No. 20 Trojans Pass By Huskies In Four

Wednesday, November 27

Seattle, WA

4:30 PM

University of Washington

USC

November 27, 2024 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score PDF

By: UW Athletic Communications

SEATTLE – Washington couldn't have asked for a better start in its pre-Thanksgiving showdown with No. 20 USC, but the Trojans couldn't have asked for a better finish. The Huskies (19-10, 9-10 Big Ten) took the first set, 25-17, but then USC (20-9, 12-7 Big Ten) took control, winning the next three sets, 25-21, 25-19, 25-10. A crowd of 3,425 was on hand at Alaska Airlines Arena in the penultimate match of the regular season.

The Huskies were led by Madi Endsley's 11 kills. With the 11 kills, Endsley passed Head Coach Leslie Gabriel for 16^th in career kills at UW with 1,147. Lauren Bays had 15 digs, Julia Hunt had six blocks, and Molly Wilson had a double-double with 14 assists and 11 digs.

Washington pulled away midway through set one for an impressive win, hitting .344 in the first and holding USC in the negatives at -.027. But while the Huskies kept playing well in set two, USC found its rhythm and hit .414 compared to .321 for the Dawgs to take a close second set. But after that, the Dawgs could not put the ball on the floor. They hit negative in both the third and fourth sets, with 15 kills and 19 errors over the two sets. USC forced a lot of those errors, with 13.5 total blocks, most over the final two sets.

"I really liked how our team came out and competed the first set. We were on our assignments and they did what we had asked them," said Coach Gabriel. "But USC picked their game up, and we just weren't able to keep up. We had a hard time scoring points tonight, and it was frustrating for everyone. But we'll get back on the horse, and we've got one more match and we want to send the seniors out right, so we'll take a look and see where we could get a little bit better."

Up Next: Washington will finish the regular season at home on Friday at 4:30 p.m. with No. 9 Purdue coming in. That will be Senior Night for seven Husky seniors, and the match will air live on Big Ten Network.

Set One: The first set was very back and forth, with both teams trading kills and aces until UW jumped out to a 12-9 lead fueled by a block by Emoni Bush, a kill from Kiertsyn Barton, and an ace from Lauren Bays. USC fought back to take a 12-13 lead, prompting UW to take a timeout with USC up by 1. The Huskies jump back out in front after kills from Bush and Hunt, as well as back to back blocks from Hunt. A couple errors from USC had UW up by four at 18-14, leading to a timeout taken by USC. Following the timeout, Kiune Fletcher gets a block and a kill to get the Huskies to 20, prompting another timeout from USC with UW leading 20-14. UW comes out of the timeout strong, grabbing 4 more points with 2 kills by Endsley and 2 errors from USC, putting the Huskies up 24-15. USC grab two more points before a kill from Endsley ended the first set, 25-17.

Set Two: The second set started with USC grabbing an early 2-point lead, with the teams trading points until USC had a lead of one at 5-6. This led to a 4 point run from USC resulting in a UW timeout down 5-10. The Huskies go on a 4 point run out of the timeout with a kill from Hunt, a block by Bush and a couple errors from USC before a service error ends the run down 9-11. USC goes on a 4-1 run of their own to establish an 11-15 lead before the teams start to trade points again. At 14-17, the Trojans go on another run to get to 20 before UW answer with a kill and an ace from Bush leading to a timeout from USC with the huskies down 17-20. Out of the timeout, USC grab a point before the teams each trade a couple of errors, pushing USC to 24 before a kill from USC ends the set

Set Three: The third set was another back and forth start, with the teams trading points until UW get a 6-5 lead thanks to back to back kills from Endsley. The Trojans respond with 2 points of their own to re-establish their lead at 6-7. The teams trade points again until UW grabs 3 consecutive thanks to a kill from Bush, a block from Hani, and an error from USC to put the Huskies up 9-8. USC rally and grab 4 consecutive points before a UW timeout with the score being 9-12 USC. Out of the timeout, the teams trade a block and a kill each, with Bush registering both for the Huskies, who trailed 12-15. USC get to 17 before UW calls its second timeout of the set down four. The Trojans come out of the timeout strong, grabbing another 3 points before a block by Endsley, immediately followed by an ace from Hunt and another kill for Endsley leads to a USC timeout. After the timeout, the Trojans grab another 2 points before kills from Endlsey and Bush, plus an error from USC, lead to a USC timeout with the score being 19-22. USC come out of the timeout strong once again and finish the set with 3 consecutive points.

Set Four: The 4th set starts with the teams trading side outs with kills from Barton and Hunt. USC go on a 5-1 run before Barton gets her second kill of the set to make it 4-7. A couple errors from UW push USC to a 5-11 lead. The teams trade errors as USC grab 3 more points before the media timeout with the Huskies down 6-15. Out of the media timeout, Katy Wessels and Kiune Fletcher get kills for UW, but USC finish the set off on a 10-4 run, with Fletcher recording her second kill of the set before the Trojans score the last point.