University of Washington
Pittsburgh
No. 9 Huskies Block Pittsburgh's Path In Sweep
September 16, 2010 | Volleyball
Sept. 16, 2010
PITTSBURGH, Penn. - Behind a great wall of blockers, the ninth-ranked Husky volleyball team swept the Pittsburgh Panthers tonight at the Fitzgerald Field House in the first match of the Pittsburgh Blue & Gold Invitational. Washington (9-0) dominated the net with 15 stuffs, the most blocks for UW in a three-set match since 2007.
Set scores tonight were 25-19, 25-11, 25-12 as UW pushed its consecutive set win streak to 27. After a close first set, Washington went on a huge run to open set two, posting 10 blocks in the second set alone, to drop the Panthers to a -.290 attack percentage for the frame. Junior Bianca Rowland had a career high nine blocks, while senior Kindra Carlson had seven blocks and sophomores Kelcey Dunaway and Kylin Muñoz had four apiece.
Carlson's overall stat line was extremely impressive as she had 16 kills while hitting .500, and adding two aces and six digs along with her seven blocks. Senior Becky Perry hit .375 tonight with 12 kills and eight digs, while senior Jenna Hagglund had 38 assists and redshirt freshman Jenna Orlandini dug up 14 balls.
"The second game we just got on a tear with our block," said head coach Jim McLaughlin. "We talk about getting a return for all our work in that area and tonight we did. We hit the ball in, and I thought we made some good shots. Jenna moved the ball around but she needs to set the quick more," he added.
Perry stepped up early with a solo stuff and consecutive kills to put the Huskies up 6-3 in the first set. Carlson then had four-straight UW points to keep Washington moving forward. But the Panthers went on a 4-0 run to take a brief lead at 13-12, until Muñoz notched her first kill to stop the run, and Perry followed with back-to-back kills to force a Pitt timeout. The Panthers twice got within one, but Dunaway and Carlson teamed up for a block for a 20-18 lead and Dunaway backed it up with an ace to cause the Panthers to signal for timeout two. Two more Carlson swings found their target as UW took the final three points of the set for the 25-19 win. Washington hit .432 for the set with a sterling 18 assists from Hagglund on 19 kills.
After the Panthers had connected at a .257 pace in the first set, they would find it decidedly tougher sledding in set two. Washington went on an 8-0 run to start the second set despite a Pitt timeout after the first five points. Fittingly, the first point of the set ended on a three-way block from Dunaway, Carlson, and Muñoz. Muñoz then had back-to-back putdowns, and met up with Rowland for another rejection on the next point. Dunaway's serving continued to throw off the Pitt receive game, and the Dawgs posted another triple block from Carlson, Rowland, and Muñoz, and then just an ordinary double-block from Rowland and Muñoz for the 8-0 lead. A setting error from Perry broke the string, but then the block party was back on with a Rowland/Carlson finish and a Rowland solo roof. Carlson rocketed an ace for an 11-1 UW lead and another timeout was called. Two more blocks and a Perry kill made it 15-2 Huskies. The Panthers' first kill came on the 18th point of the set from Rachel Kalberer. Muñoz gave the Huskies set point with a kill and a Panther miscue ended things at 25-11. Rowland had seven blocks in the second set alone, as the Huskies dominated despite registering just eight kills in the set, due to the fact that they forced 14 Pittsburgh errors.
Hagglund looked for Rowland more in the third set, as the junior middle got four kills early on to help establish an 11-5 Husky lead and cause the Panthers to take their first timeout of the set. Rowland and Hagglund then set back a swing from Jenn Katona for a 12-5 edge. Freshman Gabbi Parker checked in during set three and posted her first kill to make it 18-10 Dawgs. Parker would then serve the match out in a dominant fashion. Carlson put one down to give UW the side out up 20-12 and send Parker to the service line. A Perry kill and a Panther error was then followed by three-straight service aces for the rookie from Eugene, and that put the exclamation point on the 25-12 set win. The Huskies hit .423 in the final set with five kills from Perry and four each from Carlson and Rowland plus six digs from Orlandini.
The Huskies will be back in action tomorrow at 2 p.m. Pacific time to face another set of Panthers, these ones hailing from Eastern Illinois.
