Huskies Sweep The Week, Beat No. 9 Badgers Again

Saturday, September 21

Seattle, WA

6:00 PM

University of Washington

9-1

Wisconsin

4-4

Wisconsin

Washington

Photo by: Red Box Pictures

September 21, 2019 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score PDF Highlights

By: UW Athletic Communications

SEATTLE – The home opener was well worth the wait. After flying nearly 15,000 miles around the country to four different states, the 10th-ranked Washington volleyball team finally made its 2019 debut at Alaska Airlines Arena. The biggest crowd ever for a home opener, 3,788 fans, watched the Huskies (9-1) put on a show, sweeping 9th-ranked Wisconsin (4-4) to complete a home-and-home series sweep of the Badgers.

After winning a tight four-setter two nights ago in Madison, the Huskies controlled round two from the get-go tonight, hitting a blazing .457 for the match in a 25-20, 25-20, 25-14 win. The .457 attack percentage is UW's highest since a .478 mark in the 2017 NCAA first round against LIU-Brooklyn, and the highest against a ranked opponent since Oct. 9, 2009, when the Huskies hit .490 in a win at No. 15 California.

"When you play that well you just feel really grateful, it's a really nice feeling," said Head Coach Keegan Cook. "Wisconsin's a good team and we know what it's like to be in a tough stretch and I have a lot of confidence that they're going to be a really tough team in December. Too good of a program, too good of a coaching staff, too much talent, so good luck to them in the Big Ten."

??????'?? ????#GoHuskies x #PointHuskies pic.twitter.com/9oGm7EFIZF
— Washington Athletics (@UWAthletics) September 22, 2019

On the big welcome home from the Husky fans, Cook said "It felt good. We weren't sure what to expect. We hadn't played in front of our home fans, and the first ten points or so it felt like we were a little over-amped. But then it felt familiar, the noise, the band, everything was special. What a way to start it off."

Leading the way was senior Kara Bajema who had 19 kills for the second match in a row against Wisconsin, this time hitting .515 as she made just two errors on 33 attempts. Washington's other two pin hitters, junior Samantha Drechsel and sophomore Claire Hoffman, were just as effective. Drechsel had eight kills and made no errors, hitting .571, while Hoffman had 10 kills on 19 swings with two errors for a .421 attack percentage.

"Extremely patient attacking from our outside hitters, hitting with a lot of range," said Cook. "All our outside hitters and our assistant coach Jason Mansfield have been working on that for six months, just being able to hit the entire court. When they can do that we can be pretty tough."

That overpass was DESTROYED ??#NCAAVB | @UWVolleyball pic.twitter.com/sfmwSaRPYx
— NCAA Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) September 22, 2019

Credit can go to Washington's passing game, which kept the Huskies in-system all match long, with spot on passing from the three outside hitters, plus Shayne McPherson and Cailin Onosko. That let setter Ella May Powell move the ball around as she finished with 33 assists and contributed to the great hitting herself, as she had four kills on five attempts without an error.

McPherson had 10 digs and moved up to No. 5 in UW school history in career digs, passing former teammate Tia Scambray, as McPherson now has 1,345 career digs.

"That's really a good serving team, we saw it at Wisconsin, and it felt like we were in-system a lot tonight, and you don't side out at 70-percent if you're not passing the ball well, so I'm really pleased for all of our passers for hanging in there."

UP NEXT: The Huskies won't get too comfortable at home as they are now back on the road for the next two weeks, opening Pac-12 play next Wednesday, Sept. 25, at Washington State and then four days later traveling to defending NCAA Champion Stanford on Sept. 29. Both matches will be on Pac-12 Networks.

SET 1: The Badgers got the first two points of the set on Husky errors but Hoffman got the first UW kill for 1-2. Sanders and Powell elicited a big roar from the crowd with the first Husky block of the night for a 3-2 lead and then Bajema killed an overpass to cap the early 4-0 run. Bajema logged her first kill for a 6-5 edge. Drechsel hit for her first kill to tie things up at 7-7 and she slammed to the floor again for 8-all. McPherson fired an ace for a 9-8 lead. Powell set Sanders on the slide for a big kill for 12-10 Dawgs. Maria Bogomolova drove an ace off the defense and then Bajema blasted one to get the Dawgs to 15-11 at the media timeout. Bajema lasered another after the break and then Drechsel and Niece teamed for a stuff for 17-12 and Wisconsin took timeout. A McPherson serve was overpassed and Drechsel ran to her right and slammed it home for 20-16. Hoffman and Bajema put away two more as the Dawgs sided out to set point at 24-19. A Wisconsin service error ended it, 25-20, for the Huskies.

Washington hit .353 in the opening frame with five kills on 10 swings for Bajema and four on seven from Drechsel.

SET 2: Bajema opened the second set with a back row strike set from Powell. A 4-0 Husky run on consecutive kills from Bajema and Drechsel, a Wisconsin double contact, and a Powell service ace made it 6-3 Dawgs. Drechsel dropped one short from the right side for 8-4 Huskies. Hoffman tooled the block from the left, and then Powell dumped for 13-8. An ace from Hoffman was followed by a Wisconsin error as the Dawgs were on a 3-0 run up 15-8 at the media timeout. The Dawgs won a big point for 16-10 when Sanders dove for a pancake dig off a serve that caught the net and rolled over, and then Bajema won a joust at the net. A sharply-angled Bajema kill from the left built it to 18-11 and forced a Badgers timeout. Niece crushed a quick set from Powell and Drechsel got one through the block for 20-13. Tough Wisconsin serving brought them quickly back into the set with a 4-0 run that forced a Husky timeout at 20-17. But the Dawgs responded out of the break with a Hoffman finish and then an ace from Drechsel to get back up five, 22-17. Sanders finished a slide and then Bajema reached out wide to bring one back inside the pin and down for a kill for set point at 24-18. The Badgers saved two, but Bajema ended it by going high hands off the block and out for 25-20.

The Huskies hit an outstanding .552 in the second set to offset a .345 mark from the Badgers. Bajema rolled up seven kills on 10 swings with just one error to hit .600 and Powell had 15 assists in the set.

SET 3: Drechsel opened the third set with UW's fifth ace of the night. Powell capped a long rally with a dump on the second point. Washington seized control then with a 4-0 run, with transition kills from Hoffman and Bajema and a second Powell dump that caught the Badgers again. Bogomolova had a serve overpassed and Bajema hit it off the block and out for an 8-3 advantage. Powell and Niece teamed up to bring a long rally to an emphatic end with a block for 10-4, and Niece and Drechsel blocked another to prevent the Badgers from getting a third-straight point, and then Bajema dropped in an ace for 12-6 and the Badgers used their last timeout. Hoffman got a kill on the block touch and then Wisconsin hit into the net for 14-6 Dawgs. Drechsel crushed a right side swing and Hoffman followed it with another crosscourt blast from the left for 16-7. Redshirt freshman Dani Cole subbed in for her first ever action at home and crushed her first swing for a kill to make it 17-9 as the Husky bench went wild. Sanders finished a slide in transition for 19-11. Hoffman had a dig and followed it with a kill on the pipe for 20-12. Bajema blasted two in a row as the Huskies kept pushing to 22-13. Bajema and Niece scored a third-straight for the Dawgs with a stuff as the lead hit ten. The last two points were finished off by Bajema from the left pin as the Huskies closed out the sweep with the 25-14 win.

Once again the Husky attack was outstanding, hitting .484 in the set compared to .161 for Wisconsin. Bajema had seven kills in the final set and Hoffman had four, with Powell killing all three of her attacks. Shayne McPherson had five assists with four digs in the set as well.