University of Washington
Arizona State
No. 6 Dawgs Hand No. 5 Devils First Defeat
October 10, 2015 | Volleyball
SEATTLE – The last two Pac-12 teams to come into Alaska Airlines Arena sporting a top-five ranking and an undefeated record have now both left with a fresh “1” in the loss column, as sixth-ranked Washington swept to a victory over No. 5 Arizona State tonight before 3,418 fans. Washington (15-1, 5-1 Pac-12) handed then-No. 1 Stanford its first loss late in the 2014 season, and knocked Arizona State (15-1, 4-1 Pac-12) from the ranks of the unbeaten, 25-6, 28-26, 25-16.
The win extended Washington's Pac-12 home winning streak to 23 matches, dating back to the start of conference play in 2013. The Huskies also had a stunning start to the match, dominating the first set with a .619 attack percentage and allowing ASU just six points in the frame. That is the fewest points ever allowed by a Husky team in one set in Pac-12 play since rally scoring began in 2001.
It was quite a reversal from how UW started in its 3-1 win over Arizona on Wednesday, but more a continuation of how the Huskies closed that match out. “Just a lot of people doing their jobs play after play, especially on the defensive end,” said Head Coach Keegan Cook about the blistering start. “The girls were just on their assignments from the very beginning, and it got contagious; everyone just wanted to keep making plays.”
Arizona State came into the match leading the league in opponent attack percentage, limiting teams to .119 thus far, while UW came in leading the conference with a .318 mark on offense, so something had to give, and tonight the Huskies won that clash, as the Dawgs hit .337 overall and held the Sun Devils to just .081. Washington also had the advantage in kills (45-32), digs (51-42), and blocks (12.0-4.0). ASU also had surrendered the fewest service aces in the NCAA thus far, but UW got them for four aces, and missed just three serves, while ASU had one ace and five errors.
Freshman Destiny Julye led the team in kills for the second time in the last three matches, as she had 10 on a .389 attack percentage. Senior middle Melanie Wade had a career-high 10 blocks in only three sets, and she added eight kills on a .438 percentage for a team-best 13.5 total points. Fellow middle Lianna Sybeldon followed up her career-high 19 kills from Wednesday with seven more tonight, hitting .417. Pac-12 Libero of the Year Cassie Strickland had a big 17 digs and an ace along with several extended serving runs.
Senior defensive specialist Kim Condie reached double figure digs for the first time, with 10, and senior Justice Magraw also scored her first career point late in the third set with an ace. Sophomores Tia Scambray and Crissy Jones were also big, with Scambray posting eight kills and seven digs with three blocks, and Jones killing six swings on a .312 mark. Sophomore Bailey Tanner had 19 assists to lead the offensive attack and senior Katy Beals had a double-double with 16 assists and 11 digs, many of the diving variety as she covered a number of ASU tips.
The frosh, Destiny Julye with some thoughts on the win! pic.twitter.com/cnVsbuH1T9
— UW Volleyball (@UWVolleyball) October 10, 2015
ArizonaState suffered a tough blow midway through the second set, as their senior and career kills leader Macey Gardner suffered an injury on a swing on the left pin and was unable to return. The teams were locked in a tight second set battle at that point, but UW was able to pull ahead, and although it took five chances, the Huskies finished off the second set, 28-26, and then controlled the third set from start to finish.
“ASU started making some changes (after set one), and unfortunately Macey Gardner went down. She's a great player and even better person, so I hope that she gets better soon,” said Cook. “But they started moving some pieces around and we had to change our assignments; no one got overwhelmed or frustrated, they stayed focused as we made those changes, so I'm pleased with that.”
Julye landed the first kill for the Dawgs from the right, and then Kim Condie got an ace on just the third point against the team that came in allowing the fewest aces in the NCAA. The Dawgs came out hot, with kills from Crisssy Jones and Tia Scambray followed by a rejection for Scambray and Melanie Wade and a tip from Wade capped off an early 5-0 run by the Huskies for 6-2. Scambray put away two more kills, and Bailey Tanner hit one off the block and out on a Strickland set to help UW build a 10-3 lead and force an ASU timeout. Out of the break, Scambray threw up another roof on the left pin against Gardner, and the next point ended the same way on the other pin, with Wade and Tanner blocking Kizzy Ricedorff to make it 12-3 before ASU put one away, ending another 6-0 run by the Huskies. Washington forced two more ASU errors and then Wade and DeHoog roofed another Sun Devil swing, and Wade hit one to the deep corner as UW was on another 4-0 run to prompt ASU's last timeout at 16-4. Scambray floated another ace off the defense and then Julye rolled one deep for a transition kill after a Beals pancake dig as the Huskies kept rolling. DeHoog extended the run with a right side finish to make it 21-4, and Julye connected in transition for a 10th-straight point on Scambray's serve. ASU finally snapped that run, but then missed two more swings to bring the Dawgs to set point, amazingly, at 24-5. Sybeldon, who had 19 kills two nights earlier, had her first tonight to finish off the set, 25-6. Washington hit an astronomical .619 in the set, getting 13 kills without making an error on 21 swings, and held ArizonaState to -.179. Julye killed all four of her swings in the set and Wade assisted on four blocks.
