Huskies Roll To Second Home Win Of The Day

Friday, September 2

Seattle, WA

7:00 PM

University of Washington

5-0

Villanova

2-2

Villanova

Washington

September 02, 2016 | Volleyball

Box Score Husky Highlights: Sweep of Villanova Box Score PDF

By: UW Athletic Communications

SEATTLE – Playing their third match in just over 24 hours, the Husky volleyball team showed little signs of fatigue, and instead looked to be just getting warmed up, as they posted a 25-20, 25-19, 25-19 sweep against Villanova in the first ever meeting between the teams. Fifth-ranked Washington followed up its 3-1 win over Idaho earlier today with the win over the Wildcats (2-2), an NCAA tourney qualifier last season.

A crowd of 1,540 fans came out to Alaska Airlines Arena tonight to see the Huskies turn in their best hitting display of the early season, as UW hit .393 tonight compared to .149 for Villanova. The Huskies had the big edge in kills (45-32), blocks (9.0-4.0) and digs (40-31).

"I liked our response this evening after what was a pretty tiring match in the morning and a quick turnaround," said Head Coach Keegan Cook. "I think we responded quite well. I was impressed with how ready to go they were."

Junior outside hitter Courtney Schwan banged out 15 kills without an error on 27 swings for a .556 attack percentage, and junior Tia Scambray hit an even higher .579 with 13 kills on 19 swings and just two errors. Crissy Jones added seven kills and two aces. Bailey Tanner's 38 assists were a career-best in a three-set match and she also had a pair of blocks.

This big swing up the line from DJ puts the capper on the Husky Sweep!! https://t.co/6h4ZFWo5cb
— UW Volleyball (@UWVolleyball) September 3, 2016

Cook and the Huskies were happy to be at home, where UW has won 19 in a row, before heading back on the road the next two weekends. "It was a special moment for a lot of the new players to be in the home environment. We don't have a lot of home matches this preseason so certainly we appreciated it."

One of those newcomers, Avie Niece scored the first couple points for the Huskies on quick sets from Tanner out of the middle. A Scambray finish into the near corner and a couple Villanova errors had the Huskies up 6-2 early. Bajema slid around to the right for her first kill, and Courtney Schwan hit a sharp angle crosscourt to make it 9-6 Dawgs. The Huskies got a free ball and Bajema hammered the Tanner set down for 12-9. The Wildcats broke the back-and-forth run with a 3-0 streak to tie things up at 13-all, but Crissy Jones put one down out of the back row to get the lead back, and then Bajema floated an ace for 15-13. On the next rally, Scambray tracked down a deflection to keep UW in the rally then ran back to get a kill on the pipe for 16-13, forcing a Villanova timeout. After one Wildcat point, Schwan had a roller for a point, and then Jones put away a Villanova free ball to make it 18-14, and Villanova used its last break. Jones and Niece had a huge rejection on the next Villanova swing for a five-point lead. Villanova shaved a couple points off the lead but Tanner went to Jones in serve-receive for the kill to the floor for 22-19. The Huskies held off the Wildcats down the stretch with a couple more kills from Schwan, who finished the set at 25-20 with her sixth kill. The Huskies hit a rock solid .457 in the first set while the Wildcats finished at .200.

The second set opened same as the first set, with Niece smacking a quick for the first point. The Huskies inched out to a 6-4 lead through the first 10 points. Schwan and Jones kept the Huskies siding out with regularity, and a block put up by Niece and Jones made it 13-9 Dawgs. Scambray had a big kill high off the block and out deep, and then Tanner and Bajema teamed for a rejection to extend the lead out to 15-10 and force the Villanova timeout. Right out of the break, Jones had a low float that was shanked for an ace, and her next serve was overpassed and Scambray jumped up to hit it down for 17-10. A third-straight sweet serve from Jones resulted in another ace and the Wildcats had to take timeout again at 18-10. Villanova snapped the 5-0 Husky run on the next point but Scambray responded with a big swing from the left. Jade Finau checked in at setter and fed Schwan for a kill on the left for 20-13. Destiny Julye put her first swing of the match away on the left pin to get the Dawgs to set point at 24-15. Villanova made things interesting with four straight points, but Niece finally finished things off with a kill in transition from Tanner for 25-19. The Huskies again hit over .400, posting a .419 mark compared to .172 for Villanova. Scambray did the most damage with five kills on seven swings without an error.

Schwan terminated out of the back row to get the Dawgs out to an early 5-2 lead along with a few Wildcat errors. After an early Villanova timeout, Tanner stuffed down a Wildcat swing, and then the Dawgs got a transition kill from Scambray to push the lead to 8-2. The Huskies kept dialing up the defense at the net and in the back row, as Schwan roofed two swings on the left pin, and Bajema and Scambray had a couple hard-earned digs that led to a finish by Schwan for a 13-5 lead, forcing the last Villanova timeout. Jones connected from the left in serve-receive for the 15-8 advantage. Villanova had a couple kills to cut the UW lead down to 16-12, and the Huskies took timeout. The move paid off in a Wildcat service error, but UW gave it right back. Finau rotated in and found Schwan helped by a diving up from Carly DeHoog. Bajema then got the most of a stuff to push the lead back to 20-13. Jones ran down an errant pass to bump set over to Schwan, who found the open space for a kill and a 23-17 lead. Julye hammered through the block to get the Dawgs to match point at 24-19. On the next point, Schwan laid out for a pancake, and Julye got another crack at the ball, putting it up the line and in to end it, 25-19. The Huskies outhit the Wildcats, .261-.081 in the third, and had five blocks in the set, three from Schwan, who added five more kills to her total.

Washington will now have the weekend to rest up and then its back out on the road to one of the marquee destinations in college volleyball, Honolulu. The Huskies will play Utah Valley and Northern Illinois next week before taking on perennial powerhouse Hawaii next Sunday.