Washington Falls To No. 2 Stanford, 3-0

Saturday, October 13

Stanford, CA

7:30 PM

University of Washington

13-5, 5-3Pac-12

Stanford

16-1, 8-0Pac-12

Washington

Stanford

Photo by: Red Box Pictures

October 13, 2018 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score PDF

By: UW Athletic Communications

STANFORD, Calif. – The 18th-ranked Husky volleyball team won some of the longest and most physical rallies it has played this season, but No. 2 Stanford won far too many of the shorter rallies tonight for the Dawgs to keep up. Stanford swept the Huskies, 25-16, 25-20, 25-18 in Maples Pavilion in front of 2,740 fans to go to 8-0 in Pac-12 play while the Huskies dropped to 5-3.

Stanford, the 2016 NCAA Champion and 2017 Final Four participant, roared out of the gate in the first set hitting .684. The Huskies (13-5, 5-3 Pac-12) kept the second and third sets closer, but the veteran Cardinal still ended up hitting .371 for the match while the Dawgs hit a season-low .112.

Sophomore Samantha Drechsel had 11 kills and a pair of aces with a solo block and junior Kara Bajema had 10 kills and eight digs with two block assists to lead the offense. Sophomore Lauren Sanders had six kills, hitting .250, with three blocks, and freshman Ella May Powell had 27 assists and a kill and a solo block.

"Stopping that first attack from Stanford and getting yourself involved in some rallies is the challenge," said Head Coach Keegan Cook. "We won some of those longer rallies and it was good to see that. Early on, I didn't like the intensity we were playing with and about halfway through the second set I thought that picked up, and we played a little more even with them."

Coach Cook said the margins are smaller than they appear. "We're missing plays just by a little bit and they make you pay," he said. "They're playing late season volleyball. You've got to hit the ball high, and every time you don't it will cost you a point. You've got to drive your serve, and every time you don't it will cost you a point. You've got to be on your blocking assignments, and if you're not it will cost you a point."

UP NEXT: The Dawgs come back to Seattle with a 5-3 Pac-12 record and two pivotal home matches against USC and UCLA to close out the first half of Pac-12 play. The Huskies and Trojans will meet first this coming Wednesday night at 7 p.m. followed by a Friday night match against the Bruins at 6 p.m.

SET 1: Washington fell behind early in the first set, trailing 1-6 before it began to side out better. Julye had a big swing to the court and Sanders finished a slide for 4-8 Cardinal. Julye finished again and then the Huskies won a fantastic rally with Bajema flying to her right to punch up a dig and Drechsel hammering to the floor for 7-12. Drechsel served up an ace to get the Huskies within four at 9-13. But Stanford regained the big cushion with a 3-0 run. Drechsel added a couple more kills in the latter part of the set but UW couldn't get closer than six points the rest of the way, as Stanford won the set, 25-16, hitting a blazing .684. Drechsel had five kills and hit .333 with two aces.

SET 2: Stanford had a 4-0 run to go up 6-2 in the second from 2-2 until Sanders hit one down through the block. The Dawgs had an overpass but Powell turned around and stuffed the Cardinal swing back down for 4-7. But another 3-0 Stanford run forced UW into a timeout at 4-10. Sanders tooled the block on a slide to stop the slide. Drechsel put one away in transition crosscourt and then Niece ended a marathon rally to score a third in a row and cut it to 9-13. Two more errors for the Cardinal got it to 10-13 on a 5-0 Husky run. Bajema had two kills around a big stuff by Sanders and Julye to get within three again at 14-17, but a Stanford kill followed by an ace made it 14-19 and the Huskies took their final timeout. A perfect pass from Shannon Crenshaw let Powell find Bajema for the kill in serve-receive but Stanford answered back. Bajema and Drechsel kept hammering for kills but UW wasn't able to score on its serve. A couple Cardinal blocks helped them reach set point at 18-24. Niece and Bajema teamed for a block to save the second set point but Stanford converted on its third to end it, 25-20. Bajema had five kills in the second set but the Cardinal were still too efficient, hitting .385 compared to .154 for the Dawgs.

SET 3: The Dawgs got some early momentum in the third set as Sanders and Bajema built a roof and then Sanders had a kill for a 5-3 edge. Bajema and Sanders had consecutive kills for 7-5. Drechsel connected again for the 9-7 lead and then had a solo rejection on the left pin for 10-7. Bajema sent one off the Cardinal back row into the seats for 12-10, but Stanford went back in front with a 3-0 run. A disputed touch call went against the Dawgs and then Stanford scored a fifth straight point for 12-15 at the media timeout. The Huskies got the sideout out of the timeout and then Sanders posted a solo rejection in the middle for 14-15. But UW couldn't get even and Stanford scored twice more to push back out to 14-18 and UW used a timeout. The Dawgs showed some fight, winning a long, physical rally with a Drechsel kill to get within three at 16-19. Sanders put one away for 17-20 and a Drechsel swing through the block had it at 18-22, but that was the final point for the Dawgs as the Cardinal scored the final three points for the 18-25 win. The Huskies had 22 digs in the third set but Stanford had 26 of its own and the Huskies hit just .064 compared to .227 for Stanford.