Sybeldon quickly got a second kill early in set two, and a Scambray finish off a Beals set gave the Dawgs a 3-2 lead. Two ASU errors made it a 5-3 lead, but the Sun Devils rallied with three in a row to move back up one before DeHoog hit from the opposite side for a kill. The Sun Devils earned three more points to earn their biggest early lead at 6-9, but Julye killed a tough swing and an ASU setting error pulled the Huskies back to 8-9. Jones and Sybeldon rejected an ASU swing for 10-11. The teams traded sideouts but ASU strung a couple together, ending a long rally with a swing that just found the back corner line to make it a 12-16 ASU lead and the Huskies called their first timeout. Wade put away her second attempt out of the break for 13-16, but Gardner landed a back row kill for ASU to make it 14-18. Julye tipped one perfectly over and down for 16-19. At 17-20, the crowd got a scare as Gardner, ASU's leader, landed awkwardly and suffered an injury, and the point was replayed. Strickland's jump serve was overpassed and Scambray got a kill on an ASU net violation, and then Jones put away a transition kill to get UW within one. Strickland then hammered a serve that ASU watched spin straight to the end line for an ace and the Dawgs were back level at 20-all. ASU snapped that run but Wade answered in serve-receive. Wade tied it again at 22-22 with another slam set up by Beals. Julye made a heady play to save a shank by Wade and keep the rally alive, and Wade returned the favor by stuffing the ASU swing alongside Tanner to get the Dawgs a 23-22 lead and force an ASU timeout. A marathon rally followed with several tremendous digs by both teams and finally it was the freshman Julye that ended it off the block and out for set point, 24-22. The Devils saved the first in serve-receive, and then the Dawgs were caught off guard by a short serve from Bianca Arellano that fell for an ace and tied it up. Julye banged off the block and out for 25-24. Julye had a swing at it on the next point but just caught the antenna. The Devils gave it back on a serve into the net, but they saved a fourth UW chance with a right side finish. Sybeldon earned the Dawgs a fifth try with a rocket from the middle, and a great serve from Julye forced ASU to send over a free ball, and Sybeldon would have no more, as she put it down to give the Huskies the big 28-26 win. Both teams had 17 kills in the set, and both teams had 20 digs, Condie collecting five for UW. ASU hit .234 compared to .222 for the Huskies, but ASU missed two more serves in the set. Sybeldon had five kills in the set, hitting .571 to lead the way.
The first point of the third set came from Julye's right arm, but ASU built a slim lead with four of the next five points. The Dawgs got charged up again on another big Strickland service run, with Scambray getting consecutive kills set by Tanner to spark it. Strickland's big serve prompted an overpass and Wade slammed it down to move the Dawgs up 5-4, and then Wade and Scambray posted a stuff block to keep Strickland's serve going. Wade had a solo block of an ASU tip attempt to make it 7-4 and the Devils took time. Out of the break, Strickland's serve was overpassed again and Jones finished the Tanner set for 8-4. Scambray pushed down another ASU misplayed ball above the net for 9-4 before Strickland finally missed to end the 7-0 Husky run. The Sun Devils got back within two points, but Tanner put down a Beals set and then Wade and DeHoog had a big block, followed by a solo stuff from Julye that stretched the lead back to 13-8. DeHoog crushed one from the right off a Strickland bump set, and then Scambray laid out for a dig that Jones killed in transition as Coach Cook could only applaud his team's effort that made it 16-10. Sybeldon slammed a Tanner set, and on the ensuing play Strickland punched up a dig and Jones dove towards the stands and slid to a stop right by the front row to keep it up, and ASU then missed wide on its next attack as the Dawgs earned another standing ovation for the effort, and a 19-13 lead. Jones and Wade added right side finishes to keep the Dawgs on track. Senior Justice Magraw checked in for the first time at 21-15, and her first serve was overpassed and Julye got up to hammer it down. Magraw's next serve then caught the tape and rolled down for her first career ace. Magraw kept the service run going as Wade and Julye had a stuff to reach match point at 24-15. On the second chance, DeHoog hit from the right off the block and down behind it for her fourth kill of the night, closing it out, 25-16. Washington hit .314 in the final frame and held ASU to .083. Wade had five big blocks in the set, as UW had six as a team, and Strickland had 10 digs in the third set alone.
Having played their fourth match over an eight day span, the Huskies now get the weekend to rest and will stay at home for two matches against the Oregon schools next week. Next Wednesday, the Huskies host OregonState for a 7:30 p.m. start time, and then Friday the Dawgs face 25th-ranked Oregon at 8 p.m.
