University of Washington
New Hampshire (1st Round)
No. 3 Huskies Kick Off NCAAs With Sweep
December 06, 2014 | Volleyball
HUSKY VOLLEYBALL: TOURNEY TIME
SEATTLE – The third-seeded Husky volleyball team took care of business in its NCAA opener tonight at Alaska Airlines Arena, taking out the America East Conference champion New Hampshire Wildcats in straight sets. Washington (30-2) hit .451 on the night with four different players hitting over .400, en route to a 25-9, 25-6, 25-18 victory.
The Huskies advance to face Hawaii in the second round back in Alaska Airlines Arena tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. in a match that will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks. The 23rd-ranked Rainbow Wahine had an impressive straight set victory over 21st-ranked Duke in the day's first match to set up a second round meeting with the Huskies for the third time in the past five years.
With the 3,705 fans in attendance tonight, the Huskies topped 50,000 cumulative attendance for the first time in program history, leading the Pac-12 for the 10th time in the past 11 seasons. Washington reached the 30 win plateau for the second straight year, and the third time under Head Coach Jim McLaughlin.
This is Washington's 13th consecutive NCAA appearance under McLaughlin, and the Dawgs are now 13-0 in the first round during that stretch.
“Good to get the first one under our belt,” said McLaughlin. “I like (UNH Head Coach Jill Hirschinger)'s team. I like the way she coaches. I like their double-quick system. Fortunately we served real tough and got them off the net and they weren't able to set it as often as we saw it set on tape. But they have a good team and had a good year.”
“It was business-like. We played one point at a time and played hard with good positive energy,” McLaughlin thought.
Washington's senior All-Americans were powerful and efficient, as Pac-12 Player of the Year Krista Vansant had 16 kills and hit .469, and All-Pac-12 selection Kaleigh Nelson hit .667 with 12 kills and no errors. Junior middle Lianna Sybeldon had five kills and a team-best seven blocks while hitting .500, and fellow middle Melanie Wade had four kills, hit .444, and was at the service line for a big 15-point run the Huskies went on during the second set.
Redshirt freshman Jade Finau got the first start of her career tonight in her first NCAA match, and had a team-best 19 assists to go with nine digs, both career-highs. Fellow redshirt freshman Bailey Tanner also had 16 assists, and Pac-12 Libero of the Year Cassie Strickland had 16 digs to lead the defense and served up a pair of aces.
Nelson put down an overpass on the first rally of the night, and then Scambray hit an ace up the sideline. Another Nelson slam made it 3-1 in the early going. Nelson added a third and fourth kill on the right assisted by Finau for a 5-3 lead. Bailey Tanner checked in for the first time and hit an ace on her first serve. Vansant ended a long rally with a slam on the left, and then she teamed with Sybeldon for a block for 9-3. The run kept going with another Vansant kill and Tanner's second ace to force a Wildcats timeout at 11-3. Sybeldon had a kill and then on the next point bumped an assist to Scambray for a 13-4 lead. UNH made two more errors as the Huskies pushed ahead 15-4. Courtney Schwan put one down through the block for 16-5. Melanie Wade got into the action on a transition swing from Tanner for 17-5. Strickland hammered her first ace to the court for 18-5 and New Hampshire took its last timeout. Strickland got a little help on the next serve as it caught the tape and fell over for another ace, then UNH overpassed and Scambray banged it down for 20-5. A Nelson kill and a couple Wildcats errors got the Dawgs to set point at 24-8. UNH saved the first one, but Vansant punished a Finau set up the seam to end it, 25-9. The Dawgs rolled up a .462 attack percentage in the set and held New Hampshire to .038. Nelson killed all five of her swings for a 1.000 hitting percentage. Washington also served up five aces.
The teams were even over the first four points of the second set, but then the Huskies broke off a huge run on the serve of Wade. Washington won 15 points in a row to march ahead to 17-2 and force both of New Hampshire's timeouts. Vansant had five kills during the run and Sybeldon had three blocks, with Wade's serving pressuring the Wildcats into a number of errors. Wade finally served out to end the run, but Nelson came back with a kill on a UNH blocking error. Wade rotated into the front and had a kill for 22-5. Schwan put one to the floor, and on the first set point, Nelson finished a Finau set with a tip over the block to win it, 25-6. The Huskies hit .464 in the second after their .462 mark in the first set, and New Hampshire was held to -.189. Vansant hit .700 with seven kills on 10 swings.
No matter how you look at it, it's #PointHuskies tonight. pic.twitter.com/yJtwYKqqGM
— Washington Huskies (@UWAthletics) December 6, 2014
The Huskies won the first three points of the third set, starting with a Tanner ace, and followed up with kills from Vansant and Nelson. Sybeldon and Nelson teamed for a block for a 5-1 lead. Freshman Crissy Jones checked into the match for the first time to a big ovation, after she missed the final four matches of the regular season with an ankle injury. The Wildcats got their offense going and cut the Husky lead down to 8-6, but Scambray answered that with a kill deep to the end line. Jones got her first kill on the right side on a Tanner set for 10-8. Finau found Nelson on the right in transition for a slam off the block and 12-9, then Vansant and Wade posted a block of a slide attempt to extend it. Sybeldon reached high for a Finau set and tipped it over and down for 15-11 and the media timeout. Wade's serve was overpassed out of the break and Finau set Sybeldon for a big slam. Vansant put another away for 18-12, and Tanner set a slide to Sybeldon for another kill and a 19-13 edge. After a Scambray left side swing found paydirt, UNH took its first timeout at 20-14. The Wildcats converted in serve-receive out of the break, but Jones came back with a right side shot to answer. Wade earned another kill, but New Hampshire came back with a pair for 22-18. Nelson clocked one to the court to snap that mini-run, and New Hampshire called timeout. Sybeldon had a solo block out of the break to get the Huskies to match point at 24-18, and a Wildcat error on the next play ended it, 25-18. Washington again hit over .400 in the third, finishing at .432 while New Hampshire had its best set at .265. Vansant had six more kills and Sybeldon killed all three of her swings.
