Huskies Stumble In Pac-12 Opener Vs. Cal

Thursday, April 26

Stanford, CA

11:30 AM

University of Washington

California

April 26, 2018 | Beach Volleyball

Pac-12 Championships Home Page

By: UW Athletic Communications

STANFORD, Calif. – Washington came up just short by a couple points here or there in its opening Pac-12 Championship match against third-seeded and 12th-ranked California. The final score was 4-1 in Cal's favor but the Huskies could have reversed that with a few more plays today. The Huskies drop into the contender's bracket at the beach championships, hosted by Stanford.

Washington (12-12) will now face the winner of an elimination match between Oregon and Utah. They'll need to win to keep their season going and will play their next match on Friday morning at 9:45 a.m.

In the previous meeting between the Huskies and Bears, the Dawgs had won the top-three matches in a 3-2 win, so it was a big boost when Anna Crabtree and Kara Bajema got a dominating 21-10, 21-13 win at the No. 4 position to tie the dual up at 1-1 with the top three matches coming up next. Cal had won at No. 5, 21-13, 21-7, as Samantha Drechsel and Natalie Robinson lost to a Bears team that has only lost once all year.

But Cal would end up narrowly winning all three of the top matches. After losing their first set, 21-18, Carly DeHoog and Shayne McPherson were leading 18-15 in the second set at No. 3, looking to take it to a third, but Cal's Bark/Dueck called timeout and then won six points in a row to suddenly make it 2-1 in Cal's favor.

At the No. 1 match, Jordan Anderson and Kimmy Gardiner had two set point chances in the first set against Mirkovic/Gaffney, but made service errors on both, and Cal came back to win the set, 24-22. In the second set, Anderson and Gardiner rallied from 17-19 down to win three straight points and have set point at 20-19, and another at 21-20, but Cal fought those off and went on to win, 23-21, to clinch the dual.

Lastly, at the No. 2 spot, Courtney Schwan and Destiny Julye had cruised to a first set win, 21-12, over Lindahl and Inman of Cal, but the Bears came back and got early leads in the next two sets and won in three, 21-16 and 15-10 to make the final score 4-1.

Washington Beach Volleyball
Pac-12 Championships
April 26, 2018 – Stanford, Calif.

(3) California – 4
(6) Washington – 1

1. Mirkovic/Gaffney (Cal) def. Anderson/Gardiner (Wash), 24-22, 23-21
2. Lindahl/Inman (Cal) def. Schwan/Julye (Wash), 12-21, 21-16, 15-10
3. Bark/Dueck (Cal) def. DeHoog/McPherson (Wash), 21-18, 21-18
4. Crabtree/Bajema (Wash) def. Merino/Schafer (Cal), 21-10, 21-13
5. Micheletti/Campbell (Cal) def. Drechsel/Robinson (Wash), 21-13, 21-7
Order of finish: 5, 4, 3, 1*, 2