Huskies Come Out Of The Blocks With Road Win

Saturday, August 27

Harrisonburg, VA

3:00 PM

University of Washington

1-0

James Madison

3-1

Washington

James Madison

Bailey Tanner was one off her career high for assists with 29 tonight.

August 27, 2016 | Volleyball

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By: UW Athletic Communications

HARRISONBURG, Va. – The first win is in the books for the Husky volleyball team, which took down the Dukes of James Madison in three sets in a challenging road environment. In front of a boisterous crowd of 512 in the close confines of Sinclair Gym, the Huskies won their 15th consecutive season-opener by the scores of 25-19, 27-25, 25-15.

Washington relied on juniors Courtney Schwan (13 kills), Tia Scambray (12 kills), and Crissy Jones (7 kills) to lead the offense, but also saw the debuts of three of their six newcomers, as senior Kameron McLain and freshmen Shayne McPherson and Avie Niece all made big contributions. Niece led all players with six block assists, McLain had three kills on four swings to hit .500, and McPherson served up four aces and led all players with 17 digs.

James Madison had already played three matches, and won all three, giving it some extra confidence to try and pull the upset. "We knew James Madison was a seasoned team with a really impressive attacker," said Head Coach Keegan Cook. "The environment was outstanding: good attendance, loud. This was their fourth match and our first match, so I really enjoyed the situation that this whole environment created for us."

The Huskies hit .233 for the night and held James Madison to .130. The Dawgs had six aces but gave up five to the Dukes. Washington led in digs, 54-50, and blocks, 8.0-6.0, and had 43 kills to 32 for JMU. Schwan hit .323 for her 13 kills and had nine digs and a career-high three assists. Bailey Tanner had 29 assists and eight digs, while Jones doubled her previous career-high in digs with 10 tonight with three blocks.

Starters for the opener were Scambray, Schwan, Jones, Niece, McLain, Tanner, and McPherson at libero. Destiny Julye (4 kills), Jade Finau (3 assists), and Carly DeHoog (1 kill) all saw their season debuts as well.

"We like to see improvement as the match goes on, and you saw it the most at the service line, where as the match went on we got more and more comfortable and we were blocking better at the end of the match as well," said Cook. ". Matches like this just give everything that you talk about in practice greater meaning, they start to have a deeper understanding of what they need to get better at once they've played a match."

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— UW Volleyball (@UWVolleyball) August 27, 2016

The Huskies got the first three points as James Madison served long to start, then Schwan hammered down an overpass off a Tanner serve. Niece got her first kill on a quick set from Tanner in the middle. The Dukes took a one-point lead at 6-7, but Scambray knotted it with her first kill of the season. The first Husky kill for McLain got the Dawgs back up one, and then Jones aced the Dukes for 9-7. Scambray dropped an ace in front of the Duke receiver for an 11-8 lead. Destiny Julye subbed in to serve and got a dig that led to a Schwan transition kill for 13-9. Scambray banged one off the block and out and then McPherson smacked her first ace for an 18-14 lead and the Dukes took time. A couple late James Madison errors pushed the UW lead to six, then Scambray terminated up the line from the left for 23-16. On set point, a Scambray serve was overpassed and Schwan punched it down to close out the win, 25-19. Scambray's five kills led the way while UW had 22 digs in the set, seven from McPherson, to hold JMU to .114 on offense.

The Dukes took the first two points of the second set, but UW rolled off six in a row to go up, 6-2, and force JMU into an early timeout. Carly DeHoog and Jade Finau checked in for the first time and Finau went right to Scambray on the right side for a kill off the block and a 9-6 lead. A Dukes run gave them a 10-9 lead, but Schwan rolled one down to tie it back up. Consecutive stuffs from Niece and Jones had the Dawgs back up, 13-11, but JMU rallied with a 4-0 run to go back ahead and the Huskies took timeout. The Dawgs went back up thanks to three straight JMU errors out of the timeout. Scambray pegged the libero for a thumping kill and a 17-16 lead. McLain found the floor and Schwan followed with an offspeed point for 20-18, but JMU came back to tie things at 21-all, and the Huskies used their second timeout. UW overpassed for a Dukes kill and then got aced as they fell behind by two, but the Dawgs then dug in with a Schwan kill off the block, and a long rally ended by a Jones rightside kill for 23-23. McPherson picked up the tip and Tanner set Schwan for a hammer to get to set point, 24-23, but JMU saved it with a kill in serve-receive. The Dukes saved a second set point, but UW earned a third as Jones hit crosscourt from the right to make it 26-25. McPherson went back to serve and banged one that the Dukes passed up above the net, and Scambray pounced to hit it down and close out the set, 27-25. The Huskies hit .292 in the frame, with Schwan putting away seven kills and Scambray adding six on only seven swings.

Schwan opened the third set with a kill from the left and another on the right, and then McPherson served up a pair of aces, one off the net tape, and another straight over shanked into the seats to make it 6-2 Huskies and force the early JMU timeout. Julye put down her first kill, followed by her first block assist of the night to make it 8-4. Another rejection from Tanner and Niece kept UW on top, 11-7. A few errors crept into the Husky game, and JMU came back to even it up at 14-all, but Niece finished a Tanner quick set after a free ball to regain the lead. A huge solo stuff from Jones on the right pin pushed the lead back to 17-14 and the Dukes took their last timeout. The run continued as Julye used a deflection off the block as a perfect set and she crushed it for a kill and 18-14. McPherson kept her service run going with her fourth ace of the night for 20-14. The Dukes finally snapped the 8-0 run, but Tanner found Jones who hit hard off the block and down, and a JMU misfire made it match point at 24-15. With Finau in to serve, her serve was passed too tight, and DeHoog nudged it down to the floor for her first kill on the last point, ending it at 25-15. The Huskies closed on an 11-1 run, hitting .219 in the final set, but holding JMU to -.040. Julye had four kills on six swings in the set, with McPherson collecting three aces.

The Huskies now head over to Washington D.C. for a tough match at American, which reached the NCAA second round last year. The Dawgs and Eagles will meet for the first time ever at 1 p.m. Pacific time.