University of Washington
Stanford
Bay Area Sweep Puts UW In Top Four At Pac-12s
May 01, 2016 | Beach Volleyball
Live Scoring Updates | Pac-12 Beach Brackets
LOS ANGELES – The top-three seeds all moved easily through to the last four at the inaugural Pac-12 Beach Volleyball Championships, but the seventh-seeded Huskies crashed the party today with consecutive upsets of the Bay Area schools, defeating No. 6 Stanford and No. 4 California to reach Sunday's final day of dual matches. The Dawgs will face No. 3 Arizona in the contender's bracket tomorrow at 11 a.m. in what will be UW's first appearance on the Pac-12 Networks, however the match will be on Pac-12 Networks nationally but not on Pac-12 Washington.
Washington won the first ever meeting with Stanford on the beach thanks to an early three-set victory by their freshman duo at No. 5, and then straight set wins by their top two pairs late. The Huskies then knocked the Bears out of the tourney with a 4-1 win, sparked by clutch third set victories from the four and five spots to grab a 2-0 lead, and then UW's top two duos again came through to finish things off.
Head Coach Jonathan Winder was thrilled for UW's first two Pac-12 tourney wins. “I think it's a phenomenal achievement for this group,” said the first-year coach. “We practiced for four weeks and we hadn't played beach volleyball all year. The girls have worked really hard in the limited amount of time we've spent here. They remained confident and persevered and continued to grind through some of the matches early where we weren't playing too well, so it's really fun to see some of the rewards of their labor.”
In the first match against the Cardinal, Destiny Julye and Lindsay Chalmers got their first win of the weekend and put the first point on the board with a win over Alade/Robinson at No. 5. Chalmers and Julye took the first set by five, 21-16, but then missed a chance to close it out in a 21-23 second set heartbreaker. But the freshmen shook it off quickly and rolled to a 15-9 third set win.
Stanford tied it with a win at No. 4, as Melanie Wade and Justice Magraw came up just two points shy in the second and the third sets, falling 15-21, 21-19, 15-13 to Bowen/DiSanto. The Cardinal took a 2-1 lead with a 21-10, 21-17 win at No. 3 from Merete Lutz and Halland McKenna over Lianna Sybeldon and Jade Finau.
But the Huskies turned to their top two tandems and both delivered wins to extend Washington's tourney run. Crissy Jones and Tia Scambray bested Payton Chang and Haley Hodson in the No. 1 spot, 21-19, 21-15 to tie up the match, 2-2. Cassie Strickland and Courtney Schwan then put UW over the top shortly thereafter with a hard-fought 21-18, 21-19 win over Catherine Raquel and Ivana Vanjak at No. 2.
Washington's four and five pairs gave the Dawgs a huge lift early by pulling out third set wins to establish a 2-0 lead. Chalmers and Julye earned their second win of the day, coming back from a first set loss to beat Regalia/Wilson of Cal, 18-21, 21-16, 15-12. At No. 4, Wade and Magraw were in a similar spot as their first match, having won the first set but dropping the second and coming down to the wire in the third. This time, Wade and Magraw “executed just a little bit better,” said Winder, and pulled out the 16-14 third set win over Teya Neff and Kaitlyn Uythoven.
“That was huge for them, it was huge relief and excitement,” said Winder. “The margins are pretty thin in each of these spots. It's especially exciting for Justice in her last season, she gets to maximize every match of her career.”
Needing one more win, the Huskies were in the driver's seat as Jones and Scambray, and Strickland and Schwan, both won their first sets. Jones and Scambray ran away with the second set to beat Cole/Merino for the second time this weekend, 21-16, 21-11, and clinch the team win. Strickland and Schwan were down in the second set, 13-15, but rallied to win eight of the last 11 points to close out a 21-17, 21-18 win.
Jones and Scambray have now gone 5-1 against the No. 1 teams from the rest of the Pac-12, with a win over UCLA yesterday, two wins over Cal's top team, the Stanford win today, and a win earlier in the year over Oregon's No. 1. The only loss was in the pairs quarterfinals to Arizona's Witt sisters, who Scambray and Jones will likely see again tomorrow. Witt/Witt lost a very close pairs title match to USC's top team.
“I hope that Crissy and Tia continue to play the way they have been. There's no reason they shouldn't,” said Winder. “They were actually pretty close with the Witt twins earlier so it will be good to see after a few more days, can they close the gap more, because each match is monumental for us in terms of getting better and more comfortable with each other. We're still learning things every day. Cassie and Courtney have also been competitive with every single team here. So it will be a very tough challenge but we're looking forward to it.”
Washington Beach Volleyball
April 30, 2016
Pac-12 Championships
Los Angeles – Merle Norman Stadium (USC)
Contender's Bracket – First Round
(7) Washington def. (6) Stanford, 3-2
1. Jones/Scambray (UW) def. Chang/Hodson (STAN), 21-19, 21-15
2. Strickland/Schwan (UW) def. Raquel/Vanjak (STAN), 21-18, 21-19
3. Lutz/McKenna (STAN) def. Sybeldon/Finau (UW), 21-10, 21-17
4. Bowen/DiSanto (STAN) def. Wade/Magraw (UW), 15-21, 21-19, 15-13
5. Chalmers/Julye (UW) def. Alade/Robinson (STAN), 21-16, 21-23, 15-9
Order of finish: 5, 4, 3, 1, 2
Contender's Bracket – Second Round
(7) Washington def. (4) California, 4-1
1. Jones/Scambray (UW) def. Cole/Merino (CAL), 21-16, 21-11
2. Strickland/Schwan (UW) def. Bark/Lamet (CAL), 21-17, 21-18
3. Campbell/Rodberg (CAL) def. Sybeldon/Finau (UW), 21-17, 21-8
4. Wade/Magraw (UW) def. Neff/Uythoven (CAL), 21-15, 19-21, 16-14
5. Chalmers/Julye (UW) def. Regalia/Wilson (CAL), 18-21, 21-16, 15-12
Order of finish: 5, 4, 1, 3, 2
