University of Washington
Stanford
Huskies Fall In Five Sets At No. 11 Stanford
October 22, 2015 | Volleyball
PALO ALTO, Calif. – Despite leading in most categories along the bottom of the box score, the fourth-ranked Husky volleyball team could not quite finish off 11th-ranked Stanford tonight at Maples Pavilion, dropping a back-and-forth prize fight, 26-24, 19-25, 25-16, 20-25, 13-15. Senior All-American Lianna Sybeldon was nearly unstoppable, matching her career-high with 19 kills, hitting .720 and adding 10 blocks for the Huskies.
Washington (17-2, 7-2 Pac-12) had its four-match win streak snapped with just its second loss of the season. The Huskies outhit Stanford for the match, .309 to .242, and finished with more kills (67-63) and a 15.0 to 10.0 advantage in blocks. But the Huskies missed eight more serves than did the Cardinal (12-5, 6-3 Pac-12), with four aces per team, and Stanford had two more digs, 52-50.
Searching for its first win at Stanford since 2007, its longest drought in any Pac-12 road setting, the Huskies looked to be pulling away after a dominating set three gave UW a two sets to one lead, and Washington moved out to a 14-8 lead in set four. The Cardinal rallied, however, and after UW went up 19-16 in the fourth, Stanford closed the set on a 9-1 run to force a fifth, where the Huskies closed to within one point several times, but could not quite get even.
"The margin of error in this conference is as small as it gets," said Head Coach Keegan Cook. "There's lots of opportunities for us to improve in areas that were a factor in tonight's loss. Certainly need to credit Stanford on the way it served tonight, that was a key factor in us not being able to close out the fourth set, and not come up with the win in the fifth set. We pride ourselves on being the best serve-receive and serving team in the conference and tonight we didn't meet our standards."
Sophomore Tia Scambray had 15 kills on a .250 attack percentage while Crissy Jones, Destiny Julye, and Bailey Tanner all had eight kills apiece, Tanner blowing well past her previous career-high of just three kills. Tanner also had 26 assists and eight digs, and senior Katy Beals matched those 26 assists and had seven digs. Senior libero Cassie Strickland had a season-high 21 digs in the back row. Jones also tied her career-high with eight blocks, as she and Sybeldon were a dominant duo for much of the night.
A great one-handed dig from Kim Condie let Scambray put one down crosscourt and Crissy Jones had a stuff block for a 4-2 lead in the early going. Katy Beals dropped in UW's first ace of the match for a 6-4 lead, and a slide kill from Wade made it 8-5 Dawgs. Destiny Julye ended a long rally with a sharp angle from the left for 9-5. Julye pummeled a third kill from the right side to make it 11-8. Another block put up by Jones and Sybeldon got the Husky lead back to four at 13-9 and the Cardinal called their first timeout. Stanford won four of the next five points after the break to draw even, but a Jones tip kill made it 15-14 Dawgs. Courtney Schwan rolled one over and down for her first kill as the teams traded sideouts. Stanford took a one-point lead at 16-17 and the Huskies called their first timeout. Schwan killed a tough out of system set out of the break to even it back up, and a block from Schwan and Sybeldon got the Dawgs back on top, 19-17, and Stanford went to its second timeout with UW on the 3-0 run. The Cardinal got two back to tie it again, but Sybeldon put one down in serve-receive for 20-19 Dawgs, and Jones and Sybeldon grabbed another block on the next rally for a two-point cushion. Again the Cardinal rallied to tie at 21, with Sybeldon breaking that tie on a Stanford net violation. Another Sybeldon slam made it 23-22 Dawgs. After a Cardinal point, Jones killed an overdig for a Husky set point try, but the Cardinal killed in serve-receive. Bailey Tanner, now in the front row, made good use of that as she tipped a tight pass over for a kill for set point again at 25-24. Scambray stepped up to serve, and drove a float that the Cardinal back row couldn't control, bouncing away for an ace as the Huskies took the set, 26-24. The Dawgs hit .378, outpacing Stanford's .290, with four blocks and a pair of aces compared to just one block and no aces for the Cardinal. Sybeldon had six kills on eight swings without a miss to lead the offense.
The Huskies let an ace fall in-between them early in the second set, but a Julye kill off the block and a Schwan and Sybeldon block tied it at 3-3. Washington's passing went south for a stretch, as the Cardinal took four straight to make it 3-7 and the Huskies had to take the early timeout. The Huskies could not break out of the string, giving up four more points until a Cardinal hitting error broke the eight-point run. The Huskies got their serve-receive back going with kills from Sybeldon, Scambray, and Wade, but the Cardinal kept siding out on all of their chances. A Stanford block made it a 10-point gap at 8-18 and the Huskies called their final timeout. Tanner and Sybeldon had consecutive kills, but the Huskies could not pull closer at the moment. Washington made some noise late with a 4-0 run, Sybeldon earning a couple blocks, then Scambray tipping for a kill, and Jones hitting crosscourt to cut it to 15-22 and force Stanford's first timeout. Sybeldon roofed the Cardinal again out of the break to cut another off the gap as Condie continued a tough serving run. Stanford got out of it on a bad break for UW, as a Husky dig went up and hit the scoreboard which ended the point. Stanford got to set point at 17-24, and Wade saved one with a kill and then the Cardinal hit into the net to miss another, but the Cardinal killed in serve-receive on their third chance to end it, 19-25. The Huskies were outhit, .290 to .188 in the set, despite Wade and Sybeldon each getting three kills on four swings.
