University of Washington
UCLA (Regional Championship)
Washington Volleyball Advances to Final Four
December 11, 2004 | Volleyball
Dec. 11, 2004
Final Stats
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SEATTLE - For the first time in the program's history, the Washington volleyball team (28-2) will play in the sport's Final Four. The Huskies advanced to its semifinal match with Pac-10 rival Stanford by defeating UCLA 3-2. It was the Huskies third victory against the Bruins this year, and it was the most thrilling of the encounters.
"Wow, what a match," said head coach Jim McLaughlin. "The Bruins played well and I just felt like we were a little hot and cold. I felt like if we just stayed in this thing, kept grinding it out, it would be a delayed gratification. And it finally came. But UCLA played well. I've been on the other side, we lost 15-9 last year in the same game. The Bruins were the best at the end of the year. We expected that, and wow, it was just an unbelievable match."
Before a crowd of 4,532 at Bank of America Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, the Huskies rallied in the deciding fifth game to down UCLA by scores of 27-30, 30-19, 30-28, 24-30, 15-9. Minnesota will face USC in the other semifinal match on Dec. 16 in Long Beach. The championship match will take place Dec. 18.
"Unbelieveable," said Brie Hagerty of reaching the Final Four. "I don't think I've realized the impact yet but it was unbelievable to win in front of our crowd. They were crazy. I mean, they were all doing the wave. That was such a big help. We were talking before the match-- `do you feel this energy?' Heck yeah so let's get it done."
After dropping game one, the Huskies looked like they were in control when they won games two and three and led 12-3 in game four before UCLA staged a remarkable comeback. The Bruins went on a 12-3 run to tie the match at 15-15 and then pulled ahead 23-18 before tying the match up at two games apience.
In the deciding fifth game, UCLA led 8-6 before the Huskies ripped off six straight points behind the powerful hitting of Hagerty.
"If it didn't get started, it was going to be our last game," said Hagerty. "Jim yelled at me to just hit the ball hard and I went in there and hit the ball hard and things went our way. Courtney got the ball up there for me and I knew it was coming so I kind of sucked in some air, went after the ball and hit it as hard as I could."
Tonight's match was aired live on CSTV and will be broadcast tape delayed on FSN Northwest tonight at 10:30 and Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m.
Three Huskies were named to the all-tournament team, including MVP Sanja Tomasevic, Courtney Thompson, and Hagerty. Melissa Walbridge (Penn State), Cassandra Kolkka (Saint Mary's), Chrisse Zartman (UCLA) and Nana Meriwether (UCLA) were also named to the all-tournament team.
Tomasevic led all players with 24 kills, while Hagerty added 23. Thompson dished 67 assists on the night, while adding a career-best 21 digs.
Sophomore Candace Lee had a career-high defensive performance in the win, logging 40 digs to hold the Bruins to a season-low .107 hitting percentage. Darla Myhre had nine blocks in the victory.
Game one opened even with the score knotting 10 times through 12-all and no team leading by more than two points. Washington took the 15-12 lead into the media timeout after kills by Tomasevic and Leck but the Bruins quickly tied the score a 15-all with a block and kill by UCLA's Nana Meriwether. The Bruins strung four points together to take the 17-19 lead, including two Brynn Murphy kills to trigger a Washington timeout. UCLA scored the next three points out of the break with Meriwether's fifth block of night, a UW error and a Bruin service ace to push its lead to 17-22 and force another Husky timeout. Washington roared back, rattling off the next six points, including two Leck kills to regain the lead at 23-22 and force UCLA to call a timeout. The game tied up as late as 27-all but two UW errors gave UCLA game-point at 27-29. Chrissie Zartman tallied a service ace to take game one, 27-30.
UCLA out hit Washington .286 to .191 and held advantages in aces (2-0) and blocks (6-3.5). Brittany Ringel and Murphy had four kills apiece for the Bruins, while Washington was led by Tomasevic with six kills.
Washington jumped out to the quick 8-2 lead in game two, aided by three Husky blocks to trigger a UCLA timeout. The Bruins cut UW's lead to one point at the 10-9 mark but the Huskies surged ahead, buiding a six-point lead at 19-13 to que another UCLA timeout. Washington pushed its lead to 10 points at 28-18 and a kill by Tomasevic gave UW game-point at 29-19. A UCLA attack error lifted the Huskies to the 30-19 victory.
Washington out hit the Bruins .205 to -.132. UCLA had 13 errors and just eight kills in the set. Tomasevic had five kills for the Huskies, while Hagerty added three.
Game three started with a dominating kill from Tomasevic, but the score would remain within one at 5-4 until the Huskies capitalized on two Bruin attack errors and two Hagerty kills to bring the score to 8-5. The Huskies pulled away on two kills each from Tomasevic and Jessica Veris, extending the lead to five at 13-8, punctuated with two Tomasevic kills and a Thompson service ace. UCLA pulled within one at 16-15 after three-straight Husky errors to trigger a Washington timeout. The Huskies went up 20-16 after a Veris kill and back-to-back blocks by Tomasevic and Morrison. UCLA battled back, tying the score at 28-all. A Tomasevic kill gave Washington game-point and Darla Myhre won game three for UW, 30-28, with her ninth stuff of the match.
The Huskies out hit UCLA .233 to .148 in the set. Hagerty had eight kills for Washington, while Tomasevic added seven.
Washington appeared to be on cruise control to start game four, leading by nine at the 12-3 mark. UCLA continued to battle, however, pulling even at 14-all and buiding a five point lead at 17-22. The Bruins went on a 5-0 run to reach game-point at 21-29. Washington scored the next three points but Becky Green gave UCLA the 30-24 victory with her 12th kill of the match to force a fifth game tie-breaker.
UCLA out hit UW .148 to .046 in game four, while posting nine blocks.
Game five had six ties as late as 8-8, but the Huskies came out of a Bruin timeout in dominant fashion. Hagerty logged three straight kills and a UCLA attack error brought the score to 12-9. A UCLA kill would mark their last score in the game at 12-9, and then the Huskies took control. A Veris kill and a UCLA attack error would bring on match point, and then tournament MVP Tomasevic put the match away with a solo block.
The Bruins had .000 hitting percentage with six kills and six errors, while the Huskies hit a match-high .267 with nine kills and only one attack error.
Washington had the highest attendace of any Regional Final with 4,532 people. The Minnesota/Ohio State match in Minneapolis had 3,734 fans, the Wisconsin/Stanford match in Green Bay pulled in 2,143 and the Southern California/ Nebraska match in Louisville had an attendance of 1,800.
The Huskies face Stanford in semifinal action on Thursday, December 16 in Long Beach, Calif. The match is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., and will be tape-delayed on ESPN2. USC will play Minnesota at 7:30 p.m.
