Top-20 USC And UCLA Squads Visit 14th-Ranked Huskies

THIS WEEK IN HUSKY VOLLEYBALL

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27
#14 Washington hosts #19 USC • 6 pm
Alaska Airlines Arena
Live on Pac-12 Networks National - Live Stats

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29
#14 Washington hosts #13 UCLA • 11 am
Alaska Airlines Arena
Live on Pac-12 Networks National - Live Stats

SEATTLE - The second half of Pac-12 play kicks off with a huge home weekend for the 14th-ranked Huskies, as 19th-ranked USC and 13th-ranked UCLA come to Alaska Airlines Arena, with all three teams looking to grab every win possible to rise in the Pac-12 race. Both matches will be broadcast live on Pac-12 Networks. USC visits first on Friday evening with a 6 p.m. first serve, and the Bruins will be in on Sunday for an 11 a.m. match.

The Dawgs are as healthy collectively as they have been since the start of the season, with Bailey Tanner returning to action last week in the Bay Area, and UW will look to use the next five weeks and 10 matches to play its best volleyball of the season. A fourth Pac-12 title in five years is a longshot as the Cardinal are now 10-0, but the Huskies at 6-4 in league are just one game out of third-place, and two games out of second-place. The Huskies also rank 12th in the national RPI.

Washington will look to even the season series with the Trojans and also draw even with them in the Pac-12 standings as USC comes in with a 7-3 league record. Last week, USC was swept at Colorado but then bounced back and upset 12th-ranked Utah in five sets, and that was without leading scorer Khalia Lanier who missed both matches due to injury. Niki Withers had a big 22 kills in the win over the Utes. Opposite Brittany Abercrombie has won two Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week awards this year and had 13 kills in the first match with UW. USC is hitting .256 for the year with opponents hitting .203. Washington has won four straight over USC in Seattle.

UCLA is tied with UW at 6-4 in conference so far, and is 13-6 overall. The Bruins lost in four sets at No. 12 Utah last week, but then came back and had a five set win at Colorado where they saved several match points to win the fourth set 28-26 and the fifth set 16-14. Sarah Sponcil has spread the ball around on offense, as she averages 10.96 assists per set and adds 3.00 digs per set. Zana Muno is second in the Pac-12 with 4.77 digs per set and UCLA is second as a team with 16.23 digs per set. In Pac-12 play, UCLA is third with a .243 attack percentage and third holding opponents to .205. Senior Reily Buechler leads the team with 3.30 kills per set, with Jenny Mosser adding 2.96 kills, Mac May posting 2.89, and Madeleine Gates has 2.47 kills. UW has a 14-match home win streak over the Bruins dating to 2003.

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