Huskies Win Wild Pac-12 Opener Over Cougars

Thursday, September 20

Seattle, WA

8:00 PM

University of Washington

9-2, 1-0Pac-12

Washington State

9-2, 0-1Pac-12

Washington State

Washington

September 20, 2018 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score PDF VIDEO: Top Husky Highlights VIDEO: Samantha Drechsel Interview VIDEO: Pac-12 Network Recap

By: UW Athletic Communications

SEATTLE - If tonight at Alaska Airlines Arena was any indication, the Pac-12 volleyball season should be quite a ride for the Huskies. 13th-ranked Washington rode a roller coaster tonight against 22nd-ranked Washington State with the Huskies fending off a big comeback from their cross-state rivals to win in five sets, 25-18, 25-17, 19-25, 16-25, 15-9, in front of a season-best 2,414 fans in the first installment of this year's Boeing Apple Cup Series. Washington (9-2, 1-0 Pac-12) was powered by a career-high 21 kills from sophomore Samantha Drechsel and career-highs of 52 assists and 17 digs from freshman setter Ella May Powell.

Each team clearly asserted control for long stretches, with the Huskies keeping Washington State (9-2, 0-1 Pac-12) off-balance with strong serving and blocking in the first two sets. But the Cougars roared back in the third and fourth sets as they became the tougher serving team and gained confidence on their attack. In the fifth set, the Huskies broke it open with a 10-3 run from 4-4 to match point at 14-7 as Powell served a four-point run and Drechsel had five kills in that span, including three in a row to get to match point.

Drechsel hit .327 with her 21 kills on 52 swings with just four errors. Junior Kara Bajema had a double-double with 15 kills and 13 digs, and sophomore Lauren Sanders had 12 kills, hitting .304, and her hot start helped power UW in the first two sets. Sanders had five blocks, as did junior Avie Niece. Senior Destiny Julye had eight kills on her birthday, hitting .286, with a pair of aces and three blocks. Shayne McPherson had 16 digs and junior Cailin Onosko had a big career-best with 12 digs, her previous high being five.

Washington finished with 62 kills tonight compared to 53 for the Cougars, and UW outhit WSU, .231 to .191. The Dawgs finished with one more block, 11 to 10, with WSU getting one more ace, 7 to 6.

"I told them the fourth set doesn't matter, it's one set to fifteen, and we have enough good plays in us to win it," said Head Coach Keegan Cook. "Really good job by our group of letting that fourth set go and starting fresh in the fifth set. A lot of teams in that environment against a rival as they're making a comeback, they let it slip away, so i gave our team some credit for that."

Cook called Drechsel "impressive. Really glad she's on our team now. Her role has grown throughout her time here. We keep putting more on her plate and she keeps handling it well. To take over fifty swings tonight and get over twenty kills, it's a heavy workload. More than we want to put on her, but she was great when we needed her."

UP NEXT: The Huskies will get one quick road match in at Oregon State on Sunday then return for home matches against Colorado and Utah next week. UW and OSU face off at 2 p.m., live on the Pac-12 Networks.

SET 1: The first point was passed by Bajema and Powell set Sanders for a kill. Niece and Powell had a stuff for 2-all and Julye put away her first kill for 3-3, but the Huskies missed their first three serves to give WSU some free early points. Bajema put one down inside the block and then Sanders and Julye teamed for a block for a 6-5 Husky lead. McPherson fired the first Husky ace for 7-5. Samantha Drechsel found a sharp angle from wide of the pin for her first kill for 11-10. Julye finished a long rally and then Powell served an ace for a 13-10 lead. After UW had a 15-13 lead at the media timeout, Julye killed one off the block touch and then Sanders finished a quick after a free ball and WSU took timeout at 17-13. Julye's serve was passed tight and Sanders won a joust at the net for 19-15 Dawgs. The Cougars got two straight to cut the lead to a pair and UW used its first timeout. The Huskies responded with Drechsel hitting crosscourt after a dig by Cailin Onosko, and then Sanders finished a slide for 22-17 and the Cougars took their last timeout. A couple errors got the Dawgs a handful of set points, and they finished off the first one with a stuff from Niece and Drechsel for the 25-18 win. The Huskies had four blocks in the set to help hold WSU to just .057 while UW hit .276 with four kills on four swings by Sanders and three on four swings by Julye.

