University of Washington
Arizona
Sybeldon's Career Night Leads 3-1 Win Over Cats
October 08, 2015 | Volleyball
SEATTLE – A sense of déjà vu settled over Alaska Airlines Arena midway through Washington's tense 3-1 win over 14th-ranked Arizona tonight, as every time senior Lianna Sybeldon skied for a swing, the 1,350 fans in attendance seemed to feel they'd just seen the result a second before. Syeldon hammered a career-high 19 kills without making an error, and over the final three sets she was a near-perfect 16-for-17, as UW took down the Wildcats, 17-25, 25-22, 27-25, 25-17.
Overall tonight, the All-American middle blocker hit .731, with 19 kills on 26 swings without a miss. That attack percentage is the seventh-best in a single match for a Husky in the rally scoring era with at least 10 kills, and Sybeldon's 19 kills is the most for any Husky hitting over .700 since 2001.
“Our passing was really great, we were passing on the mark, and our setting was also great, they gave me a lot of opportunities in some not-so-great situations, so credit them having confidence to go to me in tough situations,” said Sybeldon. “I felt pretty confident against what (Arizona) was having me deal with … I didn't think I was going to stop having success if they didn't change anything.”
The Huskies defended their home court against the Wildcats for the 12th year in a row, and improved to 14-1 on the year and 4-1 in Pac-12 play. Arizona dropped to 12-5, and 2-3, with all five of their losses coming to top-15 teams.
After hitting a negative number in the first set for the first time all year, the Huskies got better in every set, hitting .267 in the second, then .400 in the third, and finally hitting .519 in the final set, to wind up at .264 for the match, just ahead of UA's .261 mark. The Husky block also piled up 13.0 blocks compared to 6.0 for Arizona. The teams were even in kills at 58 apiece, while Arizona had two more digs, 62 to 60.
Head Coach Keegan Cook said the “nightmare start” was a bit ironic as the Huskies had been focusing this week on moving on to the next play and not hanging on to what just occurred. “Here we go, we start off with something we definitely don't want to hang on to,” Cook said, “but the next set after that we kind of grinded our way through it. Third set looked a little better … then almost dropped it at the end, but finally fourth set things really got going. You've got to be excited when your team embodies the core values you want to have.”
Freshman Destiny Julye followed up her breakout match at USC on Sunday with 11 more kills tonight, and sophomore Tia Scambray had a great all-around effort with nine kills on a .241 attack percentage with an ace, 14 digs, and four blocks. Senior setter Katy Beals had 29 assists and eight digs, and sophomore Bailey Tanner added 21 assists and six digs. Senior libero Cassie Strickland matched Scambray with 14 digs and tossed in an ace. Senior Melanie Wade had a team-high six blocks to go with five kills, while sophomore Carly DeHoog also provided eight kills.
Cook talked about the total team effort to get Sybeldon her looks. “She started off the first set well in spite of everything else I think, and then just kept having good set after good set,” Cook said. “Bailey and Katy put her in good situations and the passers put the setters in good situations, and Lianna was one on one most of the night, and she can get going like that.”
The Huskies now have another big battle on top on Friday, as undefeated and fifth-ranked ArizonaState comes to town for a 7 p.m. start time.
Arizona missed a couple serves for UW's first point of the match. Sybeldon connected for UW's first kill on a Tanner set for 3-3. The Huskies had six errors in the early going and had to take timeout down 5-9. Destiny Julye's first kill made it 7-11 Cats in front. Back-to-back kills from Sybeldon cut it to 9-12, but Arizona fired back with a 3-0 run for 9-15 until Crissy Jones got a kill in serve-receive. The Huskies got a run going on a stuff from Wade and Scambray, followed by a solo block by Wade and an Arizona error, cutting it to 15-18 and forcing Arizona's first timeout. The Wildcats came out of the break with a pair of points, but UW answered with two kills from Julye and Carly DeHoog to get back within 17-20. Arizona responded again with a 3-0 run, blocking Julye and then serving an ace off Scambray for 17-23 and the Huskies needed their final timeout. Arizona got an ace off the tape that rolled over out of the break to reach set point, then killed a Husky overdig to end it, 25-17. The Huskies had their poorest attack percentage for a set this season in the first, hitting -.024 with nine kills but 10 errors, while Arizona hit .226.
