Huskies Prepped For Pac-12 Championships

Thursday, April 25

Los Angeles, CA

3:00 PM

University of Washington

USC

April 24, 2019 | Beach Volleyball

Pac-12 Championships Central

By: UW Athletic Communications

SEATTLE – The Huskies look to peak on the beach this week as the 2019 season culminates with the Pac-12 Championships this Thursday through Saturday, hosted by USC at Merle Norman Stadium. Washington heads in as the No. 7 seed and has posted at least one upset in all three previous tournaments, and will look to extend that streak.

The championships will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks, starting at 9 a.m. on Thursday and Friday and at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

The Huskies (8-14) will open play on Thursday at 3 p.m. Pacific time against second-seed USC. The winner of that match will not play again until Friday but the loser will have to play immediately again at 4:30 p.m. against the loser of the Utah-Oregon match.

This the fourth installment of the Pac-12 Beach Volleyball Championships. The tournament is double-elimination style. Defending Pac-12 and national champion UCLA is the No. 1 seed, followed by the Trojans, who are the only team to beat UCLA this year. Cal is ranked 12th in the latest AVCA poll and is seeded third, followed by fourth-seeded Arizona which is ranked No. 13 nationally. Stanford is ranked 20th nationally and seeded fifth. Arizona State and the Huskies are sixth and seventh, with Utah the No. 8 seed and Oregon No. 9.

Despite never having been seeded higher than sixth, the Huskies finished fourth in the 2016 inaugural tournament, then finished third in 2017, and last year placed fourth once again.

The Husky lineup is expected to be …
No. 1: Destiny Julye and Kristen Gengenbacher – the two have gone 11-8 as a duo, the most wins by any pair on the squad. They have wins over the top pairs from Arizona, Oregon, California, and Stanford. Julye was All-Pac-12 Second Team the past two seasons and Pac-12 Championships All-Tournament Team the past two years. Gengenbacher is in her one and only season with the Dawgs, playing as a fifth-year transfer from San Diego where she was the WCC Player of the Year indoors.

No. 2: Kara Bajema and Shayne McPherson – the two are 9-10 on the season. McPherson was named Best Defender at the Queen's Cup in Hawaii. McPherson moved up from the No. 3 spot last year and Bajema moved up from the No. 4 position. Bajema was an AVCA Third Team All-America outside hitter indoors in the fall.

No. 3: Cat McCoy and Avie Niece – McCoy and Niece are 2-6 together thus far. Niece, a middle blocker indoors, missed a couple weeks during the season due to two separate tryouts with the U.S. Women's National Team. McCoy, along with Gengenbacher, is another fifth-year grad transfer playing one season with the Huskies. She was the all-time digs leader at the University of Texas where she played in three Final Fours. Niece is in her first full season of beach.

No. 4: Samantha Drechsel and Emma Calle – The pair are 2-3 together thus far including a big win over the No. 4 pair on 6th-ranked Hawaii on Apr. 13. Individually, Drechsel is 9-10 on the season and Calle is 6-12. Drechsel played No. 5 for the Huskies a year ago and then was second on the indoor squad this fall in kills per set.

No. 5: Chloe Newton and Callie Weber – The two are 6-7 on the season and 6-6 at the No. 5 spot and five of their six losses have come in three sets so they have been in nearly every match they've played together. Newton and Weber are the one starting pair of two beach-only players for the Huskies in this tournament.