Toreros Outlast Huskies In Five Sets

Sunday, September 14

Seattle, Wash.

2:00 PM

University of Washington

4-4,0-0Big Ten

San Diego

5-3,0-0WCC

San Diego

Washington

September 14, 2025 | Volleyball

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By: UW Athletic Communications

SEATTLE – Washington Volleyball fell to 1-3 in fifth sets this season, as the margins between wins and losses remain thin early in the season. The Huskies were outlasted by San Diego in a back and forth battle today at Alaska Airlines Arena, 23-25, 25-20, 19-25, 25-21, 15-12.

The Huskies (4-4) held a 2-1 lead and led set four, 14-10, but the Toreros stole all the momentum with a 9-0 run to grab the fourth set, and then USD won five of the first six points in set five and despite a late push by the home team, San Diego closed it out on its third match point chance, when UW missed its 16th serve of the day, a source of frustration throughout.

"We didn't serve tough. We had errors and we sent a lot of easy serves over which obviously makes it tough on our defense," said Head Coach Leslie Gabriel. "We've got to be able to slow down teams and stay on it. Right now we have one game where we hold them, then one game we can't, and it's just a roller coaster. We've got to get a lot better defensively and we've got one more week before conference to try do to that."

Washington hit .241 but the Toreros finished with a .271 mark. The Huskies had five blocks in the third set to hold USD to a .034 mark in that frame, but the Dawgs only had one more block in sets four and five combined, as the Toreros rebounded to hit .500 in set four and .312 in set five.

The teams were even with 60 kills apiece while the Huskies had eight aces compared to five for USD, but digs were 47 for the visitors compared to 37 for the home team.

Freshman Simona Mateska had the best match of her young collegiate career, as she put away 19 kills today on 41 swings to hit .366, also serving three aces, and contributing nine digs and four blocks as well. Kierstyn Baron had 21 kills, hitting .318. Sophomore Alexis Haury had 50 assists for the first time in her career today.

Up Next: Washington has a tough final week of non-conference to come, visiting Pullman this Wednesday for the Apple Cup of volleyball, then traveling down to Lexington, Ky. for a major test at third-ranked Kentucky on Saturday, Sept. 20.