University of Washington
USC
Morrison, Mussie Help Fifth-Ranked UW Sweep No. 4 USC
October 19, 2007 | Volleyball
Oct. 19, 2007
SEATTLE - Behind double-doubles from Christal Morrison and Stevie Mussie, the fifth-ranked Washington volleyball team swept No. 4 USC on Friday night in Pac-10 action in front of a season-high 4,027 fans at Bank of America Arena. Despite hitting just .219 on the night, the Huskies won in three games (30-26, 30-28, 30-19) and improved to 19-1 overall and 8-1 in the Pac-10. The win extended the Huskies school-record home winning streak to 38 games.
The win didn't come easy for Washington, which was facing its fourth-straight top-10 opponent. Although the Huskies won via the sweep, the Trojans (17-3, 6-3 Pac-10) made them fight for every point, especially in the first two games.
Despite leading the whole way during the opening game, the Huskies still had to hold off a late charge by the Trojans. Leading 20-15, Washington scored nine of the next 14 points to lead 29-20 and appeared on their way to an easy win. But the Trojans weren't done, scoring six straight points to quiet the Husky crowd. Washington finally got the victory when Jenna Hagglund blocked a Zoe Garrett attack and the ball landed on USC's side for a UW point.
The two teams combined for 18 attack errors in the game, with UW having eight and hitting .111 and USC recording 10 and hitting .086. Morrison had six of her game-high 17 kills in the game.
In the second game, the two teams were tied 12 times and changed leads four more times. Every time that Washington started to pull away, the Trojans rallied right back. After the Huskies went up by five, 26-21, on an attack error by USC All-American outside hitter Asia Kaczor, the Trojans rallied to tie it at 28-28. A USC service error and attack by Morrison gave UW the 30-28 win.
"It's some kind of relax syndrome where all of a sudden we get this cushion and we relax," commented Huskies head coach Jim McLaughlin. "We're learning not to do that - you can't do that - momentum swings [in a match] are just to great for us to allow that to happen."
After allowing USC to come back in the first two games, the Huskies won game three in convincing fashion, going on a 8-0 run in the middle of the game to take a 18-7 lead, before winning 30-19. Tamari Miyashiro served all eight points and had an ace during the eight-point stretch.
"In game three we came out and we just did what we needed to do," said Morrison. "It was our best game hitting, blocking, defensively, serving - and we sided out really well in the game."
Statistically, the final game was the Huskies best, as they hit .400, sided out at 68 percent, had three service aces and five team blocks, all of which were match-highs for UW. Washington finished with five aces on the evening, including four by Morrison.
"We wanted to come out attacking them ... really go for it on our serve," said Morrison. "We had the targets on their side and we went after those targets and we kept pressuring them with our serve."
In addition to her 17 kills, Morrison had 10 digs for her third straight double-double and eighth overall. Mussie tallied 13 kills and 13 digs for her fifth double-double of the year, Jenna Hagglund finished with 35 assists and 11 digs, and Miyashiro added 19 digs to lead all players.
Kaczor led USC with 14 kills but hit just .085. Jessica Gysin had a double-double for the Trojans, finishing with 10 kills and 16 digs, and Taylor Carico led all players with 36 assists. Alli Hillgren and Geena Urango had 16 and 10 digs, respectively, for USC.
USC finished with one more kill than the Huskies, 46 to 45, but they committed 27 attack errors to just 17 for Washington. The Trojans finished with just a .131 hitting percentage, including a .026 mark in the final game.
The Huskies finished the first half of Pac-10 play at 8-1 and are tied with No. 3 Stanford for first place in the conference. They return to action next Friday, Oct. 26, when they host in-state rival Washington State at 7 p.m.
NOTES: Washington has won five of the past seven meetings with USC ... the Trojans still lead the all-time series 32-14 ... the Huskies have won three straight matches against teams ranked in the top-10. In addition to tonight's win, they defeated then-No. 2 Stanford, 3-2, last Friday, Oct. 12, and swept No. 7 UCLA last night ... Morrison moved up in two categories on the UW career list tonight. She is now No. 4 in service aces with 129 for her career, and sits at No. 7 on the UW career list in games played with 390 during her three-plus seasons ... with three block assists tonight, Jessica Swarbrick now has 284 for her career and took over the No. 8 spot on the career list ... Swarbrick also moved into the top-10 in total blocks. Her 303 career blocks puts her in a tie for No. 10 on the list with Dana Thompson (1989-92) ... Hagglund's 11 digs tied her season-high set against Washington State on Sept. 28.
