Dawgs Get Big Road Sweep At No. 21 USC

Friday, September 23

Los Angeles, CA

7:00 PM

University of Washington

11-1, 1-1Pac-12

USC

8-5, 0-2Pac-12

Washington

USC

September 23, 2016 | Volleyball

Box Score 92316 VB at USC Box Score PDF Watch: Highlights Watch: Crissy Jones Postgame Crissy Jones Postmatch Interview

By: UW Athletic Communications

LOS ANGELES – The fourth-ranked Husky volleyball team responded to its first setback of the season with a big-time Pac-12 road victory tonight, as the Dawgs put away 21st-ranked USC 28-26, 25-16, 25-18 at the Galen Center. Washington (11-1, 1-1 Pac-12) saved three set points in the first set before pulling through, and then stretched away for convincing wins in the second and third.

Bouncing back in a big way from an upset loss on Wednesday to Washington State, the Huskies had a balanced attack with junior Bailey Tanner's 38 assists frequently finding the arms of junior outside hitters Courtney Schwan (13 kills), Crissy Jones (12 kills), and Tia Scambray (10 kills). The Huskies hit .340 for the night and held the Trojans to .181, and Washington had seven aces, six in the second set alone, while USC went without a service ace.

The Huskies also had a big blocking night with 11.5 stuffs compared to 6.0 for USC, with Scambray leading with six, and freshman middle blockers Avie Niece and Kara Bajema getting five apiece. Bajema had nine kills on a .438 attack percentage with two of the team's aces.

"This team knows how to respond," said Head Coach Keegan Cook. "We've talked about having the discipline to have good habits all the time. I thought Bailey Tanner set a nice balanced match, with a lot of attackers getting a lot of attempts. Crissy and Tia responded to a tough match on Wednesday with two outstanding performances. So hopefully the best response they can have now is to have two great practices Monday and Tuesday to get ready for the match against the Cardinal."

It was the third win at USC's Galen Center for the Huskies in the last eight days, as UW defeated Maryland and Oklahoma on the neutral court last week, then made the trip back down yesterday morning. Now the Huskies and Trojans (8-5, 0-2 Pac-12), the co-Pac-12 Champions a year ago, won't see each other again for the rest of the year due to the unbalanced schedule. The Huskies have also now won five of their last six meetings against USC at the Galen Center, dating back to 2013.

Washington got off to a slow start in the first set, as USC scored the first four points, but the Huskies came back with the next three to get going with a Jones kill, and a finish from Scambray off the block in transition. But another three-point run for USC got it back to 3-7 and the Huskies took timeout. The Trojans got one more before Scambray hit off the block and out for a kill. Kara Bajema got her first kill on a slide, and Schwan's first kill had it at 6-10 Trojans. Schwan put away two more kills to get the Dawgs back within three at 8-11. A big triple block in the middle cut another off the gap. A dig from Schwan led to Jones killing it to the deep corner, and then the Dawgs tied it up at 11-all with a huge roof from Jones on the right pin. USC called a timeout, but the Huskies took their first lead with a USC error for 12-11. USC went back up with the next two points, but then missed serve for 12-12. The teams traded points, with UW going back on top by one at 16-15 on a Scambray finish off high hands. A Trojan block put them back up one, and UW missed a couple serves. The Trojans converted after UW sent a free ball over for a 17-19 lead and the Huskies took their second timeout. USC left a tip short out of the timeout, and then the Dawgs tied it up with a block from Schwan and Niece at 19-all, but the Huskies then missed another serve long. After Scwhan leveled it again with a roll, she then floated a tough serve that was shanked for an ace as the Dawgs went back on top, 21-20, and USC took its last timeout. The timeout resulted in a UW service error, but Jones got it right back with a big slam in serve-receive. Scambray had a crucial out of system kill off the block touch to get the Dawgs a two-point cushion at 23-21, but the Huskies gave the lead back with a poor pass that led to a USC transition kill for 23-23. Scambray had another extremely difficult swing find the sideline from off the net to get the Dawgs a set point at 24-23, but USC hit through the block to even it. A messy play ended in a Trojans point for set point USC, but Scambray got her swing down inside the block for 25-25. Washington saved another Trojan set point with a booming Schwan kill. Tanner then dove to cover a tip and Scambray found open room out of the back row for a 27-26 lead. Niece and Tanner then finally brought the see-saw battle to rest on UW's side, stuffing the USC swing on the right to take it, 28-26.