SET 2: The teams traded points back and forth through the first eight points of the second set, with Bajema posting three kills early on. Sanders put a slide kill off the block for a 7-5 advantage. Drechsel ripped crosscourt over the block for a kill and then followed that up with a solo rejection for a 9-6 lead. The Cougars had their best run with four in a row to take a one-point lead, but the Huskies scored four right back. Drechsel tied it at 10-10 with a blast off the block and then Julye and Niece stuffed one on the right side and Powell fired another service ace. Julye ended a long rally with a right side kill for 13-10 to cap the run. A WSU error had the Huskies up 15-11 at the media timeout. Sanders connected again, and Crenshaw had a dig that led to a Bajema kill for 18-13 and the Cougars called time. Out of the break, Julye dropped an ace right in the seam to keep the run going. The next Julye serve was shanked for a second-straight ace and 20-13. More long rallies went Washington's way as Bajema and Sanders converted for 22-15. Maria Bogomolova served up an ace for set point and Drechsel capped the 25-17 win with a kill. The Huskies outhit the Cougars, .244 to .158, in the set with three more blocks, four more kills from Sanders and five from Bajema.

SET 3: An early 3-0 Husky run in the third set was made up of a Sanders kill from Powell, a Drechsel rocket to the court and a Cougar error for 3-1. Julye drilled one to the court flying out of the back for 4-2 Dawgs. A WSU ace with help from the net dropped for a one-point WSU lead at 7-8. Sanders snapped the Cougar serving run with a quick set in serve-receive for 8-9. Onosko had a great up and Bajema snuck one inside the block as the Huskies drew within a point again at 10-11, but WSU responded with three in a row to push the lead to 10-14. The Cougars led, 11-15, at the media timeout. Julye had another back row laser out of the break from Powell. McPherson dug the next Cougar swing and Drechsel finished in transition for 13-15. Julye wound up and crushed one from the right for 15-17, but UW missed serve and then hit out of bounds. A third-straight WSU point forced a timeout at 15-20. Sanders had a solo block and then Bajema ended a marathon rally with another block straight down for 18-20 and the crowd was on its feet. But the Cougars scored the next two to push back to four and take back the momentum. Bajema finished for 19-22 but WSU then scored the final three points to get on the board with a 19-25 win. Drechsel had five kills without an error on seven swings in the set and Julye had three on five swings without a miss as UW actually outhit WSU, .257 to .242, but the Cougars had four aces in the set while UW had four service errors without an ace.

SET 4: A couple Husky hitting errors helped WSU to the early lead, 2-5. Sanders and Powell teamed up for a roof to trim the gap to 5-7. Two points went back Wazzu's way then Bajema and Drechsel had two in a row for the Dawgs for 7-9. But two went back to the Cougars until Drechsel finished for 8-11. Another WSU three-point run pushed it to 8-14 and the Huskies called timeout. UW overpassed on the next point and then UW hit out of bounds for 8-16 before WSU missed serve to end the 5-0 run. The Cougars continued putting the Dawgs in trouble with tough serving and the gap kept growing. Washington would not cut it closer than seven points as the Cougars closed it out at 25-16. Washington hit just .094 in the set while WSU was on target at a .387 rate.

SET 5: Drechsel got the Huskies off well in the fifth with a rightside blast. Bajema tipped for a kill and then tooled the block for another and a 3-2 lead. Sanders killed a quick in serve-receive for 4-3. A tough Bajema serve was freeballed and Sanders finished for 6-4. Drechsel then took care of a tight set by banging off the block for 7-4 and a Cougars timeout. After the break, WSU hit wide after a scramble play kept alive by a McPherson pancake and the teams switched sides at 8-4. A replay overturn gave WSU a point on a UW block error and they got to 8-6 before Drechsel got an offspeed kill to go down. The Cougars then went in the net for 10-6 and a WSU timeout. The teams swapped service errors after the break for 11-7. Julye saved a near-block and Powell set to Drechsel who finished on her second try for 13-7. A third straight Drechsel kill from Powell brought the Dawgs to match point at 14-7. The Cougars saved a couple of them but on the third chance, Niece and Drechsel rejected the Cougar shot for the clincher at 15-9. Drechsel put down six kills on 15 swings in the set without an error and Powell had 11 assists while McPherson dug five in the frame. The Dawgs hit .281 to close it out, holding Washington State to .120.