University of Washington
No. 3 UCLA
Huskies Fall To No. 3 UCLA, 3-2
September 28, 2006 | Volleyball
Sept. 28, 2006
LOS ANGELES-- For the second year in a row, No. 4 Washington volleyball lost a five-game heartbreaker to No. 3 UCLA, 3-2, on the road. Washington won the first two games before surrendering the next three to take its second loss of the season and its first in Pac-10 play. The loss dips the Huskies to 12-2 overall and 2-1 in the Pac-10, while the Bruins improve to 16-0 overall and 3-0 in conference play. Game scores were 28-30, 23-30, 30-21, 31-29, 15-13.
The Huskies had deja vu Thursday night after suffering its only loss of the 2005 season at the hands of the Bruins in Pauley Pavilion, including the same game five score of 15-13.
Washington out-hit UCLA .225-.170 and held advantages in kills (76-69), assists (75-68) and digs (84-70) but a combination of its poor serving (14 errors) and UCLA's blocking (19.5) proved to be too much for the Huskies to recover from.
Junior Stevie Mussie recorded a career-best 23 kills, while junior Christal Morrison added 20 kills. Junior Alesha Deesing added12 kills from the middle with a team-high .381 average.
Senior All-American Courtney Thompson dished 69 assists and collected 13 digs, while freshman libero Tamari Miyashiro led Washington's defense with 29 digs. Morrison also added 14 digs and led UW's blocking game with nine stuffs.
Katie Carter led UCLA's offense with 23 kills, while Nana Meriwether added 15 kills and 15 blocks. Jordan Smith had 23 digs for the Bruins.
UCLA jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the fifth and deciding game after a pair of Meriwether kills and three UW hitting errors. The Huskies then scored the next three points with a kill by Jill Collymore, a Jessica Swarbrick ace and a UCLA error, which resulted in a Bruin timeout.
Washington cut UCLA's lead to one at 8-7 after a pair of Mussie kills and a Bruin error but UCLA pushed its lead back to three at 11-8 after a kill by Nellie Spicer and a Morrison hitting error to force a UW timeout.
Another UW error gave UCLA match point at 14-11 but a Morrison kill and Bruin error brought Washington to within one point at 14-13 and UCLA called its final timeout.
Meriwether came out the break to score the final kill of the match for the Bruins and lift them to the 15-13 victory.
The Huskies return to action Friday night when they play fifth-ranked USC across town at 7 p.m. The Women of Troy are undefeated this season with a 14-0 overall record and 3-0 mark in the Pac-10.