First set stats were big in UW's favor with the exception of five service errors, as the Dawgs hit .256 to the .132 of the Trojans and the Huskies had 18 kills to 13 for USC. Scambray put down seven kills on a .333 attack percentage and Niece had four block assists while Tanner dished 15 assists.

Set two got off with a shanked Trojan pass for a Jones ace. Schwan found space in the block for a kill and a 3-1 lead. Tanner dumped a kill, and Schwan had a rightside finish to keep the Huskies on top, and then Schwan floated an ace right to the endline for a 7-4 lead. Jones hammered from the right, and then went back and floated another ace to get the three-point lead back at 10-7. The Dawg block found its groove again, as Tanner had a solo rejection on the right followed by a big stuff from Bajema in the middle to make it 12-7 Dawgs and force a USC timeout. A big swing from Scambray kept the run going for one more point before USC got a kill to snap the 5-0 Husky run. The Dawgs answered right back as Jones pummeled a pipe set from Tanner, and two points later, Bajema won a joust for 15-9. Bajema then stepped to the line and banged an ace off the defense for 16-9 and USC used its last timeout. The break didn't disrupt Bajema, who floated another ace right to the back line before USC scored the next point in serve-receive. Tanner joined the run of aces with a low floater for 19-11. USC came back with a pair of points to make it 19-13 and Coach Cook called his first timeout. Schwan got the big point out of the break after a back-and-forth to make it 20-13. Niece killed a quick set from Tanner for 21-14 Dawgs. Scambray then stuffed down a tip attempt to get the Dawgs another point closer. Bajema brought the Dawgs to set point with a kill inside the block, and Jones finished it off with her fourth kill of the set to end it, 25-16. The Huskies outhit the Trojans, .357 to .276 in the set, with an outstanding six service aces and helped by five digs from Shayne McPherson.

Tanner went to Jones on the right for a kill on the first swing of set three. Tanner then killed on second contact after a nice McPherson dig, and then Bajema hit down an overpass on the next rally for another point. Bajema terminated a slide as the Dawgs capped a 5-0 run to start the set. Jones put down a back row pipe to make it 6-1 Dawgs, but then UW cooled off and USC got back into it with four straight points for 6-5, which prompted Cook to go to the bench for Jade Finau and Carly DeHoog. On the first touch, Finau back set to DeHoog and she killed it to snap the Trojan run. A rightside Schwan kill kept UW on top, 9-7. Niece stretched to her right to stuff a USC crosscourt attempt and make it 10-7. Scambray then got all over another Trojan swing for a rejection and a 12-8 lead. Jones took a big swing from the back row that the Trojans dub up and put over freely, and Tanner set it back to Bajema on the move for a kill and 14-10. Schwan finished on the left for 15-11 to get to the media timeout. Tanner connected with Schwan again for another big blast past the block, but UW kept USC in it with a few service errors. Jones kept the sideout battle going with a right side finish in serve-receive for 19-15. Jones and Bajema then teamed for a block assist, and USC got caught in the net on the next point to make it 21-15 and USC took timeout. The Trojans tipped for a point out of the break, but Scambray answered with a crosscourt swing for 22-16. The Dawgs reached match point on a Scambray finish and a Bajema spike at 24-17, and Schwan went offspeed to put it away, 25-18. Washington rolled to its best hitting, at .448 in the set, holding USC to .148. Jones had four kills on six swings without an error, and Schwan had five kills while Bajema killed five on seven swings with just one error for a .571 mark.

Washington returns home for another big ranked showdown next Wednesday, as 11th-ranked Stanford comes to town having won its first two conference matches. The Huskies host the Cardinal Wednesday at 7:00 pm and California will follow right behind for a Thursday night match.