University of Washington
Arizona State
No. 7 Huskies Handle Arizona State In Three
October 23, 2010 | Volleyball
Oct. 23, 2010
SEATTLE - A great all-around performance powered the seventh-ranked Husky volleyball team to a sweep of Arizona State tonight at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. One night after struggling to close out Arizona after taking a 2-0 lead, Washington (17-3, 6-3) played its best volleyball late to finish off a 25-16, 27-25, 25-15 victory. UW cooled off the Sun Devils (9-12, 4-5 Pac-10), who had won four in a row entering the match.
Senior All-American Kindra Carlson led the offense with 13 kills tonight, hitting .312. Sophomore Kylin Muñoz put down a career-best 10 kills, nine of which came in the second and third sets, and All-American senior Jenna Hagglund posted 35 assists. The defense was led by junior Lauren Barfield, who had eight blocks along with four kills as UW outblocked ASU, 11.0-3.0.
"I challenged them last night and they responded," said head coach Jim McLaughlin. "We played our best volleyball in that last game which is a good thing. We should keep getting better as the match goes, and a lot of that is emotional. If your emotions are right you can think right and play right. Those are the things we talked about and we did that tonight."
UW started the first set with four kills on its first six swings, with four different players earning kills for a 5-2 lead. The Huskies forced ASU's first timeout with a 3-0 run, capped off by a Rowland blast off a Sun Devils overpass that made it 9-4. Kelly Holford followed another Rowland spike with her first ace for a 13-7 UW lead, and a block from Barfield and Perry deflected back out of play to make it 15-8. Hagglund had an ace soon after, and Muñoz's first kill made it 19-11. The Huskies closed it out on a 3-0 run, punctuated by their fourth block of the set, this one coming from Carlson and Barfield, as they closed out the 25-16 set win. UW outhit ASU .290-.074 in the first set led by Rowland's five kills.
The Sun Devils jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the second set and forced UW's first timeout. Washington's first kill came on the 10th point, from Muñoz, to cut it to 7-3. The Huskies closed in on the Sun Devils, cutting it to 13-11 after a block by the Carlson-Rowland combo and a surprise kill from Hagglund. But ASU rallied right back with three-straight and forced another Husky timeout. Things looked all but lost with UW down 23-17, but all of a sudden the Huskies stormed back with kills from Perry, Muñoz, and Carlson, followed by an ASU miscue that made it 23-21 and the Sun Devils needed their last timeout. But UW continued its surge with a Carlson right-side kill out of the break, and then the Huskies suddenly found themselves tied after Orlandini tossed in an ace. A block by Carlson and Rowland got UW its first set point, but ASU saved it with a kill from Sarah Reaves. Muñoz caught fired down the stretch, earning UW two more set points with explosive swings. On the third set point, ASU had a backrow player up at net for a violation and UW ran off with a 27-25 victory. All told it was a seven-point run that took UW from 23-17 down to 24-23 up. Five more blocks aided UW's comeback, Orlandini had 10 digs in the set, and Carlson and Muñoz combined for 11 kills.
"Our serving was better," said McLaughlin on what helped turn the set. "We put some pressure on them, and the best thing was we took some good cuts in transition. We got on a little roll and it was contagious, and we played some good defense and blocked well."
Last night, UW let a two set lead slip away and ended up needing five sets, much to the chagrin of Coach McLaughlin. Tonight, UW didn't mess around, rolling to a 25-15 win in the final frame. The Huskies got their block back in business, jumping to a 3-1 lead with a roof from Hagglund and Rowland. Barfield capped a 3-0 run with a punch off an overpass to force ASU to take its first timeout down 8-5. The Dawgs extended it to a 7-1 run to double-up the Sun Devils at 12-6, as Perry notched another kill and Carlson and Barfield returned the Danica Mendivil swing. An ace from Kelcey Dunaway made it 15-7. UW continued to keep its level high, and Carlson blasted away throughout the set, notching four kills on six swings without an error. She hit one straight down to make it 20-12 and ASU used its last timeout. Muñoz capped off a great night with her career-best 10th kill on match point.
The Huskies now head back on the road, starting with a tough trip to Los Angeles where they will face UCLA on Friday, Oct. 29 and USC on Saturday, Oct. 30. Washington is currently tied for third in the Pac-10 with USC and just a game ahead of the Bruins.