Sybeldon quickly hit for another kill to start the third set on a Tanner set. Another Sybeldon kill, and a couple Stanford errors made it 4-1 Huskies early. Jones and Wade shut down a Stanford swing, and then some tough Husky defense let Beals find Scambray twice in a row in transition for two more kills as the Huskies opened up a 7-2 lead to force a Stanford timeout. The Cardinal got a pair out of the break but Beals set Scambray on a combo for a big blast straight to the floor for 8-4. Schwan beat one off the block and the Cardinal missed one long for an 11-5 Husky lead. Sybeldon beat through a triple block for 13-7. A blown call from the refs gave the Cardinal a point as Stanford hit off UW's block and it went off the attacker's head, but the refs did not see it that way. But the Dawgs did not get rattled, and kept siding out on their side, Scambray terminating twice and Jones banging hard off the block on the right. A roll shot from Schwan had the Dawgs up, 17-11. Julye banged one through the block, and then Wade went back and dropped an ace in for a 19-12 lead to force the second Cardinal timeout. Wade's next serve out of the break forced an overpass, and Julye hit it down to extend the run. The Cardinal broke the run, but UW kept moving forward with a Julye left side kill, and a block by Sybeldon and Jones on the left pin. Washington reached set point quickly at 24-15, and the Cardinal made an attack error on UW's second chance to end it, 25-16. Washington hit a dominating .516 in the third set and held the Cardinal to just .069. Julye killed four of her five attempts, Scambray killed five without an error, and Sybeldon converted all three of her swings.
Jones crushed down a huge block on a long rally early in set four for UW's first point. Tanner killed one from the left in serve-receive for 3-4 Cardinal, and then Scambray tied it up with an ace off the defense. Tanner added another from the right side, and UW went up 6-5 on a Cardinal error. Jones and Sybeldon ended a tense rally with another block to make it 8-6. Sybeldon blasted to the court again, and then a tough Condie serve earned UW a transition chance that Jones killed for 11-7 and Stanford took the first timeout. Sybeldon had another remendous play, getting a touch on Merete Lutz that led to a Condie dig, and then Sybeldon made herself ready for another kill on the next swing for a 12-7 lead. Wade had a block with Scambray for 14-8. Stanford crept to within three points with a block to make it 16-13 and the Huskies called their first timeout. Stanford had another block out of the break, but Tanner went up the line for a kill on the right to snap the Cardinal run and make it 17-14. Sybeldon and Jones finished in serve-receive as the teams kept trading points. Stanford had an ace, and then blocked Sybeldon to force her first error of the match to make it 19-all, and then Scambray swung long on a tough set for 19-20, and the Huskies had to take their last timeout. Hodson got another ace for Stanford out of the timeout for a two-point lead before Jones ended the run with a kill from the right. Washington could not right its passing, however, and UW gave away the final four points of the set to lose it, 20-25.
A marathon first point went UW's way as Scambray killed her third swing off high hands. A Scambray kill off an overdig made it 2-2. Tanner had another big swing on the right for 3-all. But the Cardinal ran off three-straight points to take the lead, 3-6, and force the Huskies to call the first timeout of the fifth. Stanford swung long out of the break to make it 4-6 and send Tanner to serve, but Stanford put one away in serve-receive. Sybeldon got the sideout with her 16th kill, and she added another in transition to cut it to 6-7. But the Cardinal came back with two until Sybeldon finished with an offspeed kill for 7-9. Senior Justice Magraw subbed in to serve for the first time, but Stanford handled it and finished for 7-10. Jones pasted one up the right sideline to cut it to two points again, but the Cardinal continued to answer. Scambray finished a long rally with a smart shot between the defenders for 9-11, and then the Huskies got their first block of the set, from Wade and Tanner, to get it back within one at 10-11, and Stanford took timeout. Scambray served long out of the break for 10-12, but Schwan outfoxed the setter for a block to get back to one. But the setter, Bugg, got one back on the Huskies, dumping for a kill that got Stanford to match point at 11-14. Sybeldon erased the first one with a slam, and the Huskies then took timeout at 12-14. The Cardinal sailed a swing well long in their serve-receive attempt for 13-14, and called a timeout of their own. Tanner hit a good serve, but Stanford went to Brittany Howard on the right and she hit off the blockers hands and out to end it, 13-15. Stanford outhit the Huskies in the final set, .364 to .304, getting nine digs to just five for UW. Sybeldon kept UW in it with four more kills on six swings without a miss.
Washington will look to bounce back at California this Friday at 6:00 p.m. before returning home next week to host No. 1-ranked USC.
