Huskies Dig Out Of 0-2 Hole For 3-2 Win Over Utes

Friday, November 17

Salt Lake City, UT

6:00 PM

University of Washington

15-13,6-11Pac-12

Utah

10-17,5-12Pac-12

Washington

Utah

November 17, 2023 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score PDF

By: UW Athletic Communications

SALT LAKE CITY – The Husky Volleyball team earned its first 0-2 comeback in over two years tonight, showing that its fight is far from finished with just two weeks left in the regular season. Washington rallied in its last Pac-12 trip to the Huntsman Center, taking down Utah by a 20-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-11 final to earn the season sweep of the Utes.

It's the first 0-2 comeback for the Dawgs since the 2021 season, when they rallied to reverse sweep 13th-ranked Oregon in Eugene on Oct. 14.

Washington (15-13, 6-11 Pac-12) tied its season-high for blocks tonight with 14.0 with a career-high eight from freshman Katy Wessels and seven from May Pertofsky. Freshman Kierstyn Barton led the attack with 17 kills, Madi Endsley added 15, and Pertofsky had 11. Elise Hani notched five kills on 11 swings without an error (.455) and added five blocks.

??? Match Point

Katy called game.#PointHuskies pic.twitter.com/qg3E3ufanv
— Washington Volleyball (@UWVolleyball) November 18, 2023

Junior Lauren Bays had 21 digs and three aces, including two huge ones in the fifth set. Molly Wilson had 29 assists and five digs, and Kayce Litzau added 17 assists and 21 digs.

Washington's comeback really began in set two, when the Dawgs were down a set and trailed by nine points in set two. The Huskies fought all the way back to tie the second set as late as 21-21, but Utah responded to win the set, 25-23, and put the Huskies down 0-2.

UW opened the third set with a 6-1 run and that helped change the tenor of the match. Still, the Utes held a 22-20 lead in the third before the Dawgs ran off the final five points in a row on Endsley's serve to push it to a fourth set.

At 22-21 in the fourth, Wessels had back-to-back blocks to get the Huskies to set point, and they closed it out to force the fifth.

The Utes won the first two points of set five, but then the Huskies had a 6-0 run to take control, again on Endsley's serve, with three blocks during that run, with Wessels in on all three, and Pertofsky in on two. Another 5-0 run pushed it to 11-3 with Bays getting consecutive aces. Utah made a last run and closed the gap to three points twice, but Pertofsky put one down to get to match point at 14-10, and Wessels hit down an overpass to finish it, 15-11.

?? "We'd like to report a murder..." ??#PointHuskies pic.twitter.com/ZHSYbStqPw
— Washington Volleyball (@UWVolleyball) November 18, 2023

UP NEXT: Washington now travels to Boulder for another farewell to future Big 12 member Colorado. The Huskies and Buffs will meet on Sunday at 11 a.m. Pacific time on Pac-12 Networks. That will be UW's last conference road match before finishing at home next Wednesday and Friday.