Niece’s Career-High Leads UW Over Cal

Friday, October 12

Berkeley, CA

7:00 PM

University of Washington

13-4, 5-2Pac-12

California

9-9, 1-6Pac-12

Washington

California

Photo by: Red Box Pictures

October 12, 2018 | Volleyball

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By: UW Athletic Communications

BERKELEY, Calif. - Junior middle blocker Avie Niece nearly had a career-high in kills by the end of the first set. She would get there and then some over the next two sets, finishing with 13 kills to lead the 18^th-ranked Huskies to a 30-28, 25-21, 25-20 win at Haas Pavilion over California before 1,002 fans.

Washington (13-4, 5-2 Pac-12) became just the second team to sweep Cal in conference play, as the Bears fell to 1-6 but were coming off an upset of Utah and had gone five sets in three of their losses. The Dawgs hit .323 tonight, their second-best attack percentage of the season, and prevailed in the serve and pass game, highlighted by nine service aces.

"It was a big turnaround in serve/serve-receive from our last match against Arizona State, so I'm always fired up to see progress in an area you focused on," said Head Coach Keegan Cook. "It helped us out in a couple close sets, good serving carried us through. If we want to be great, we've got to hit the ball in a little more. Those first two sets, giving away four, five points, great teams don't do that, so we've got to keep working with our outsides to manage the game."

Niece came in with a career-high of nine kills, and after the lengthy first set she already had eight, hitting .800 at that point. She finished with 13 for the match, hitting .667, tying her career-high for attack percentage as well.

"We thought that Cal had two pretty good attacking middles, and they showed that tonight, but we like Avie to hang in there with them," said Cook. "She's experienced, and I thought she did a great job. She was consistent all night on offense."

Freshman setter Ella May Powell racked up 40 assists in just the three sets, connecting well with her middles, as sophomore Lauren Sanders also returned from an ankle injury and had five kills on a .364 attack percentage. Junior Kara Bajema led all players with 14 kills and sophomore Samantha Drechsel tallied 11 on an impressive .368 mark.

Junior Shayne McPherson finished with 13 digs and three aces, matching senior Destiny Julye who also served up a trio of aces. Niece also led the Dawgs with four blocks, while Sanders and Julye had three apiece.

UP NEXT: For the only time in Pac-12 play, the Dawgs play back-to-back nights, as they head across the Bay to Palo Alto to take on second-ranked Stanford on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. The Pac-12 Networks will televise the match on the Bay Area and Washington channels.

SET 1: Drechsel started the Dawgs off with the kill on the first point of the match. Cal scored five of the next six points before an Avie Niece quick kill and an ace from Shayne McPherson made it 4-5. Kills from Bajema and Drechsel had the Huskies within one at 8-9. Cal caught a break on a questionable backrow setter violation on UW and extended to a 10-14 lead and the Huskies called timeout. Bajema found an acute angle from the left out of the break and Julye tapped down a Cal overpass to get to 12-14, but Cal had another 3-0 run to extend to 13-18 and the Huskies used their final timeout. Emma Calle checked in and earned an ace, followed by another tough serve that Cal struggled with and Drechsel put away in transition for 17-19, forcing a Cal timeout. The Dawgs missed serve out of the break but got it back on a Drechsel blast. Niece picked up her fourth and fifth kills on two-straight points to pull UW within one at 20-21, and then a Drechsel serve was overpassed and Niece got a third-straight to tie it. Niece then got another transition kill off the block to take the lead, and then she and Julye teamed to get UW's first block of the match for a 23-21 lead and Cal took time as the Dawgs were on a 4-0 run. Cal got a kill off a UW block touch out of the break and then won a long rally to tie it up at 23. UW went back to Niece who spiked it straight down for set point at 24-23, but Cal saved it with a right side kill. A slam off the block from Bajema earned another, but Cal converted again for 25-25. Powell dumped for a kill to get a third chance, and the Huskies thought they had it won, but a pancake dig from McPherson was ruled to be down after a replay. Cal then got its first set point after a block, but Drechsel saved it and then swung the lead back to UW with another leftside blast. Cal again saved this fourth Husky set point, but Drechsel had a third kill in four points for 29-28 and a fifth try. It finally ended on a double contact by the Bears, as the Huskies survived, 30-28. The Dawgs put down 22 kills in the long set, with an incredible eight on 10 swings without an error by Niece. Drechsel also delivered six kills as the Huskies hit .400 for the set and won despite Cal hitting .429.

SET 2: Julye tooled the block on the first point of the second set, but the Huskies then put themselves in a big hole with five errors in six points to fall behind 1-6 and need an early timeout. A tip from Niece and a block by Bajema and Sanders helped the Huskies claw back. Tough serving from Julye led to a couple Bajema transition kills as the Dawgs got back to 6-7 after a 5-1 run of their own. Sanders hit down a ricochet above the net to tie it, 8-8. A solo stuff in the middle by Niece tied it at 11-all. A 3-0 Cal run made it 12-14, but Drechsel had a big rightside kill to stop that run and the Dawgs then had a block from Niece and Julye, and a transition slam from Bajema after a great dig by McPherson to go back on top. Niece's 10th kill, setting a new career-high, capped a 4-0 Husky run for 16-14. Bajema struck for two more on the left to make it 18-15 and force a Bears timeout. Sanders banged a slide kill off the defense for 20-16 and then Julye floated an ace for a five-point lead. The Huskies looked to be pulling away at 22-16, but after a Cal timeout, the Huskies made three errors to help Cal back into it at 22-20 and UW needed timeout. Washington regrouped, with Sanders blasting a quick in serve-receive and then Bajema dropping in an ace for set point at 24-20. Cal saved the first, but then served into the net to end it, 25-21. Despite being outhit, .206 to .240, the Huskies had 15 kills to 10 for Cal, including seven from Bajema. UW had an 11-7 digs edge in the set with six from McPherson.

SET 3: The teams were even through the first ten points of the third set, as Bajema earned a couple more kills in the stretch. Cal went up two on some tough serving, but Sanders and Powell had a rejection on the right for 7-8. The Dawgs tied it up at 11's as McPherson set up Bajema. McPherson then dialed up two-straight aces to push the Huskies in front, 14-13. A couple points later, it was Julye's turn to string two aces together as the Dawgs went up 17-14 and Cal called for time. Out of the break, Sanders and Powell returned one to sender for 18-14. Sanders and Drechsel found the floor for 21-16 Dawgs. Cal got within three but Niece had a key quick kill from Powell for 23-19 and then Drechsel got an ace off the tape for match point at 24-19. Cal called timeout and saved the first out of the break, but Powell set back to Julye on the right and she finished it off the blockers' hands for 25-20. The Dawgs hit an impressive .364 to close it out and cooled the Bears down to .188. Five aces in the third helped the Husky cause and Niece closed her great match with three kills on three swings.