Washington Grabs Control, Pulls Away From Arizona

Friday, November 22

Tucson, AZ

6:00 PM

University of Washington

22-5, 13-4Pac-12

Arizona

14-15, 4-13Pac-12

Washington

Arizona

Photo by: Red Box Pictures

November 22, 2019 | Volleyball

Box Score

By: UW Athletic Communications

TUCSON, Ariz. – Down a set on the road against a team fighting for the postseason, Washington asserted itself and turned a nailbiter through two sets into an easy four-set win. Senior Kara Bajema and junior Samantha Drechsel finished with 22 and 16 kills, respectively, to pace the 10th-ranked Huskies to a 24-26, 25-21, 25-13, 25-13 win over Arizona at the McKale Center.

Washington extended its win streak to six and remained alone in second in the Pac-12 with a 13-4 record, improving to 22-5 on the season, while Arizona fell to 14-15 and 4-13 overall. The Huskies remain two back of Stanford with three to play. Washington also extended its win streak against the Wildcats to 16 straight.

"I certainly liked the fact that we got better throughout the match and our defensive effort improved," said Head Coach Keegan Cook. "In those first two sets both teams were really comfortable hitting and trading points until the twenties which is not the kind of team we want to be. I'm pleased with the defense after the first set and everything followed from there. All of the hitters were good and hit for a high efficiency, but we had to earn it. Arizona played really tough having dealt with a lot of injuries."

The Huskies wound up with a big edge across the stats, leading in kills, 63-47, holding a 7-3 edge in aces, a 76-63 advantage in digs, and a 6-2 lead in blocks. The Huskies hit .305 as a team and held Arizona to .179, with sophomore setter Ella May Powell putting up 49 assists and 13 digs for a double-double.

Bajema followed up her career-high-tying 26 kills last week against Utah with another 22 tonight, in just four sets this time, as she hit .315 and dug 14 balls. Drechsel hit .333 on her 16 kills on just 30 attempts. Sophomore Claire Hoffman just missed a double-double with nine kills and nine digs.

Senior Shayne McPherson had a great night with 21 digs and four assists, and the middles were involved as well as senior Avie Niece had eight kills, hitting .368 with three blocks, and junior Lauren Sanders had six kills, hitting .357, with three blocks as well.

Cue the Super Mario fireball sound cause Kara's throwing flames ????#PointHuskies pic.twitter.com/Ypb5e6gYPh
— Washington Volleyball (@UWVolleyball) November 23, 2019

UP NEXT: Washington travels to Tempe for a Sunday showdown against the Sun Devils, at 11 a.m. Pacific time. It's the final regular season road match before UW finishes at home next week against Cal and Washington State.

SET 1: Claire Hoffman put her first swing down for 1-1 in the first set. Lauren Sanders put a slide set down and also had a solo rejection to make it 4-5 Arizona. Drechsel had a back row blast and then tied it at 7-7 with one from the right. Powell bumped a set to Hoffman and she finished off the block for a 9-8 lead. Powell went over on two for her first kill and a 13-11 lead. Bajema tapped down an overdig for 15-12 Dawgs at the media timeout. Two more finishes from Drechsel kept the back and forth sideout battle going with UW up 18-16. Cailin Onosko had a dig that led to Bajema finishing on the pipe for 19-17. Niece hammered a slide from Powell for 21-19. Bajema blasted one crosscourt from the left for 22-19 to force an Arizona timeout. Arizona got a kill and then the Huskies hit one long on the next point to cut it to 22-21 and now the Huskies called time. Arizona tied it with a transition kill and then the Huskies made another attack error in serve-receive to go down 22-23 and took their last timeout. A fifth-straight point gave Arizona set point before UA missed serve to snap the run. A tough Bajema serve then forced an Arizona error to tie it up at 24-all and Arizona took its last timeout. Arizona sided out in serve-receive to get a second set point, and an off-target pass led to a Husky hitting error as the comeback came up short, 24-26.

The Huskies hit .314 in the first set but Arizona hit .342 and the Huskies had just one block and no aces with three service errors, coming up short despite 14 assists from Powell.

SET 2: Kills from Sanders and Bajema had it at 3-3 in set two. An ace from Bajema made it 6-4 Dawgs. Arizona retook the lead with a 3-0 run but Sanders destroyed a slide to tie it at 10-10. An ace from Powell tied it up again at 13-all. Niece capped a great rally after a diving McPherson dig, and then Hoffman finished in transition for 17-14 Huskies and an Arizona timeout. Trading sideouts, Drechsel finished twice from the right for 19-16. Hoffman floated an ace for 21-17 and UA used its last timeout. Much like the first set, Arizona made a late charge scoring three in a row as the Huskies needed their own timeout at 21-20. Bajema got one offspeed off the block but then UW served long for 22-21. Bajema then hit full-on from the left for 23-21 and Arizona missed one long for set point at 24-21. Powell's serve caught the net and dropped over for an ace for the 25-21 win.

The Huskies were outhit in the second set, .222 to .167, but ramped up the defense with 20 team digs and served five aces compared to none for Arizona. McPherson had nine digs in the set.

A gust of wind? ????? A Claire Hoffman ace!!#PointHuskies pic.twitter.com/uEx5fxZEuY
— Washington Volleyball (@UWVolleyball) November 23, 2019

SET 3: Drechsel tooled the block for a kill on the first rally of the third. Two slide kills from Sanders had it at 3-2. Bajema scored three Husky points in a row as it was 6-5 Dawgs. Arizona missed two straight swings for 8-5 and Arizona took timeout early. Sanders picked up UW's first block since early in the first set for 10-6. Powell then found Sanders on another slide to cap a long rally for 13-7 and Arizona used its last timeout. Out of the break, Sanders hit down an overdig and then Drechsel fired an ace to the back line for 15-7. The Dawgs kept pushing out to a 10-point lead and then Bajema pummeled two more from the left for 21-10. Bajema solo stuffed an Arizona setter dump attempt for 23-10, then Drechsel tapped down a 50-50 ball for set point at 24-10. Arizona saved three but Bajema unloaded from the right pin off the defense and away for the 25-13 win.

The Dawgs hit .385 in the third and held Arizona to just .054 with 23 more digs as a team. Bajema dominated with 10 kills on 15 swings in the set without an error to hit .667.

SET 4: Drechsel and Sanders teamed for a block for 2-1 early in the fourth. Emma Calle checked in to serve and Niece got a block for 5-3 and then Bajema terminated in transition for 6-3 and Arizona took time. Niece kept it going with a swing off the block and down for 7-3. Arizona won a challenge reversal on a block touch and got a transition kill for 7-5, but Niece countered with a slide kill and then Drechsel tooled the block for 9-5. Drechsel finished a marathon rally from the right, and then UA missed long for 11-5 and the Wildcats used their final timeout. Bajema tacked on one more before Arizona snapped the Husky run. Niece turned one back on a quick set and then she teamed with Drechsel for a big block for 14-7. Bajema then drove an ace off the defense for 15-7. McPherson bump set to Drechsel for another finish to keep the run going, and then Arizona had two straight errors for 18-7, capping a 6-0 run. Niece hammered the quick set by Powell for 19-8. Powell won a joust at the net for 22-12 Dawgs. Niece stuffed another and then Calle laid out for a dig that led to a Bajema kill for match point at 24-12. Arizona dug one swing by Bajema but it went over right back to her and she hit it into the open corner to end it, 25-13.

Bajema, Drechsel, and Niece all had four kills in the fourth as the Huskies hit .368 compared to .100 for Arizona, and UW had four blocks in the set, three by Niece.