No. 7 Huskies Turn Back Cougars In Pac-12 Opener

Wednesday, September 20

Pullman, Wash.

6:00 PM

University of Washington

11-1, 1-0Pac-12

Washington State

11-2, 0-1Pac-12

Washington

Washington State

September 20, 2017 | Volleyball

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By: UW Athletic Communications

PULLMAN, Wash. – The atmosphere and intensity of the four set win for the Huskies tonight made it clear that Pac-12 play has arrived. Washington went into enemy territory and scored a big victory over the rival Cougars, 25-19, 25-18, 21-25, 25-22, in front of a vocal 1,910 fans at Bohler Gym. The season debut of All-American senior Crissy Jones was worth the wait, as Jones led the Huskies with 18 kills and added 13 digs for a double-double.

The Huskies (11-1, 1-0 Pac-12) controlled the first two sets before Washington State (11-2, 0-1 Pac-12) grabbed the third. A back-and-forth fourth set had 11 ties and six lead changes before the Huskies won four of the final five points, with three kills from senior Courtney Schwan, to finish the job. The Huskies got the road win over the Cougars for the eighth straight season.

"A tale of two matches really," said Head Coach Keegan Cook. "It had a bit of everything. We played clean volleyball and followed the game plan for two sets and things went smoothly. Coming out of the break, WSU played with great effort and intensity. It was a gritty battle from then on out."

Jones, who missed all of nonconference play coming back from an ankle sprain suffered right before the season opener, came out swinging with six kills in the first set alone, finishing with 18 on a .375 attack percentage. Schwan added 13 kills and nine digs with five blocks and an ace. Senior Carly DeHoog had 11 kills on a .320 percentage, and sophomore Avie Niece made a big contribution off the bench with five kills and five blocks, hitting .375. Senior Tia Scambray had a match-high 18 digs and served a couple of aces.

Watch: Senior Crissy Jones talks with the @Pac12Network after tonight's win over Washington State in Pullman.#PointHuskies pic.twitter.com/KmyJ4WBC7H
— UW Volleyball (@UWVolleyball) September 21, 2017

The big night for Jones "says a lot about who she is," said Cook. "She continues to do whatever the team needs to be successful. We asked her to play outside hitter on two days of practice after a month-long injury. Whether or not she was ready, she was willing and the performance speaks for itself."

In a match-up of the second (WSU) and third-ranked (UW) blocking teams in the NCAA, the Huskies finished ahead with 14 blocks compared to 12 for the Cougars. The Huskies finished hitting .222 and WSU hit .170.

Bailey Tanner also fought through some adversity as she was fighting an illness most of the day and was a gametime decision. She still started, and set 47 assists, and impressed Cook with her resilience. "Bailey is a tremendous competitor. She played through illness and managed the offense in a tough environment," he said.

DeHoog put away the first swing of the match to give the Huskies the opening point. Jones connected for her first kill of the season on the left pin to make it 2-2. Schwan and Marion Hazelwood tied it at 5-5 with UW's first stuff. Jones had a kill on the pipe set for 7-all. Hazelwood got all of a stuff to snap a 3-0 WSU run to make it 9-10, then Scambray drove an ace to the back corner to tie it back up. A tough serve from Shayne McPherson forced a WSU setting error for a 12-11 lead and McPherson got credit for the ace. Sanders put one down in transition and then the Huskies got a left pin rejection by Schwan and Sanders to take a 15-12 lead into the media timeout. Schwan drilled one up the line for a kill in serve-receive for 16-13. The lead shrank to one as the teams continued trading points. Jones crushed a Tanner set straight to the floor and then WSU missed one wide for 21-18 Dawgs and the Cougars took timeout. Some outstanding digs from Schwan and Scambray extended a marathon rally that Jones finally ended with a swing off the block for 23-18, and then Jones got another down to cap the 5-0 Husky run on McPherson's serve and make it set point at 24-18. On the second chance, Sanders hit down an overpass to end it, 25-19. Jones' first set back couldn't have been more impressive, as she led all players with six kills on 12 swings without an error, as the Dawgs hit .323 compared to .188 for WSU.

