University of Washington
Maryland
No. 7 Washington Tops Terps At Oklahoma Invite
September 18, 2015 | Volleyball
NORMAN, Okla. – Two dominant sets sandwiched around one nailbiter came out to a ninth consecutive 3-0 win for the Husky volleyball team this evening as Washington dispatched Big Ten foe Maryland at the Oklahoma Invitational. The seventh-ranked Huskies (9-0) hit .351 with six players posting at least six kills, and held the Terrapins (10-2) to just .038 on their attack ledger.
Playing at Oklahoma's McCasland FieldHouse, the Dawgs were red hot from the start, hitting .593 in the first set and siding out at 100-percent to win the opener, 25-12. That was followed by a see-saw second set as UW made a number of uncharacteristic errors and had to ultimately save a pair of Maryland set points before pulling it out, 27-25. The Huskies were back on a roll in the third, running away with the 25-9 clincher.
Even with the victory in hand, Head Coach Keegan Cook was not pleased with the second set and felt it was “the farthest we've looked from who we want to be this season. So that was pretty disappointing, but I liked the response afterwards and I thought a few players had strong third sets. Crissy (Jones) had several strong plays, Cassie (Strickland) dug nine balls, so there was a response, but we can't play sets like that.”
Courtney Schwan and Lianna Sybeldon shared the team lead with eight kills apiece, while Jones, Melanie Wade, Carly DeHoog, and Tia Scambray all had six kills.
Strickland had 18 digs and an ace, the 125th ace of her career to tie Jennifer Streatfeild (1990-93) for seventh in school history. The 18 digs also gave her 1,171 for her career, passing both Christal Morrison (2004-07) and Ashleigh Robertson (1989-92) to go from ninth to seventh on that list as well.
Jones had five blocks, and Wade and Sybeldon had four apiece as UW held a 9.0 – 3.0 edge in blocks.
Washington will take on the host Oklahoma Sooners on Friday night in a match televised live on Fox Sports Southwest at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time. The Sooners were hosting third-ranked USC Thursday night.
In the first set, the teams traded points back and forth, with Scambray getting UW's first point on a kill set by Katy Beals. The first point on serve came via a Bailey Tanner service ace for a 5-3 Husky lead. Sybeldon finished from the middle and then Scambray blocked a tip attempt to bump the lead up to 9-6. DeHoog punched down a ball above the net for her third kill in the early going, making it 13-8 Dawgs. Another right side blast from DeHoog was followed by Sybeldon blocking a setter dump on a tight Maryland pass to make it 15-9 and the Terps took time. Maryland got the sideout but UW answered and Schwan served the Huskies on a 6-0 run to make it 21-10 before the final Terps timeout was called. Sybeldon had two kills in the run, and a stuff from Jones and Wade after a Kim Condie serve made it 23-11. Jones finished a set from Tanner to wrap up the set, 25-12. Both Sybedon and DeHoog were a perfect 4-for-4 in the set, with Tanner collecting eight assists as UW hit a scorching .593.
The second set began with mostly errors from both sides, but some booming serves from Strickland were the impetus for a couple Terrapin errors, and a Jones transition kill got the Huskies a 9-6 lead despite just two kills in the set to that point. Schwan picked up a couple kills midway through the set to keep the Dawgs on top, and a Jones finish of a Tanner set made it 15-12 and Maryland called time. But out of the break, the Terps went on a 4-0 run, with three straight kills from Liz Twilley, until Jones finished again to snap it and tie it back up at 16-16. Freshman Destiny Julye, who had checked in a few points earlier, got her first kill against the block from Beals to tie it again at 18, and Maryland called time again. Julye put UW back on top with another kill, and then DeHoog and Wade sent a block down, and two straight Maryland misses had UW back up 22-18. But Maryland wasn't done, winning three straight points before missing serve, but coming right back with three more, the latter two on a Husky overpass that got hit back down, and a quick to Wade in serve-receive that she missed just wide. Down 23-24, the Dawgs went to Schwan and she made the clutch swing from the left pin through the block to tie it, but UW served into the net to go down set point again. Beals set Sybeldon, and her swing went high off the block and dropped into the middle for 25-all. Sybeldon and Jones then stuffed the Maryland attack to get the Dawgs a set point, and Tanner found Sybeldon again in the middle to cap the next rally with a kill, completing the 27-25 comeback. The Huskies hit .243 in the set and held Maryland to just .091 but six service errors hurt the Husky cause.
Taking advantage of the deflated Terrapins at the start of the third set, the Huskies rolled off the first five points, making for eight straight points dating back to the second set. Beals served an ace and then Maryland passed another Beals serve too tight and Wade hit it down. Another Wade kill, and a block by Wade and DeHoog finished another quick three-point run to make it 8-1. Sybeldon and Jones teamed for another stuff to get to 11-3. Maryland trimmed the gap to five points at 11-6, but Washington answered that with a 6-0 run of its own to break things open at 17-6. It was 19-7 after another roof from Jones and Sybeldon and Maryland took time. Strickland hammered an ace out of the break, and another tough serve produced a Terrapins error. A couple more kills from Wade got UW to match point at 24-8, and on their second chance, Scambray and Wade posted a final block to cap the set, 25-9. The Huskies hit a solid .273 in the set, but kept Maryland totally out of sorts with six kills and 11 errors for a -.147 percentage, as UW had five blocks, Strickland dug nine balls, and the Huskies did not miss one serve in the frame. Wade had five kills on eight swings in the third.
