No. 13 Huskies Hold Off Hawkeyes In Four

Friday, August 31

Seattle, WA

8:00 PM

University of Washington

Iowa

Photo by: Red Box Pictures

August 31, 2018 | Volleyball

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By: UW Athletic Communications

SEATTLE – In a match much like their season opener a week ago, the 13th-ranked Husky volleyball team rallied from a set down to turn the momentum their way, winning the next three sets to put away the Iowa Hawkeyes on day one of the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge. Washington (3-0) had to match Iowa's determined defensive effort to come out with the 21-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-16 win at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Sophomore Samantha Drechsel was a strong offensive weapon all night for the Dawgs as she had 13 kills and hit .385 with an ace and two blocks. Junior Kara Bajema had 14 kills and added a career-high 17 digs to lead four Huskies with double-figure digs totals.

Freshman setter Ella May Powell had her second double-double in three starts as she notched 45 assists and 13 digs, freshman outside hitter Shannon Crenshaw added 13 digs and junior libero Shayne McPherson had 12 digs. Sophomore Lauren Sanders notched nine kills on a .316 attack percentage while senior Destiny Julye had 12 kills.

The Huskies were outhit overall, .197 to .214, but had the edge in total digs, 65 to 60, and a major edge at the service line where the Dawgs had six aces, three by Bajema, while making eight service errors. The Hawkeyes (2-2) had just one ace and 14 missed serves. The teams were even at 53 kills apiece.

"Particularly in the second set, we were getting outhit pretty well by Iowa," said Head Coach Keegan Cook. "I thought they did an outstanding job defensively on us for most of the night. So we tapped into a little bit of intangibles to gut out the second, and third set for sure."

Drechsel was hitting in the negatives through two matches but showed what she's capable of today, said Cook. "Happy for Samantha, she put in a good week of work and we gave her a pretty narrow focus on her offense and what she needed to do to be more successful and she did a nice job of that today, pretty much from start to finish."

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UP NEXT: Tomorrow night the Huskies will renew acquaintances with Illinois after the teams played in the NCAA second round last year, Illinois winning a five set thriller. The 11th-ranked Fighting Illini defeated Colorado in straight sets in the first match today. The Huskies and Fighting Illini play at 8 p.m. tomorrow.

SET 1: Bajema picked up the first two kills of the match for the Dawgs from the left pin, and Destiny Julye put one down from the right for a 3-2 lead. Samantha Drechsel checked in and landed her first kill high off the block for 8-all. The first kill for Lauren Sanders tied it up at 10-10. Iowa pushed to a two-point lead but Julye tooled the block for 12-13. Some hustling defense forced an Iowa error and then Drechsel ripped a transition kill to tie it up at 15. The Dawgs finally moved back in front on a Bajema kill and their first block by Niece and Bajema for 19-18. But the lead was short-lived as Iowa rallied for three in a row to go up 19-21 and force a Husky timeout. Freshman Marin Grote picked up her first career kill to cut the Husky gap to 20-23 but Iowa put the set away, 21-25, on a block, the sixth of the set for the Hawkeyes compared to just one for the Dawgs. Washington hit just .111 in the first set while Iowa hit .235.

SET 2: Avie Niece, who had landed awkwardly in set one and missed some time, earned her first kill early in set two for a 2-1 lead. Sanders put down a slide set by Powell for a 6-5 lead. Errors by the Dawgs helped Iowa back into the lead, but the Dawgs tied it at 9-9 on a Julye kill and an ace by Bajema. But Iowa answered right back with a three-point run to force a Husky timeout at 9-12. Drechsel terminated crosscourt from the left to stop that run. Julye brought the Dawgs back within one with an ace and then Sanders and Powell tied it at 13 with a rejection on the right pin. Julye's disruptive serving kept the run going as Sanders killed in transition for a 15-13 lead. Drechsel capped the 6-0 run with another blast from the left to force an Iowa timeout. The Hawkeyes snapped the run out of the break but Sanders put one away to answer and then Drechsel drove an ace off the defense for 18-14. Iowa got back within a point on a 3-0 run but Powell dumped for a kill and 20-18. Julye put one down to spark a 3-0 Husky push as Julye had a second-straight kill and then she was part of a triple block with Niece and Drechsel for 23-19 Dawgs and an Iowa timeout. Julye landed another kill to bring the Dawgs to set point and then Sanders finished it off out of the middle with her fifth kill of the set on seven swings, winning it 25-22. The Dawgs won the set despite Iowa hitting .467 and the Huskies hitting .286, in part due to four Iowa service errors and three Husky service aces.

SET 3: A layout dig from Shayne McPherson let Powell find Julye for a kill on the first point of the third. Iowa scored four straight for an early hole but Julye had two more kills to pull it to 3-4. Iowa pushed back out to a three-point lead and the teams went back and forth for a long stretch. Shannon Crenshaw had a number of impressive digs during that run of play. A couple errors on Iowa's side and then a transition kill by Sanders to the sideline got the Dawgs back even at 12-12. The Hawkeyes scored three of the next four to go to the media timeout leading, 13-15. Iowa scored two more out of the break before serving long for 14-17. A kill off the block by Bajema and a Hawkeye miss got it back to one at 17-18 but UW then served in the net. Iowa donated serve right back and then the Dawgs scored on a Niece strike for 19-19. Bajema tied it at 20-all, and then Drechsel surged the Dawgs into the lead with a rightside blast for 21-20. Drechsel then banged through the block for another one-point lead, 22-21. But Iowa pushed back with two-straight for 22-23 and UW took timeout. The Huskies tied it on an Iowa attack error. On the next point, Sanders and Powell rose up and stuffed down the Hawkeye swing to get the Huskies to set point at 24-23. Iowa took timeout, and out of the break Iowa went for a tip that Drechsel pushed back and the ball popped up above the net where Powell jumped up to stick it down for the kill and the set, 25-23. The Huskies held Iowa to .150 hitting in the set and the Dawgs hit .171. Bajema and Julye both had four kills in the set while Crenshaw and McPherson had six digs each.

SET 4: The teams traded leads a few times early in the fourth set, with Bajema heating up with a pair of kills and then Powell floating an ace to get the Dawgs back in front, 9-8. Niece and Julye then had a thundering block and Julye finished from the right in transition for an 11-8 lead as the Dawgs finished a 4-0 run. Bajema fired her second ace of the set for a 14-10 Husky lead. Drechsel put one away in serve-receive from Powell for 15-11 at the media timeout. Out of the break, Sanders and Drechsel formed a wall and stuffed the Hawkeye swing for a five-point lead. The longest rally of the night was ended by Drechsel going high hands off the block and then Iowa misfired on the next point and needed a timeout at 18-12 Dawgs. Iowa got a sideout out of the break but Sanders ran down a slide kill to get it right back. The Dawgs continued to sideout, with Bajema connecting from the right side for 23-16. A setting error made it match point and Iowa hit out on the next rally to end it, 25-16. Washington hit .220 for the fourth and cooled off Iowa down to an .073 mark in the set. Bajema had five kills and seven digs in the set and Drechsel finished four of seven swings without an error.