Dawgs Dig In, Take Down Beavers, 3-1

Sunday, November 6

Seattle, WA

3:00 PM

University of Washington

20-4, 10-4Pac-12

Oregon State

10-15, 3-11Pac-12

Oregon State

Washington

November 06, 2016 | Volleyball

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By: UW Athletic Communications

SEATTLE – Tied at one set each against a tough Oregon State squad playing its best volleyball of the season, the eighth-ranked Huskies clamped down on defense and played two impressive sets to finish out a key 25-20, 20-25, 25-19, 25-19 victory at Alaska Airlines Arena before a crowd of 2,727. Washington (20-4, 10-4 Pac-12) had four players with 12 or more digs, and junior Bailey Tanner dished 50 assists to get the Dawgs back into a four-way first-place tie in the Pac-12 race.

Junior outside hitters Courtney Schwan (16 kills, 13 digs), Tia Scambray (12 kills, 19 digs), and Crissy Jones (11 kills, 12 digs) all had double-doubles today, and freshman Shayne McPherson also had 15 digs as UW out-dug the Beavers, 65 to 55. Quick, easy points were tough to come by for both teams, as the Huskies finished with a .229 attack percentage while OSU finished at .218. The Beavers (10-15, 3-11 Pac-12) were coming off two-straight upset wins over Arizona and No. 23 Washington State, but UW extended its series win streak to 27, longest over any conference foe.

"Great physical and mental effort goes a long way, especially when you don't feel like you're playing your best volleyball," said Head Coach Keegan Cook. "So in the third and fourth sets I thought our defensive effort was outstanding, and that allowed us to carry through two good sets there."

The Dawgs had a strong serving match with seven aces compared to two for Oregon State, and got strong production out of their freshman middles, as Avie Niece had a career-high eight kills, hitting .462, and Kara Bajema added seven on a .286 percentage. Niece also led the Dawgs with five block assists, with Scambray also in on four stuffs.

"It was really nice to see Avie and Kara making some plays in the middle third," said Cook. "A major emphasis for us this week was our defense behind the block. It didn't show up in the first match, but it showed up tonight and was a big reason we kept some rallies alive against an Oregon State team that's playing some really good volleyball right now."

Washington bounced back well from a tough loss on Friday to Oregon and still controls its own destiny in the Pac-12 with six matches to go, starting with home matches against Arizona next Thursday, and Arizona State next Sunday.

"I wish improvement was this steady climb where as you put in work you get incrementally better, but it doesn't always work that way," said Cook, "and so we haven't been playing our best volleyball, but we're not going to change our approach in terms of how hard we're working and I think it will come back our way here over the next couple weeks."

The Beavers came out strong with four of the first five points in the first set, but Avie Niece got a nice kill in the middle and then Bailey Tanner served up an ace, and an OSU error had things tied up at 4-4. Scambray and Niece teamed up for UW's first block to make it 6-6. Tanner had a solo block to save UW from a dig over the net, and then Schwan found the floor in transition to give UW its first lead at 9-8. Jones recorded her first two kills to keep the Huskies with the slim lead. An OSU error got the Huskies a 15-12 lead and forced the first Beavers timeout. Out of the break, Schwan had a dig that led to a Niece swing for a kill. Schwan then aced the Beavers, and OSU swung long on the next point as the Huskies moved up 18-12 before OSU snapped the 6-0 run. Oregon State had two straight blocks to cut the Husky lead to 21-18 and UW used its first timeout. Tia Scambray came up with a big kill out of the break on a set well off the net for 22-18. Jones crushed one out of the back row for 23-19 and then Schwan rolled over and down to get to set point, 24-20, and force OSU's final timeout. OSU hit wide on the next point out of the break to give the Dawgs the 25-20 victory. Despite making eight attack errors, the Huskies had 12 kills in the set compared to just seven for OSU, which hit .000. Schwan's five kills led the way for UW.

