Huskies Take Round Two From No. 14 Toreros, 3-0

Saturday, August 25

Seattle, WA

7:00 PM

University of Washington

2-0

San Diego

0-2

San Diego

Washington

Photo by: Red Box Pictures

August 25, 2018 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score PDF

By: UW Athletic Communications

SEATTLE – Washington volleyball backed up its opening night upset of 14th-ranked San Diego with an even more convincing win over the same squad tonight at Alaska Airlines Arena in front of 1,780 fans. The 17th-ranked Huskies used the service line to set up their block and those areas were the big difference in the 25-15, 25-21, 25-16 win.

This is the first time the Huskies have ever opened up a season with consecutive wins over a top-25 opponent. Last night the Dawgs won in four tough sets against San Diego, which won the WCC title last year and made the second round of the NCAA tourney.

Kara Bajema powered the offense with 13 kills on a .393 attack percentage and freshman setter Ella May Powell spread things around to the tune of 31 assists as the Huskies hit .264 for the match compared to .111 for the Toreros. The Huskies had 11.0 blocks compared to 5.0 for San Diego but the biggest edge was in aces where UW racked up eight while USD had none.

Could we have a Play Of The Year in the 2nd match?? MUST-SEE VOLLEY!!#PointHuskies pic.twitter.com/VqotCLT0Ul
— Washington Volleyball (@UWVolleyball) August 26, 2018

Avie Niece's six blocks led the Dawgs and she also had six kills without an error on 10 swings to hit .600. Lauren Sanders had five kills, hitting .444, with four blocks, and Samantha Drechsel had five kills, four blocks, and also served up three aces. Senior Destiny Julye posted five kills, two aces, and two blocks. Leading in digs with 14 was junior libero Shayne McPherson.

"Two areas of the game that stand out right away are serving and blocking," said Head Coach Keegan Cook. "You give yourself a huge edge when you can put pressure on people with your serve. San Diego had some different lineups and different receivers but I thought our consistent pressure all night made things a little easier for us."

On Bajema's strong weekend, Cook said, "We'll take two nights like that from Kara, keeping the ball high, hitting with more range. You need your outsides to do that and we've got to make some progress there with all of our outsides, but Kara was going for it. I thought our out-of-system setting put her in much better positions to attack, that was an emphasis for us. There were more high-ball sets that were closer to the net that she could really challenge on, and it's fun to watch her fly."

The Dawgs trotted out a slightly different starting lineup tonight, giving freshman Shannon Crenshaw her first playing time and first start, and Cailin Onosko started as a back row specialist.

NEXT: The Huskies will stay home to host the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge, which brings in Iowa, No. 12 Illinois, and No. 15 Colorado. The Buffs will play Illinois at 5 p.m. next Friday, Aug. 31, followed by UW against the Hawkeyes. The Buffs then play the Hawkeyes the next evening at 5 with the Huskies and Fighting Illini staging a rematch of their 2017 NCAA meeting at 8 p.m. All four matches will be on the Pac-12 Networks.

SET 1: The Toreros won the first two points before Bajema landed her first kill to get the Dawgs on the board. Bajema and Niece teamed up to send down UW's first block of the match and then Samantha Drechsel landed a transition kill for a 5-4 lead. Destiny Julye's first finish made it 7-5. Drechsel added another kill and then went back and smacked two straight aces to make it 12-7 Dawgs and force San Diego into a timeout. The teams swapped points until the Dawgs went on another 4-1 run to get an 18-11 lead with a trio of San Diego errors. Drechsel and Niece roofed one for 19-12 and then Shayne McPherson drove an ace off the defense for 20-12. Drechsel and Sanders then teamed up for back-to-back rejections to bring the Dawgs to 23-12 and force San Diego's last timeout. A kill from Drechsel brought them to set point at 24-13 and then finished it when they sent an overpass above the net but Powell smartly went into blocking mode and rejected San Diego's attempt to hit it down, finishing the set at 25-15. The Huskies hit .241 in the first set and force San Diego into negatives at -.053 thanks to six blocks, three each from Niece and Drechsel. Drechsel's four kills led the offense.

SET 2: Natalie Robinson notched an ace early in the second set and Bajema and Niece met for a rejection for a 4-3 edge. Sanders tied it up at 7-7 with a quick strike from Powell. Powell had a block touch then turned and dug it, with Onosko setting Bajema for a rocket and a 9-9 tie. The Huskies moved back in front by two at 11-9 as Drechsel caught the tape for an ace. Bajema dropped an ace to the back line for 15-12 and USD called its first timeout. Julye hammered a right side kill up the line out of the break for 16-13. San Diego climbed back into a 16-all tie but Julye broke the run with another big swing. The teams traded points with San Diego getting up by one but Bajema spiking one straight down onto the sideline for 20-20. A great dig by Niece eventually led Powell to bump set Julye for a kill as UW went back up one, 22-21, and then Niece hit down an overpass for 23-21 and the Toreros called time. Out of the break, the USD swing was returned by Niece and Drechsel for set point Dawgs, and on the next point, Niece and Julye built a wall and stuffed another to finish the set, 25-21. The Huskies took the set despite being outhit by the Toreros, .361 to .306, thanks in part to three aces to none for USD. Bajema was a force in the set with seven kills on 12 swings with one error for a .500 attack percentage.

SET 3: The Huskies got their middle going early in the third with kills from Sanders and Niece for a 4-1 lead. Crenshaw, who had played only back row to that point, subbed in up front and put away her first career kill for a 9-6 Husky lead and Bajema followed with a crosscourt slam in transition for 10-6. Sanders and Bajema added kills assisted by Powell and Niece finished out of the middle for 14-10. A Toreros error prompted a timeout at 15-10 Dawgs. The Toreros got two back out of the break but Julye had a kill high off the block. Julye drove a key ace off the San Diego defense for 18-13 and San Diego needed its last timeout after a successive hitting error. Out of the break, Julye kept it rolling with another ace and then her next tough serve helped lead to a stuff by Sanders and Powell for 21-13. Crenshaw rolled one up the line for her second kill and then Sanders rose up in the middle for a solo block as the Huskies continued to pull away. Bajema's final kill made it 24-14 and then Sanders finished a slide set from Powell to cap it, 25-16. The Huskies hit .231 in the final set and held San Diego to .029, with Sanders killing three of her four attempts and adding two blocks.