Resilient Dawgs Nearly Pull Off Epic Comeback

Friday, October 6

Seattle, Wash.

8:00 PM

University of Washington

13-3, 3-2Pac-12

Utah

13-3, 4-1Pac-12

Utah

Washington

October 06, 2017 | Volleyball

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By: UW Athletic Communications

SEATTLE – Forced by injuries to shuffle the deck in a big way, the ninth-ranked Husky volleyball team brought out a lineup vastly different than any used this season, but still showed their characteristic fortitude. Down two sets to none against a talented 17th-ranked Utah squad, Washington rallied to force a fifth set and even came back from 8-12 down in set five to tie it at 14-14, but Utah came up with the final two points to end what was nearly one of the best comebacks in school history, keeping a season-high Alaska Airlines Arena crowd of 3,019 fans hanging on each point.

The final score of 27-25, 26-24, 21-25, 23-25, 16-14 for Utah definitely does tell the score, as the teams were rarely separated by more than a handful of points in any set all night long. The first four sets all had at least 12 tie scores. The Huskies saved three set points in the first set and had one chance of their own, and UW again saved four set points in the second set, only to find themselves down 0-2 at intermission. But for the second time in the past four matches, UW came back to force a fifth. Just two weeks ago, UW also came all the way back from 0-2 down to beat Arizona State in five in Tempe.

While the Dawgs ultimately fell to 13-3 and 3-2 in Pac-12 play, Head Coach Keegan Cook couldn't help but be impressed. "I told our players how fortunate we are that we have a team where we don't have to worry about character, and resiliency, and grit, and a bunch of other intangibles that we have," said Head Coach Keegan Cook. "We've got it. To perform like that against a team who's that good in spite of the week that we've had in terms of injuries and new lineups, just says a lot about us from a character standpoint."

The missing pieces today for UW included senior All-American Bailey Tanner, out with a broken finger suffered during the USC match last week. Another All-American senior, Courtney Schwan, could only play a few rotations in the back row due to an ankle injury suffered in practice just yesterday. Senior setter Jade Finau, however, returned after missing three matches with a finger injury of her own, and Washington went with a 6-2 setter rotation of Finau and true freshman Natalie Robinson, who had previously only seen five sets of mostly spot serving duty.

Robinson went out and had 34 assists and nine digs while Finau had 28 assists and 11 digs for a double-double as they helped the Huskies hit .262 for the match, slightly above Utah's .247 mark. Many of Robinson and Finau's assists went to Lauren Sanders, as the freshman middle had the match of her young career, with a career-high 17 kills and just one error on 21 swings for a fantastic .762 attack percentage. She killed her first nine swings of the match, and also added 10 blocks for a double-double.

The other major lineup shift was senior Tia Scambray moving back from libero where she has started all season into the outside hitter role she played the past three years. Scambray took to the challenge readily, and looked as if she'd been never skipped a beat on the outside, as she led the Huskies with 19 kills, hitting .261 for the match, and she added 11 digs and four blocks. Sophomore Shayne McPherson started at libero and matched her career-high with 24 digs. Senior right side Carly DeHoog totaled 15 kills and five blocks, and junior Destiny Julye had eight kills as the second left side hitter and added five block assists.

"What a welcome to Pac-12 volleyball for Natalie Robinson, really nice job setting half the 6-2. Tia Scambray, I'm not surprised that she had the match that she had. She did a lot of things that we've seen her do for years. We needed her, and she stepped up and did an outstanding job leading us in kills tonight.

The big match from Sanders came after a steady week of practice, said Cook. "Lauren, and all of our middles and setters have worked to execute better. We were not satisfied with that after the L.A. weekend and so that was one of our primary focuses throughout the week, so to see Lauren Sanders have a match like this just tells us we've got something we can carry with us for the rest of the season."

Sanders put away the first kill for the Huskies on a quick from Finau for 1-1. The first kill for Scambray tied it up at 4-4. Natalie Robinson's first career assist came to Crissy Jones on the right and she then set Julye on the left for a finish for a 6-6 tie. Robinson floated an ace to make it 12-all. Two straight errors from the Utes got the Dawgs a 15-13 lead at the media timeout. Utah tied it up with two but Julye smashed one crosscourt for 16-15 Dawgs. Utah had three straight to move up by two, but a fifth and sixth kill from Sanders in the middle kept the Huskies within striking distance. An ace from Utah forced the Huskies into a timeout down 19-22. DeHoog put away a tough set out of the break but Utah answered right back. Scambray tooled the block but Utah responded again for set point at 21-24. Marion Hazelwood saved the first with a kill from Robinson, and then Sanders and Julye got the first block of the match for UW to make it 23-24 and force a Utes timeout. Out of the break, a tough serve from McPherson forced Utah to free ball it, and Robinson set Sanders who put it away to tie it up, 24-all. Scambray had a dig on the next point and Julye found a sharp angle in transition to suddenly put the Dawgs up, 25-24, and force Utah's last timeout. Utah saved the Husky set point chance with a serve-receive kill, then scored a block to retake the lead. A third straight point went to the Utes after a long rally, as they came back to grab the set, 25-27, winning the final three points. Washington outhit the Utes, .361 to .327, led by an incredible seven kills on seven swings from Sanders, but three blocks for Utah to just one for UW and five more Utah kills made the difference.

