Huskies Look To Stay Hot In The Desert

THIS WEEK IN HUSKY VOLLEYBALL

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22
#10 Washington at Arizona • 6 pm PT
Tucson, Ariz. • McKale Center
Live on Pac-12 Networks Washington | Live Stats

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24
#10 Washington at Arizona State • 11 am PT
Tempe, Ariz. • Desert Financial Arena
Live stream on TheSunDevils.com | Live Stats

SEATTLE - Coming off a memorable win, the Husky volleyball team must hit the road and be ready for two more big challenges against the Arizona schools, both fighting for NCAA tournament eligibility. 10th-ranked Washington must keep its current five-match win streak going if it wants a chance to chase down 4th-ranked Stanford for the Pac-12 title, as the Cardinal are two games up with four matches to go.

The Huskies (21-5, 12-4 Pac-12) take their final regular season trip, first going to Tucson, Ariz. to face the Arizona Wildcats on Friday, Nov. 22, at 6 p.m. Pacific time. Then Washington stops in Tempe to take on Arizona State on Sunday, Nov. 24, at 11 a.m. Pacific. Friday's match will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks Washington, while the ASU match will be live stream only.

Washington moved up three spots to No. 10 in the AVCA rankings this week, after a sweep of Colorado and a classic five set win over then-No. 15 Utah on Sunday, where the Huskies saved seven match points before winning, 21-19. But UW also lost a spot in the RPI, coming in at No. 10 this week. Just four matches remain to make a statement to the NCAA selection committee as the Huskies look to secure a top-16 seed and a chance to host tournament matches.

Senior Kara Bajema won her fourth Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week award of the season on Monday after she powered the Huskies to the win over the Utes with a career-high-tying 26 kills, and a career-high 33.0 points, which was most by a Husky since Krista Vansant had 39.5 in the 2013 Elite Eight.

Arizona got its first weekend sweep of the conference season last week, winning 3-0 at Oregon then winning in five sets at Oregon State. Arizona is now 14-14 on the year and 4-12 in conference. Freshman libero Kamaile Hiapo won Pac-12 Freshman of the Week this week after she averaged 5.00 digs per set at the Oregon schools. Paige Whipple is averaging 3.67 kills per set in conference play to rank fifth, and Devyn Cross leads the Pac-12 with a .389 attack percentage. Senior setter Julia Patterson is sixth with 9.75 assists per set. Arizona ranks last in the league in blocks at 1.73 per set but fifth in digs at 14.78. Washington won the first meeting between the teams this season in four sets and has won 16 straight in the series.

Arizona State also swept the Oregon schools on the road last week, both in five sets, to improve to 7-9 in conference, good for eighth-place, with a 15-12 overall record. Senior libero Courtney Leffel won Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week after posting 50 digs last week. ASU ranks seventh in attack percentage at .225 and is giving up a .253 mark to rank fifth. ASU ranks second in digs with 15.34 per set. The Sun Devils have five players with between 104-145 kills in conference play, with Andrea Mitrovic leading with 145 and 2.54 per set. Iman Isanovic led ASU in the win at Oregon with 19 kills and Ivana Jeremic had 16, while against Oregon State, Claire Kovensky led with 15 kills. UW won the first meeting this year in four sets but lost its last visit to Tempe last season.

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