Washington Squares Off With No. 6 Stanford And Cal
November 10, 2015 | Volleyball
THIS WEEK IN HUSKY VOLLEYBALL
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12
#3 Washington hosts #6 Stanford • 8:00 pm
Alaska Airlines Arena
Live on ESPNU - Live Stats
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15
#3 Washington hosts California • 2:30 pm
Alaska Airlines Arena
Live on Pac-12 Networks - Live Stats
SEATTLE - The race for the Pac-12 title remains at a boil this week, as third-ranked Washington prepares for two of its final home matches of the regular season. Thursday night, the national spotlight will fall on Alaska Airlines Arena, as No. 6 Stanford pays a visit for a nationally televised match on ESPNU. The Huskies (22-2, 12-2 Pac-12) avenged their first loss of the year with a win two weeks ago over USC, and will try to get some payback for their only other defeat, a five-set heartbreaker in Palo Alto, by stopping Stanford (17-5, 11-3 Pac-12) at 8:00 p.m. Thursday. U.S. National Team coach Karch Kiraly and Paul Sunderland will have the call for ESPNU.
Following two days off, the Dawgs will go for a season sweep of California (9-16, 3-11 Pac-12) at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday in a Pac-12 Networks televised match.
Washington and Stanford are two of the four teams still in the thick of the race for the conference title with six matches remaining. Second-ranked USC maintains a one-game lead over the Huskies at 13-1, with Stanford and UCLA both one game behind UW in a tie for third. After Thursday night, the only meetings left between the top-four teams in the standings will be Stanford visiting UCLA in the final week of the regular season, and UCLA then going to USC in the regular season finale.
Last weekend the Huskies took care of business in Arizona, sweeping both the Sun Devils and the Wildcats to complete season sweeps of both. Against Arizona, sophomore Crissy Jones led the Huskies with 10 kills, becoming the eighth different Dawg to lead UW in kills in a match this year, most in the Pac-12. Senior Cassie Strickland was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week for the second straight week after averaging 6.33 digs per set and serving five aces over the two matches. The Dawgs stayed at a season-high No. 3 in the coaches poll, but moved up from 10th to 7th in the NCAA RPI.
In the first meeting with the Cardinal, the Huskies held a 2-1 lead and were up in set four, but Stanford rallied to force a fifth set and pulled it out, 15-13, at Maples Pavilion. Since then the Huskies have won five in a row, but the Cardinal also have not lost since, currently owning a six-match win streak. Stanford posted two straight road sweeps last week against the Oregon schools, and hit over .360 in both matches. In Pac-12 matches, Stanford leads the conference with a .287 attack percentage, but ranks sixth in opponent attack percentage at .207. Sophomore Merete Lutz is hitting .409 in Pac-12 matches, and freshman Haley Hodson is averaging 4.08 kills per set and 0.38 aces per set, which is second in the league. Ivana Vanjak and Lutz averaging 1.25 and 1.19 blocks per set, respectively. The Huskies have won the past two matches in Seattle against the Cardinal.
The Golden Bears are 3-4 in their past seven Pac-12 matches after losing their first seven, but were swept by both Oregon schools last week. Cal gives up the best opponent attack percentage, allowing a .281 rate in conference play, while hitting .191 to rank eighth. Senior middle blocker Lillian Schonewise has been excellent in Pac-12 play, hitting .386, and she had 16 kills against UW the first time, hitting .650, despite UW winning in straight sets. Libero Maddy Kerr is seventh in digs in Pac-12 play with 4.31 per set. Washington has won six in a row in the series, with Cal last visiting Seattle in 2013.