A kill from DeHoog and then a block from DeHoog and Sanders gave the Huskies the first two points of the second set. The teams were even through the first 10 points. Sanders kept plugging along with her ninth kill for 7-all. The Husky block got revved up with three straight rejections, DeHoog getting the most of two of them and Scambray roofing the other as UW went up 11-8. But Utah quickly regrouped and scored the next three in a row to tie it back up at 11-11 and the Huskies called timeout. Scambray ripped one up the line to make it 13-all. Utah moved ahead by two points but the Dawgs got even again at 17-17 with a kill from Sanders and then Julye hitting down a 50-50 ball. A Ute kill was backed up by a stuff block to crack open a two point Utah lead at 18-20 and force UW's final timeout. Washington let a costly free ball drop into the middle of their side for a Utah kill out of the break and Utah made it a four-point cushion at 18-22. Utah reached set point at 20-24, but Scambray saved the first with a big swing in serve-receive from the left, and then her service was overpassed and Julye put it down for 22-24, forcing a Utah timeout. Out of the timeout, it was the exact same sequence for the Dawgs, an overpass that Julye put away for 23-24. Just like set one, the Dawgs came all the way back and tied it up at 24-all as Jones and Hazelwood rejected the next swing from Utah, and the Utes used their last timeout. Utah got the kill out of the timeout to get a fifth set point chance, and this one proved to be the clincher, as the Huskies hit one wide to fall just short yet again, 24-26. Utah hit .316 in the set while the Huskies hit .220, with the Dawgs winning the blocking battle this time with six, but the Utes had a 19-13 digs advantage.

Utah grabbed an early lead in the third set, 2-5, but a DeHoog kill and an ace from Scambray got UW back within a point. Sanders registered a new season-high 12th kill and a Utah error had it evened back up at 7-7. Finau found Julye in transition for a crosscourt blast as UW inched ahead by one. Julye dialed up an ace for a 10-9 Husky lead. The lead swung back to Utah but Scambray banged off the block to tie it at 12. The media timeout came with Utah on a 3-1 run for a 13-15 Husky deficit. Julye and Sanders got on a stuff block to get the Huskies back even at 16-all. Sanders lasered one to open court and then Finau got a transition set to Scambray who finished to get the lead back to the Dawgs. A 3-0 Husky run on a Jones kill, a Scambray finish, and a Utah attack error built a 22-19 Husky lead and forced a Utes timeout. Out of the break, Scambray got all over a Utah quick attempt and rejected it, and another Utah error made it 24-19 Dawgs as the Utes used their last timeout. Utah saved the first with a kill on its first swing, and the Huskies sent one wide for 24-21, and used their first timeout. Out of the break, Robinson set one back to Scambray on the right and she hit off the block and down to cap the set, 25-21. The Dawgs posted a .300 attack percentage in the third, holding Utah to .138, with Sacmbray killing four of five swings.

A couple early Ute errors got the Dawgs a 4-2 lead to start set four. Robinson back set to DeHoog who ended a long rally by going off the block from the right for a 7-6 lead. The teams continued trading sideouts for several points, tying up again and again, until Utah killed an overpass to take a two point lead at 11-13. Scambray tipped off the block and down for 12-13, but Utah scored the next two points to take a 12-15 lead at the media timeout. Julye and Niece had a key block to break the Huskies out of the rut, and then UW surged on Niece's serve, as she provided two huge digs that lit up the Husky bench and a huge slam from DeHoog on the right tied it up at 15-15. Washington's block then got rolling again as UW roofed three in a row, Sanders in on all three and DeHoog shutting down the right pin. All told it was a 6-0 Husky run on Niece's serve before she missed one just long. DeHoog had another kill for 19-17 but Utah got a lucky netcord ace to tie it up at 19-19 and the Huskies called timeout. Julye came out with a big kill out of the break to regain the lead. The teams traded service errors for 21-up. At 23-22, Scambray got a dig and Finau found DeHoog for a rip from the right and the Dawgs reached set point at 24-22, forcing the last Utah timeout. The Utes took care of the first one with a kill in serve-receive, and UW used its final timeout at 24-23. The Dawgs got a good pass from Scambray, and Robinson set DeHoog who nestled one to the back corner to take it, 25-23, and force a fifth. The Dawgs hit .300 for a second straight set, holding Utah to .163, with DeHoog carrying the Dawgs in the fourth with seven kills on a .462 percentage, with 10 assists from Robinson.

Utah put down its first swing in the fifth but UW did the same, with Scambray adding to her total. Scambray and Niece got a block for UW's first lead at 3-2. Niece's first kill all match knotted it at 5-5, but the Utes then went on a 3-0 run to make it 5-8 at the media timeout. UW overpassed for a second-straight point and it was killed for 5-9, but Sanders broke the run by putting down a deflection above the net for 6-9. Sanders had another quick kill from Finau for 7-10, and the Dawgs took another point on a big McPherson dig and a Scambray transition kill. But Utah responded with two consecutive blocks to go back up four, 8-12, and force the Huskies into a timeout. The Utes missed their next serve, and then Niece and Jones built a wall that put the Ute swing straight down for 10-12 and now it was Utah into a timeout. McPherson then aced the Utes to pull the Dawgs within one. Utah rallied with a serve-receive kill out of the break, but the Dawgs answered with a stuff on the next point for 13-all. A wild rally contained a few out of system swings for the Dawgs but Utah ultimately prevailed with a block to reach match point at 13-14, and the Huskies used their last timeout. Out of the break, Robinson hit Niece on a quick set and she put it through the block to keep the Dawgs alive. Utah hit back with a right side kill to get a second match point try, and after another frantic rally, Utah got a swing through the Husky block and down to bring the marathon match to an end, 14-16.

Washington will rest up and aim to bounce back on Sunday afternoon, hosting the 25th-ranked Colorado Buffs at 3 p.m.