OSU took the first three points of the second set but then gave two back on errors. Scambray tooled the block on the left for 4-5 Beavers. Schwan added two more kills to keep the Dawgs within a pair at 7-9. A Jones rightside blast to the far corner was followed by a stuff from Bajema and Scambray to pull UW within a point. The Dawgs then tied it up at 13-all with a back row kill from Schwan hard off the block and out. A Tanner dump on a tight set went down to tie it again at 15-15, but OSU scored the next two points for 15-17 and UW called its first timeout. Out of the break, Niece had a tip shot that was dug up and over and she jumped back up to spike it for a kill for 16-17. The Dawgs missed serve, but Jones approached in the middle and killed the Tanner set in serve-receive, and the Huskies got even with a big stuff block from Scambray and Niece on the next rally. Washington blocked three straight OSU swings on the next point before getting their own swing, and Scambray went up the line and found the back line to give UW the 19-18 lead and force OSU into a timeout. The Beavers came out and retook the lead with a 3-0 run and the Huskies had to call their own timeout down 19-21. Washington ran a quick set to Niece out of the break but OSU blocked it, and then McPherson overpassed the next serve and the Beavers hammered it down for 19-23. They missed their next serve to snap the 5-0 run. The Beavers finished a back-and-forth to get to set point at 20-24, and the Huskies caught the net on the next point to end it, 20-25.

Bajema got her offense going with a couple kills early in the third set, but the Beavers held a 6-4 lead through the first 10 points, but the Dawgs used a 3-0 run to go up, 7-6, on an ace from Scambray. But the Beavers battled back with a 3-0 run of their own to go back up, 7-9. Bajema fired an ace to tie it again at 9-9, and a few points later, another Husky ace, this one from Tanner, tied it at 11-all. The Dawgs won a stunning rally with a Jones kill from the left, and then the Huskies had a 3-0 run to take a 15-13 lead and force a Beavers timeout. Niece had a kill and McPherson served up an ace during the burst. Out of the break, the Beavers got a sideout, but the Huskies came right back with another 3-0 run with kills from Bajema, Scambray, and Schwan to make it 18-14. Jones then served an ace for 19-14 and OSU took its last timeout. The Beavers snapped the streak out of the break, but Schwan had two offspeed swings go down, and then smashed a third kill through the block for a 22-16 lead. Scambray hit out of the back row and Schwan rolled another over the block and down to get to set point at 24-18. Oregon State saved one but then missed its next serve to end it, 25-19. The Huskies were outhit, .146 to .267 in the set, but made up for it with five aces, and UW had 15 kills to nine for OSU, six coming from Schwan.

Bajema and Niece had early kills out of the middle for the Dawgs and a stuff block from Schwan helped establish a 5-2 advantage. Oregon State pulled within a point at 5-4, but Niece struck out of the middle, and then Jones had a big swing to put away an OSU free ball to get the Huskies back up, 8-5. The Beavers rallied with three straight to tie things up at 9-9, and then Bajema swung wide in transition for a fourth-straight OSU point and the Huskies took timeout at 9-10. Bajema got the kill in serve-receive to snap the streak, and then OSU hit into the net as the Dawgs retook the lead, 11-10. Tanner found Bajema again as her swing went straight down for the point, and then Niece and Tanner stood tall for the stuff for 13-11. The Beavers got caught in the net on the next point for 14-11 and the Beavers called timeout. Tanner ended a long rally out of the break by tipping behind her for a kill, and then Jones put one away to cap the run and make it 16-11. Oregon State scratched back to within a pair at 17-15, but Jones destroyed a Tanner quick set in the middle to get the sideout, and then Scambray and Niece had a booming block on the right pin for 19-15 and OSU called its final timeout. Scambray had back-to-back clutch swings on out-of-system plays to extend the run and open up a 22-15 lead before OSU broke the 5-0 Husky run. Scambray would keep rolling at the left pin, however, putting the Dawgs at match point with her 11^th kill, and then closing it out with her 12^th kill up the line. UW took the set, 25-19, hitting .385 in the final frame and holding the Beavers to .220. Scambray had five kills in the set, all coming over the final 10 points, and Tanner had 15 assists in the fourth set alone.