University of Washington
Arizona State
Staunch ?D? Powers Huskies Past No. 20 Devils
November 07, 2015 | Volleyball
TEMPE, Ariz. – The serve-and-pass battle went the way of third-ranked Washington, and the scores fell in place as a result, as the Huskies swept No. 20 Arizona State, 25-17, 25-22, 25-10 before 1,236 fans at Wells Fargo Arena. Washington (21-2, 11-2 Pac-12) had one of its best defensive efforts of the season tonight, digging up 53 balls in just three sets, with senior Cassie Strickland notching 18 and sophomore Tia Scambray adding 10 more to help hold Arizona State (17-7, 6-7 Pac-12) in check.
Washington became the first visiting team to leave Tempe with a win, as ASU was 11-0 at home coming in. But the Huskies had their own impressive road streak in Tempe, having not lost there for the past 13 years. That streak hit 14 tonight with the win, UW's longest road streak over a Pac-12 foe.
The Huskies held a huge edge in digs, with 53 to just 31 for the Sun Devils. Washington hit .289 and held ASU to .087, and also had a bid edge in kills (43-25) and aces (7-2). Scambray and sophomore Courtney Schwan each put away 10 kills apiece, and senior Lianna Sybeldon had seven kills, five in the third set, and hit .545 with two solo blocks and two block assists. Scambray was also credited with three solo blocks, and served up a pair of aces, while also hitting .444 on the night (10-2-18). Senior Katy Beals had 20 assists and sophomore Bailey Tanner had 16 assists and eight digs.
Watch the best plays from UW's win in 3 minutes
“I'm really happy from a serve/serve-receive perspective, which is always the biggest goal for us in any match,” said Head Coach Keegan Cook. “We were steady with our serving and passing all night, so it allowed us to have some sloppy play in the first two sets where we hit some balls out of bounds. ASU is a good blocking team, and they did a good job at the net. The last set I thought we did a good job of keeping balls in play, and continuing that serving and passing that we had in the first two sets.”
Melanie Wade slammed down a kill set by Beals for UW's first point of the first set. Courtney Schwan and Lianna Sybeldon had their first kills as the teams traded sideouts. Tia Scambray tooled the block for her first kill for UW's first lead at 4-3, and then Strickland earned herself a rare kill, as she dove for a dig that flew over to ASU's side and went off a Sun Devil and down. Crissy Jones connected from the right for an 8-5 lead, but ASU countered with a couple. Wade added two more early kills, and then dropped an ace on the back line for an 11-8 lead. The Husky defense forced two more ASU errors to push out to a 13-8 lead and force ASU's first timeout. The Devils got the side out to get Wade off the line, but Tanner put one down to answer. Schwan ended a long rally with a kill and then Tanner served an ace up the sideline straight to the floor. A solo stuff for Sybeldon in the middle capped off a 4-0 Husky run for a 17-9 lead. Jones had a cat-like dig as ASU tried to spike down an overpass and Scambray rolled it over and down. A Sun Devil error prompted another timeout with UW leading, 20-11. Scambray had a right side finish and then rotated back and served up UW's third ace of the set for a 23-13 lead. A Schwan roll over the block got the Huskies to set point at 24-16, and ASU had a double contact to end it in UW's favor, 25-17. The Huskies hit .235 after a couple late errors dropped them below .300, but the Dawgs had a sideout percentage of 82% and held ASU to an attack percent of just .088. Strickland had eight digs in the set while Scambray had three kills, an ace, three digs and a solo block.
The Huskies made a few early errors to start the second set, but righted the ship with a 5-0 run to take a 7-4 lead. Wade and Scambray slammed the door on a swing to tie it at 4-4, and then a serve by Beals was overpassed and Destiny Julye was there to tap it down for her first kill during the run. Schwan used some deception to roll over the blockers for a kill and a 10-7 lead. Sybeldon had a quick strike set by Tanner, and on the next point she picked up a solo stuff as ASU tried to follow suit, the rejection making it 12-8 Dawgs. Scambray blasted one up the left sideline to get the Huskies to the media timeout leading 15-10. ASU closed within three, but then made a couple errors as the lead got back to five at 18-13 and the Devils called time. Sophomore Jade Finau checked in and quickly got an assist to Julye on the right for 19-15 Dawgs. Schwan tooled the block for a point at 20-17, but ASU cut two more off the lead and the Huskies called their first timeout at 20-19. Tanner went to Jones in serve-receive who tipped it over and down for a point out of the break, and then Strickland smacked a jump serve that ASU got up, but couldn't get a second touch on, as it fell for an ace, and ASU took timeout at 22-19 Dawgs. Strickland missed her next serve, but UW scored quickly on a Scambray swing off the block. Scambray then went soft for another kill to get the Dawgs to set point at 24-20. The Dawgs got a free ball off Beals' serve but the Devils won a joust at net to save one, and then ASU served an ace for 24-22 and UW called time. Out of the break, Strickland stepped up with a perfect pass, and Beals set back to Scambray on the right for another kill off the blockers fingers and down to give UW the 2-0 lead, 25-22. The Huskies outhit the Devils, .229 to .135 in the frame, with four kills from Scambray including the clutch trio of swings down the stretch.
Scambray had back-to-back sweet serves to start the third set, neither of which came back to UW's side. After just two kills over the first two sets, Sybeldon had three early ones in the third set and Scambray and Wade stuffed an ASU slide try as the Huskies went up, 7-4. Strickland took a little off her normal hammer and it spun down short for an ace to make it 8-4. Scambray and Schwan added on with well-placed droppers, and Julye finished a back and forth with a big swing on the left to force an ASU timeout at 11-6. Washington continued its stellar run out of the break, as Scambray laid out for a tremendous dig that resulted in a Schwan roll shot kill. After the defense snuck in expecting a roll, Schwan hammered her next one off the block and down, and Julye capped a 3-0 run by finishing a Beals set on the right pin to make it 14-6 Dawgs. Washington kept pushing ahead, with Sybeldon hitting off the block and out on UW's side, and Scambray finishing a Tanner set. A stuff block from Sybeldon and Jones doubled up ASU, 20-10, and prompted a Sun Devil timeout. It was the same result out of the timeout, as Sybeldon and Jones notched another, as senior Justice Magraw checked in and put pressure on ASU with some tough serves. Magraw would serve the match out for the Dawgs, as Scambray finished in transition, then Magraw added an ace. An ASU error got UW to match point at 24-10, and Tanner went to Sybeldon for her fifth kill of the set to end it, 25-10. The stats reflected UW's outstanding play in the third, with UW hitting .429 and holding ASU to just .030, helped by 18 digs to just 8 for the Devils. Sybeldon hit .833 in the set, and Beals had nine assists.
Washington has another tough showdown on Sunday at 11 a.m. Pacific time, as the Dawgs meet the 19th-ranked Arizona Wildcats, who defeated Washington State in four sets tonight.
Washington took the Sun Devils to the DAWGhouse tonight! Huskies come away with a sweep 💪 #Pac12VB pic.twitter.com/m7w0g88vjp
— Pac-12 Networks (@Pac12Networks) November 7, 2015
