to a Vansant kill, and then Sybeldon put one down in transition for a 3-2 lead. Scambray stood in for a solid pass and then took the set for a kill on the left for 5-all. Another big slam from Scambray was followed by a block by Wade and Nelson for a 7-6 Husky advantage. Finau set Wade for a quick strike and a 9-8 lead. Nelson ripped one from the right, and then the Huskies got a big momentum-shifting point as Vansant capped a lengthy rally with a shot off the Hawaii defender and back out on UW's side. A Hawaii error followed and the Wahine took timeout at 12-9. The UW run hit five points with a stuff from Jones and Sybeldon, and then a right side blast from Jones for 14-9 before Vansant missed one just wide. She came right back with a tip over the block for 15-10. Nelson saved an out of system play by tipping to the deep corner for a kill and 18-13. Hawaii earned a big point as they stood up to several Vansant swings and eventually blocked one down, but Vansant hammered off the block on her very next attempt for the kill. Jones and Sybeldon then got on a Kalei Greeley swing and blocked it back off her shoulder for 21-15 and Hawaii took its last timeout. The Wahine missed wide out of the break to keep the Huskies pushing forward, and then another Sybeldon-Jones booming block made it 23-15. One of the plays of the night followed as Tanner sprawled out for a dig, and then Scambray set to Vansant for a smash to get the Huskies to set point on a 5-0 run. Tanner finally missed a serve, but Hawaii missed its next attempt as the Huskies closed it out, 25-16. The Huskies outhit the Rainbow Wahine, .286 to .070 in the third set, with Scambray earning three kills and seven digs and Vansant adding six kills.
Strickland had a great punch dig to set up Vansant for a kill to open the fourth, and then Wade and Nelson stuffed the Olivia Magill swing for a 2-0 lead, but Hawaii came right back with a pair to tie. The Wahine gave a couple back on errors, and Vansant and Sybeldon added kills to open a 7-4 lead. Another thriller of a play included some incredible Hawaii saves just to earn a swing, but Jones and Sybeldon were there to reject it for 9-5. On the next point, Strickland's jump serve was overpassed and Jones hopped up to hit it down for 10-5 and Hawaii took time. Hawaii cut a couple off the lead out of the break but Scambray converted crosscourt on a Tanner set for 11-7. Hawaii missed long, and then Wade and Vansant blocked one down off the Hawaii setter, and two more UH errors made it 15-8 Dawgs on a 4-0 run, and Hawaii took its last timeout. Another transition Vansant kill doubled up Hawaii, 16-8. Vansant banged another off the block and out as the Dawgs pushed ahead, 18-8. Strickland made a lightning quick dig and Vansant put another away as the Dawgs took a 19-8 lead, capping a 6-0 run on Scambray's serve. Vansant's 20th kill made it 22-11. A Jones swing was dug up and over the net and Vansant pounced on that one too, and then Sybeldon put one away to get to match point at 24-13. Hawaii saved one but Vansant got one last blast, her ninth kill of the fourth set, to end it, 25-14. Vansant hit a blistering .529 in the final set, with nine kills and no errors on 17 swings, as UW hit .385 as a team compared to .045 for Hawaii in the last frame.
WASHINGTON CAREER KILLS LIST
1. Krista Vansant, 1878
2. Christal Morrison, 1,859
3. Sanja Tomasevic, 1,795
4. Angela Bransom, 1,676
5. Laurie Wetzel, 1,580
