University of Washington Official Athletic Site - Women's Volleyball
Huskies take on Wilcdcats and Sun Devils this weekend.
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Nov. 2, 1999
FIRST SERVE: The Washington volleyball team (8-13 overall, 4-9 Pac-10) returns to Seattle this weekend to take on the Arizona schools at the Pavilion Addition. Friday, the Dawgs face No. 19 Arizona at 7 p.m. Saturday night at 7 p.m., it's Washington and Arizona State. After this weekend, only three more matches will remain in the '99 season.
SERIES HISTORY: Washington is 13-17 all-time against Arizona and 18-13 against Arizona State. Earlier this year, the Huskies were swept at Tempe and Tucson, falling in three in both matches. Last season, the Huskies split a pair of matches with the Wildcats but lost both to the Sun Devils.
LAFFLING: Senior Kristina Laffling is putting together a fine end to what has been a tremendous Husky career. The 5-foot-11 Q/SW from Richmond, B.C., is only 57 digs away from becoming only the third Husky to record 1,000 career kills and digs. She ranks in the top 10 in UW history in five different categories: fifth in kills (1,199), fifth in attacks (3,031), fourth in digs (943), sixth in block assists (269) and fifth in total blocks (306). This year, she ranks fifth in the Pac-10 in kills per game, sixth in digs and 10th in aces.
NOTES: The Huskies will play 10 matches against teams in the preseason top 25, including six against top-10 teams ... both Laffling and sophomore Allison Richardson have been named to the all-tournament team in both tournaments this year ... Richardson leads the Huskies with 28 aces in 70 games ... her 0.40 aces per game average is fourth in the Pac-10 ... Richardson is also second on the team with 229 kills and 164 digs ... she had 62 and 86, respectively, all of last season ... Richardson posted 14 kills and hit .344 in the loss at Arizona State earlier this year ... she also had 10 kills and 14 digs vs. Arizona ... freshman quick hitter Paige Benjamin ranks No. 5 in the Pac-10 with her .351 hitting pct.
COACH NEVILLE: Bill Neville (George Williams '67) is currently in his ninth season as the Husky head coach. The former USA men's team assistant and Canadian men's team head coach has an overall record of 118-110 (.518) since taking over the UW program midway through the 1991 season. His teams have made three NCAA appearances, all in the last five seasons, during which they have posted a 4-3 record. Neville is assisted by Diane Flick, Julie Baker and Duane Storti.
QUICK HITS: Here's a quick rundown of the Husky volleyball team:
No. Player Pos. Ht. Yr. Notes 1 Sabrina Page DS 5-3 Jr. Has played in 64 of 71 games as DS 3 Paige Benjamin Q 5-10 Fr. 5th in Pac-10 in hitting at .351 4 Allison Richardson SW 6-1 So. All-tournament at both ISU and UoP 6 Gretchen Maurer S 5-11 Fr. Lone start of year came at Arizona 7 Linnet Rain Q 6-2 Fr. Started vs. Wisconsin and Illinois State 8 Kristina Laffling SW 5-11 Sr. Needs 57 digs to join 1,000-1,000 club 9 Malena Thompson SW 6-0 So. Career-high 15 digs, 6 blocks at WSU 10 Britni Churnside S 5-9 So. Has started 20 of 21 matches at setter 11 Kiki Maroutsos SW 5-11 So. Perhaps team's top server 12 Elissa Ross DS 5-9 Fr. Career-high 16 digs vs. No. 9 Wisconsin 14 Janelle Grovey SW 5-10 Fr. Won 13 letters at Sweeny HS in Texas 16 Lisa Underhill Q 6-3 So. 16 kills, 8 blocks vs. Oregon State 17 Emily Seacat OP 6-3 Jr. 21 kills, 6 aces in win at Oregon St. 21 Sarah Allmon OP 5-11 Sr. Out for the season after knee surgery
