Huskies End Day One On Upswing As Gabriel Gets Win One

Friday, August 25

Hammond, LA

4:30 PM

University of Washington

1-1,0-0Pac-12

Southeastern Louisiana

1-1,0-0Southland

Washington

Southeastern La.

August 25, 2023 | Volleyball

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By: UW Athletic Communications

HAMMOND, La. – Opening day for Husky Volleyball had ups and downs as Washington played great at times and gritted through some tough moments with multiple new players trying to establish roles. But after a tough morning five set loss, the Huskies ended the evening in the win column, defeating host Southeastern Louisiana in four sets to give Leslie Gabriel her first victory as Head Coach following 22 years as an assistant.

"Obviously it feels great to get a win but more importantly was playing more to our strengths in the second match tonight, and we need to just keep focusing on improvement because we saw some great potential today along with plenty of areas that we need to develop," said Gabriel. "But we got to see a lot of different lineups and combinations today and we are far from a finished product."

The Huskies downed the reigning Southland Conference Champions on their home court by a 25-14, 25-18, 17-25, 25-18 score. After dominating the first two sets with stellar serving and clean attacking, UW's level dropped and the Lions made a match of it with a win in the third, and then the fourth set was even at 15-all before the Huskies went on a 10-3 run to close it out.

Washington hit .336 and had 13 aces, five from Kayce Litzau, and held an 8.0 to 1.0 edge in blocks. Senior May Pertofsky led the team in kills for the second time today, backing up her 18 kills in the opener with 14 more in the nightcap, hitting .545. Madi Endsley added 13 kills on a .323 mark and Audra Wilmes notched 11 with a pair of aces. Freshman Kierstyn Barton had six kills hitting .455.

Molly Wilson had her second double-double of the day with 28 assists and 11 digs, while Litzau had 12 assists and five digs. Lauren Bays had 17 digs and Elise Hani led the blocking with six block assists and four kills.

UP NEXT: Washington wraps up its opening weekend down south with a match against Grambling State tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. Pacific.

SET ONE: The Lions scored the first three points with a couple of aces until Wilmes got the first Husky kill. The Dawgs were down 3-7 but then got rolling with Litzau getting assists to Endlsey, Wilmes, and Barton in a four point run. Endsley served an ace to put the Huskies up, 8-7. Hani fired an ace, and then Barton put down the back set from Litzau on the right pin to make it 12-8 Dawgs. Another ace from Wilmes made it 15-10 at the media timeout. Katy Wessels had a kill out of the break and Pertofsky put one away for 17-10. Litzau then reeled off three aces in a row as the Dawgs built a 10-point lead and cruised to the 25-14 set win, ending on an ace by Maeve Griffin.

UW hit .429 in the set and needed just 11 kills as it served up seven aces.

SET TWO: UW started the second the same way it ended the first, with an ace from Molly Wilson. Kills from Endsley and Pertofsky made it 4-2 Dawgs. Hani and Pertofsky met for a block to make it 8-3, but SELA rallied with three back before Pertofsky terminated from the right for 9-6. Hani put down a quick set, Endsley fired an ace, and then Hani had a block teaming with Wilmes for 13-8. Wilmes crushed a bump set from Bays for 15-11 at the media timeout. The Lions got to within two points, but Pertofsky answered with a right side blast, and then Endsley rolled one down for 18-15, followed by Litzau's fourth ace of the night for 19-15 and a Lions timeout. Barton and Hani rejected one out of the break, then Litzau fired another ace, and Endsley put down a Bays set for 22-15. Endsley got the Dawgs to set point at 24-17 and a Hani kill finished it two points later.

The Huskies had four more aces and hit .387 in the second, with five kills from Endsley and five assists apiece from Wilson, Litzau, and Bays.

SET THREE: Washington had a lull to start the third and made several hitting errors as SELA scored the first seven points before a service error gave the Dawgs their first point. But then UW had an ace from Wilmes and two-straight Endsley kills to claw back to 4-7. Endsley teed off crosscourt for 6-10, but the Lions then scored four in a row to put the Dawgs back down eight points. Endsley stopped the bleeding from the right side, and then Hani killed an overpass for 8-14, but SELA came back with another three-straight. Washington made a little 4-0 run at set point but fell 17-25, hitting just .129 in the frame.

SET FOUR: Early kills from Pertofsky and Wilmes had the Huskies up 4-3 in the fourth. Phenomenal Husky defense led to a Pertofsky tool of the block for 5-3, then two-straight Husky blocks pushed it to 7-3. A Pertofsky transition kill made it 9-3 and forced a SE Louisiana timeout. The Lions fought back scoring five of the next six points. Pertofsky deposited one deep into the seats for 12-9. SE Louisiana was able to catch the Dawgs for the first time at 13-all, but UW would retake the lead each time. Pertofsky continued to dominate, hammering kills and then nailing two tough serves that led to Husky blocks as UW scored four-straight for 19-15. Wilmes tooled the block for 20-16. Wilson called her own number with a kill on the dump for match point at 24-18, and the Lions hit one out on the next rally to end it, 25-18.

Pertofsky went 8-0-10 in the fourth set to help the Huskies finish it off, and Bays added seven digs in the fourth while Wilson had 12 assists.