Julye had a kill early in the second set, and Jones got the most of a rejection to give the Dawgs their first lead at 4-3. A tough Tanner serve led to a free ball and a Sybeldon finish for 5-3. Tanner had a dig and Strickland bump set Scambray for a big kill to make it 8-5. Wade landed her first kill in serve-receive from Beals for 10-8, then tipped to end a long rally on the next point to get back to a three-point cushion. A transition finish from DeHoog made it 12-8 and the Wildcats took timeout. The lead disappeared in a hurry as Arizona won four straight points before serving into the net for 13-12 UW. Sybeldon got the offense started again after a perfect pass from Scambray for 14-all, and then a Tanner serve was overpassed and Sybeldon stuffed it down. The Dawgs forced an Arizona error and then got an ace on an Arizona rotation error for 17-13, but the Huskies couldn't shake Arizona as UA rallied with three straight to force a UW timeout at 17-16. Sybeldon terminated in serve-receive again out of the break for 18-16. Scambray had a kill from the left pin, and then Strickland dove for a dig of the setter dump attempt and Jones put it away for a 20-17 lead. A long rally followed but was capped off with a big Husky rejection to keep the run going and force an Arizona timeout. Strickland rocketed her first ace off the defense out of the timeout, and then Scambray got a kill with help from a UA blocking error for 23-18. Another blast up the line from Scambray got the Huskies to set point at 24-18, but the Wildcats proceeded to save four straight Husky chances to make it 24-22 and UW took its final timeout. A marathon rally followed with both teams digging in from the back row, but after Beals laid out for one last dig, Strickland bump set Scambray for a shot straight to the floor to end it, 25-22. The Huskies hit .267 in the set, compared to .200 for the Wildcats, with Sybeldon and Scambray coming up clutch with five kills apiece.
Wade started the third set off with a slide kill for the Dawgs. Scambray had a sweet serve that Arizona couldn't control to earn a 3-1 lead. DeHoog punched down an overpass and then Julye tooled off the block to give the Dawgs the 5-3 edge. Julye crushed another for 6-4, but Arizona came back to even it up. Jones had a kill from the right and then Scambray got up on the left pin to earn a solo stuff straight down, and consecutive errors by the Wildcats pushed the Husky lead to 12-8 and forced a UA timeout with UW on a 5-1 run. Another great serve from Beals let Wade and DeHoog post a booming block out of the timeout to make it 13-8 before the Wildcats got a kill to snap it. DeHoog answered with a kill from the left for 14-9. DeHoog found a seam in the block for another finish, and then Julye pressed over for a rejection with Sybeldon assisting for a 17-11 lead. Sybeldon put one away and then Scambray tooled the block to get the Dawgs a 21-14 lead, but Arizona clawed back into the set with a 3-0 run to force a Husky timeout at 21-17. Condie delivered a great pass and Tanner back set Jones who banged off the block for a kill to stop the bleeding. The Wildcats made another push with a four-point run that cut it all the way to 22-21 and forced UW to use its second timeout. Arizona served just long out of the break for 23-21, but UA answered with a kill in serve-receive. A disputed double touch call went against the Huskies to tie it up, and then a Husky miss suddenly gave set point to Arizona at 23-24. DeHoog saved the set with a kill off the block for 24-all. On the next point, Kalei Mau of Arizona made an amazing kick save to prevent a Husky ace, but the Wildcats had to send a free ball over and Sybeldon hammered it down for set point Huskies, 25-24. The Wildcats saved the first, but UW earned another with a Beals quick set to Sybeldon. DeHoog served for the first time as UW was at its limit for subs; she did her part, and then Julye got a good block touch and transitioned for a Beals set on the left, tooling it off the block to win the critical third set, 27-25. Sybeldon ripped five kills on five swings in the third set, and Julye stepped up with four kills on six attempts without a miss. The Dawgs wound up hitting .400 in the set to outpace the .333 mark from the Wildcats.
Beals got the third set going with an ace off the tape. Julye carried her big third set into some early fourth set momentum with a pair of kills from the left pin. A third transition kill from Julye on the left had the Dawgs up 6-2 on a 3-0 run and UA took the early timeout. UA broke the run, but Sybeldon swung the serve right back with her 15th kill matching her career high. She broke that mark soon after with an offspeed finish for a 9-4 Husky lead. The Huskies made another 4-1 run to force Arizona's second timeout at 13-7, as Jones and Scambray each had finishes. Arizona cut the Husky lead to four a couple times, but Wade finished a Beals set for 15-10, and Sybeldon killed another quick from Beals for 16-11, followed by a block by Sybeldon and Julye and then another Sybeldon finish in transition expanded the lead to 18-11 and the Dawgs were on their way. Sybeldon's 19th kill made it 19-12 then she teamed with Scambray for a stuff for 20-13 and then rotated out, and would not get back in for a chance at 20, because the Huskies quickly got to match point at 24-15 on a Julye kill and a couple Arizona errors. Arizona saved a couple but Wade put the finishing touches on the victory with a big swing off the block and down to end it, 25-17. Again, Sybeldon was the offensive story in the fourth set with six kills on six swings as the Huskies looked like a totally different team from the first set, hitting .519 with Beals collecting 10 assists in the frame.