The Cougars took the first two points of the second set but UW answered with three in a row, including a pair of stuff blocks by Sanders for a 3-2 lead. Jones laid out for a dig and then Tanner hit Schwan for a kill to make it 6-3. Washington then won a marathon rally with a series of digs for 7-3 and WSU took timeout. The Huskies served long out of the break but Sanders slammed a slide to get it right back. The Cougars rallied within a point but DeHoog answered with a left side finish for 10-8. Avie Niece subbed in and got a big stuff for 11-8. DeHoog crushed another on the right side for 14-10, and then Sanders stuffed one down on the next point to build the lead to five. Schwan had a roll shot dug but got a second chance and threw the fastball for the kill for 17-12. Schwan put another away in transition as the Dawgs kept pushing on Jones' serve for 19-12. Tanner poked a tight dig deep for a kill and 20-13. Schwan had a perfect pass and Niece crushed a quick set for 22-15. Jones put away two more on the left to get the Huskies to set point at 24-16. WSU saved two Husky chances but a perfect pass from Scambray let Tanner go to Sanders on the quick and she hammered it for the win, 25-18. The Dawgs rolled to a .371 mark in the second set and held the Cougars to .121, with Jones putting down another five kills and Sanders getting three blocks.

Washington State came out hot to start the third set and won seven of the first 10 points to force the Huskies to call timeout. Jones snapped the WSU run with a kill from the back row out of the timeout, then Niece and Tanner teamed for a block for 5-7. Niece threw up a roof to pull UW within one at 7-8, but the Huskies had some shaky passes and WSU pushed back ahead by four at 8-12. A Jones left side kill and a stuff by Sanders cut the gap in half to 10-12, and then DeHoog killed an overpass off a tough Scambray serve. Schwan had a pancake dig and Tanner went to her knees to set Jones for a kill to tie it up at 12s. Then Scambray pegged the Cougar defense for an ace to move UW back on top, 13-12, and force a WSU timeout. The Cougars clawed back in front by two but UW evened it again at 16-all on a Cougar error. The Huskies made a couple errors to drop back behind, 17-20. UW hit long again for 19-23 and used their last timeout. Niece subbed back in out of the break and killed a quick set in serve-receive, but WSU floated a shot that found the back corner for set point at 20-24. Sanders saved the first with another quick out of the middle, but the Cougars put their next swing away for the win, 21-25. The Cougars hit a very hot .414 in the third and UW hit just .091 for the frame.

Niece started the fourth set off with a transition kill on the first point. Niece slammed another on the quick and then DeHoog found open floor to tie it at 4-all. Schwan dialed up an ace for a 6-4 lead and then a Cougar error pushed it to 7-4 and WSU called timeout as the Dawgs were on a 5-point run. Out of the break, Jones hunted down a rejection in the middle of the net to keep the run going. The Huskies added one more for 9-4 before the Cougars scored to snap the 7-0 run. Jones had a big crosscourt kill to end a rally and a mini Cougar run for 11-7. Washington stalled on offense and the Cougars put together a 6-0 run to force UW into a timeout down 12-14. Schwan came through with a kill in serve-receive out of the break to stop the bleeding, and then Niece followed that with a transition kill to tie it back up. Niece and Schwan then combined for a block as the Dawgs pushed back ahead by one, 15-14. Schwan tooled the block for a 16-15 lead, but WSU came back with a pair as the lead changed hands. Jones pushed through the block and down to tie it at 18-all. Destiny Julye subbed in to serve and the Dawgs scored on a WSU error for 19-18. An intense rally was ended by Hazelwood who hit down a fast-moving overpass for 21-19 and the Cougars took their final timeout. WSU tied it back up at 21-21 with a block, but Schwan got a big kill out of the back row to regain the lead. Sanders and Schwan then teamed for a stuff to get one point closer at 23-21. Schwan hit off the block and out on UW's side for match point at 24-22. The Dawgs got a free ball off a tough Scambray serve and Tanner went to Schwan again whose hard shot ricocheted off the defense into the stands for the clincher, 25-22. Schwan's five kills in the fourth helped close it out, including three over the final five points of the match.

The Huskies will stop off back in Seattle for a day before going right back out on the road to Tempe, Ariz. to tackle the Sun Devils this Sunday at 1 p.m. in a match shown live on Pac-12 Networks.