Dawgs Sweep Aside Middle Tennessee

Saturday, August 31

Bozeman, MT

2:30 PM

University of Washington

2-0,0-0Big Ten

Middle Tennessee

0-1,0-0CUSA

Middle Tenn.

Washington

August 31, 2024 | Volleyball

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By: UW Athletic Communications

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Husky Volleyball broke out the brooms for the first time today, dispatching Middle Tennessee in straight sets to finish up a 2-0 opening weekend. Playing on a neutral court at Montana State, the Huskies rode the hot hands of their middle blockers, Katy Wessels and Julia Hunt, to a 25-18, 25-22, 25-19 win.

After the pin hitters dominated last night in the opening win over Montana State, today the middles took what was offered. Wessels hit .400 with seven kills and a team-leading six blocks, and Hunt also racked up seven kills on a .545 attack percentage with two blocks.

Kierstyn Barton led all players with nine kills, adding eight digs, and Madi Endsley had eight kills and hit .429. Alexis Haury had 15 assists and Molly Wilson notched 14 as UW hit .208 while holding MTSU to just .082 on offense.

"I was most excited about how our middles responded to the opener, as they came out today and hit really well for us," said Head Coach Leslie Gabriel. "The quick was where we saw the opportunity to score and Julia and Katy really made it happen. We played two out of the three sets pretty clean but there's certainly plenty to work on as we head to Colorado."

Back to Seattle 2?-0?#PointHuskies pic.twitter.com/KwLuv8MH7U
— Washington Volleyball (@UWVolleyball) September 1, 2024

Set One: The Huskies built an early 5-2 lead behind an Endsley block and a Barton finish, but MTSU scored the next four to take the lead, 6-5. The Huskies then answered that with a 4-0 run of their own to go back up, 9-6. Katy Wessels hammered a quick kill as the Dawgs went up, 13-10. The Blue Raiders went on another four-point run to retake a one-point lead until Endsley snapped that with a tip kill. Hunt terminated a quick set from Haury and then Fletcher buried a back set from Haury for 19-16 and MTSU took time. A solo block from Wessels and a kill by Bush helped the Dawgs pull away to set point at 24-18, and Wessels found the floor to end it, 25-18.

The Huskies hit .400 in set one with Barton leading the way with four kills and adding five digs.

Set Two: Fletcher and Hunt teamed for a rejection on the first point of the second. MTSU took a 5-2 lead, but the Huskies then powered to a 6-0 run to force a Blue Raiders timeout at 8-5 Dawgs. With Bays serving, Fletcher, Barton and Wessels all had kills and Wessels and Fletcher teamed for a block in the surge. Washington then went on another 5-0 run on Wilson's serve, as she aced the Raiders twice and Barton and Wessels added kills to make it 14-6. Endsley had consecutive finishes for 17-10. An ace from Bays pushed the lead to 22-13. MTSU pulled back into it with a late 5-0 run but Fletcher snapped it with a tough out of system swing for 23-18. Endsley finished it off with a kill from the left pin for the 25-22 win.

Endsley had four kills on six swings in the set and Fletcher was in on four blocks which helped UW overcome some self-inflicted errors on offense.

Set Three: The teams were even early in the third set until a 3-0 Husky run made it 10-6 and forced an MTSU timeout. Hunt put down her sixth kill to make it 12-9 Dawgs. An ace from Haury and an Endsley finish made it 15-9. Wessels hammered down her seventh kill out of the middle and a couple MTSU errors made it 20-13 Dawgs. Barton aced the Raiders for 22-15. Endsley connected on another and Bush and Hunt roofed the Raiders for match point at 24-17. Hunt then finished it off with her seventh kill of the day for the 25-19 finale.

Washington hit .194 in the final set but held MTSU to .000 with nine errors. Hunt killed three of her five attempts in the set without a miss.

Up Next: Washington is off to former Pac-12 rival Colorado next week for three matches in three days, taking on Fresno State, 25^th-ranked Georgia, and the host Buffs.