University of Washington
Long Beach State
Huskies Close Hard To Beat No. 22 Long Beach State
August 27, 2011 | Volleyball
Aug. 27, 2011
Game One Recap: Huskies Top Retrievers In Three
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LONG BEACH, Calif. - Despite a major struggle in the middle part of tonight's match, the seventh-ranked Husky volleyball team rallied on the home court of a 22nd-ranked Long Beach State team, and pulled through for the 3-1 victory over the 49ers in front of 1,862 fans at the Walter Pyramid. The Huskies (3-0) faced set points in the third set but held on to take the set and then ran away in the fourth to capture the Long Beach State Mizuno Invitational. Earlier Saturday, UW defeated UMBC in straight sets.
Freshman Krista Vansant earned tournament MVP honors, and senior Bianca Rowland, freshman Summer Ross, and sophomore Jenni Nogueras were named to the All-Touranament Team, while sophomore Jenna Orlandini was the Most Valuable Libero.
Tonight, Vansant led the way with 12 kills and 11 digs for her first double-double, but it was the defenses that dominated as Washington won despite hitting just .140 for the match, while LBSU was limited to just .090 on offense. But the Huskies boosted that number by clicking in the fourth set with a .519 mark. The back-and-forth battle went to the Dawgs, 25-13, 13-25, 29-27, 25-11.
Late in the third set, Long Beach State had three set points that would have given it a two set to one lead, but they missed their first two chances on service errors, and then Vansant saved the third with a kill. Setter Evan Sanders then put UW ahead with an ace, and a 49ers attack error handed the pivotal set to the Huskies, 29-27. Washington rolled in the fourth set, starting on an 8-1 run and from there Long Beach State was gassed. Kylin Muñoz had five kills on six swings in the fourth set.
"I think a match like this is going to end up being more valuable because of the environment and the crowd," said Head Coach Jim McLaughlin. "They put pressure on us and then we responded after losing our composure a little bit. We became more aggressive settled down and played well. But this will also show us we have a lot of work to do and we'll go into practice with a higher understanding of what we need to do."
Nogueras started the match and led UW to the lopsided first set win, and she earned the All-Tournament honors, but it was Sanders that came in to start the third set and piloted the Dawgs to the wins in the final two sets.
"Evan came in and settled us down and we just started passing the ball and running our offense better. We hit over .500 in the fourth set and when we're in a rhythm and distributing the ball we're hard to stop. We began to serve and pass better and we won that battle in the end," said McLaughlin.
In the first set, Long Beach State held a 5-4 lead, until Lauren Barfield assisted on consecutive blocks, one with Vansant and the next with Ross, then an ace from Vansant was followed by a kill from Barfield and another tandem block with her and Ross for a 9-5 Husky lead. Vansant had a solo roof for a 15-9 lead and the Niners took time. But UW pulled away out of the timeout, aided by consecutive aces from Kelly Holford against her hometown team. Barfield found the floor again to bring up set point, and Vansant's second ace ended it, 25-13. UW hit just .143 in the set but LBSU was in negative numbers, caused in large part by seven Husky team blocks (five assisted by Barfield), and the Huskies had five aces in the frame.
Washington's attack had its first hiccup in the second set. UW had a 6-5 lead but LBSU made a 4-0 run, the last two on block assists, to force a Husky timeout. A kill by Muñoz pulled the Huskies within one at 13-12, but from there it was all Long Beach. Tyler Jackson served the 49ers on a seven point surge and they closed out the set, 25-15. Washington had just six kills in the set against 10 errors while LBSU had its best hitting frame at .237.
After the intermission, set three would prove to be crucial. Evan Sanders checked in to set, but Long Beach maintained its momentum with an early 4-1 lead. But Rowland terminated a Sanders set, and that sparked a 7-0 run with Muñoz on the service line. Rowland and Vansant teamed up for two blocks in the run, then Vansant notched consecutive kills for an 8-4 lead and a LBSU timeout. But the 49ers rallied back to tie things at 11 on a Janisa Johnson ace. Muñoz had a kill and teamed with Rowland for a block to push back ahead, and Rowland then turned back a Johnson attack solo for a 16-12 Husky lead. A well-timed 3-0 run by LBSU got them even again at 21-21 and the Huskies took time. A Rowland and Ross rejection made it 23-21, but Muñoz was blocked twice in a row and again UW called time, tied up at 23. Washington had the first set point after LBSU's senior Caitlin Ledoux misfired, but the Niners grabbed the next two points to put UW behind the eight ball. Twice the 49ers missed their serves when up a set point, and a Vansant kill saved a third to make it 27-27 as the pressure mounted. Sanders then notched an ace for UW's second set point, and a Johnson error finally gave it to the Dawgs. Rowland had a solo block and five more block assists in the third set alone
Washington stepped on the accelerator in the fourth set, running out to an 8-1 run that included three kills from Muñoz. Orlandini tossed in an ace to build the lead to ten at 13-3 and LBSU whistled its last timeout early. Barfield had a block with Ross sandwiched in-between two kills to make it 16-4 and the Huskies cruised to the finish line from there. Vansant punctuated her MVP performance with the final two kills of the 25-11 match clinching win.
Playing against an experienced Long Beach State squad which sported one of the best blocks in the country last year, Coach McLaughlin was pleased the Huskies responded to the challenge, and liked what he saw from Vansant this weekend. "I'm proud of her in every way, shape and form," he said. "The thing that I was impressed with was her passing. She settled down and she dug some balls. It was just a good win for her because I think she developed some confidence in some areas of her game. It was really good to see for a young kid."
The Huskies will be back in action next weekend in Spokane for the Northwest Challenge, where they will face Boise State, Gonzaga, and Portland State over next Friday and Saturday.
