University of Washington
Oregon State
Huskies Sweep Beavers, On To Eugene
October 12, 2012 | Volleyball
Oct. 12, 2012
» Strickland Proves Best Defense A Good Offense
CORVALLIS, Ore. - With the exception of one lull late in the second set, it was all Washington tonight at the Gill Coliseum, and the second-ranked Huskies (16-0, 7-0 Pac-12) were able to overcome the lapse and defeat Oregon State, 25-15, 25-22, 25-14, in front of a crowd of 2,312. Washington did its part to set up a much-anticipated road match tomorrow night at fifth-ranked Oregon, which will be streamed live on Pac-12.com starting at 7 p.m.
Sophomore Krista Vansant had a match-high 20 kills, a career-best for a three-set match, and hit .318 as Washington outhit Oregon State, .275-.096 as a team. Vansant added 10 digs for a double-double, while Jenna Orlandini had 16 digs and freshman Cassie Strickland had a season-high 15 digs and four kills. Sophomore Kaleigh Nelson hit .333 with 10 kills and senior Amanda Gil had a match-high seven blocks as UW put down 11 rejections to just three for OSU.
The Huskies defeated Oregon State (12-7, 2-5 Pac-12) for the 21st consecutive match, but it was a well-earned win, as the Beavers were receiving votes in this week's AVCA top-25, and ranked 27th nationally in RPI. OSU is the only team this year to have defeated No. 1-ranked Penn State. But the Dawgs ran away late in sets one and three, and had an 11-point lead at one point in the second set, but had to sweat it out after OSU cut the lead down to two at 22-20.
"I told the team that there's two things we can take from this match," Head Coach Jim McLaughlin said. "When we're playing our game and doing what we do we can be a very good team. Oregon State is a good team and has some weapons and they will beat some teams. But at the same time, we get a big lead, then lose focus and make errors, and things change very fast.
"We have to play one play at a time and give everything we have on each point. Each play has a life of its own. So we have to put a lot of value in that. But it's a good Pac-12 road win so I'm happy but there's still a lot to work on."
Oregon State won three of the first four points of the night, but then Vansant had her first two kills to tie it at 3-3. An ace from Vansant gave UW its first lead at 7-6, but the teams went back and forth tying it up several more times. Washington's first big run was a five-point burst on Cassie Strickland's serve. Vansant had a kill, OSU misfired and then hit into the block of Amanda Gil and Kylin Muñoz. An ace from Strickland capped the run and forced an OSU timeout with UW up 15-11. A line drive ace from Muñoz forced another Beavers timeout at 18-13, but UW continued to pull away out of the break, as Vansant landed a kill, and then OSU made a trio of errors. Muñoz's serve continued to roll and Vansant connected for two kills as UW ran all the way to set point at 24-13, a streak of eight straight points from 16-13. The Beavers saved one set point but then missed their next service to give the set to the Dawgs, 25-15. Vansant had a huge eight kills in the first set on a sizzling .538 attack percentage (8-1-13) and Strickland dug eight balls.
The second set looked like a blowout early on but ended up being way too close for comfort for the Huskies. They carried their hot finish into the start of the second set, opening up a 4-0 lead with Katy Beals serving, and then extending that to 8-2 before Oregon State called a timeout. Muñoz put a Beals set away and then Dunaway and Vansant blocked an attempt from Ariza Nassar for a 10-2 edge, capping a 5-0 run. Vansant padded her kills total with two more and Kaleigh Nelson got on track midway through the set with two terminations and UW's lead hit double digits for the first time at 14-4. Back-to-back swings by Nelson and Strickland made it 17-6 and OSU took its last timeout. But whatever was said in that break seemed to work, as OSU went on a 4-0 run to make it 17-10 and force a Husky timeout. Nelson put one away out of the break, but the Beavers plowed ahead again with four more points until making a service error. The lead shrunk to three points at 20-17 before Muñoz put one away, only the second kill for UW in a 15 point stretch. But Vansant followed that with another kill for 22-17. Again, Oregon State wouldn't go away, with two kills from Ashley Eneliko and a block to make it 22-20 and force UW's second timeout. Vansant got a kill on a slow roll shot, and one point later, Nelson hammered one for set point at 24-21. OSU saved the first, and had a swing at the next point, but Gil and Nelson stood tall on the right side to block Saxton and end it, 25-22. Washington outhit OSU, .229 to .146 in the set, with Nelson hitting .500 with five kills, and Orlandini registering nine digs.
A Kelcey Dunaway kill gave the Huskies an early 4-2 lead in the third set, then Dunaway assisted on two straight blocks, one with Nelson and another with Strickland for a 7-4 lead. The Beavers trimmed the lead to one, but Muñoz and Vansant had two straight finishes and then Gil and Muñoz blocked Laura Schaudt to force an OSU timeout at 12-8. The Huskies extended the run to six points with the same trio of plays: a Muñoz kill, a Vansant kill, and a then a block from Gil and Muñoz for a 15-8 edge. The Beavers got the sideout but then Vansant put away two straight points to force another Oregon State timeout at 17-9 Dawgs. Nelson hammered a set from Nogueras on the right side for 22-13, and then followed that by putting down the overpass off a Dunaway serve for 23-13. Gil and Strickland then roofed one for match point, and two points later, Strickland got the kill on a touch off the hands to seal the win, 25-14. The Huskies hit .351 in the set with 16 kills and a big six blocks which helped hold the Beavers to a .000 percentage.
