How did Washington beat Oregon State?

The Oregon State Beavers headed north with a 3-1 record in the Pac-12 and 11-3 overall. It was an impressive record, especially considering they were without one of their best players from 2010 (6-5 Mona Kressl, out for the season with a knee injury) and without their second-best hitter of 2011 (6-0 Dre Shaw, high ankle sprain since Sep. 17).

Washington's Krista Vansant (16) attacks against Oregon State's Arica Nassar (40) and Allie Rogers (20)
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

The Beavers lost Friday night in Pullman, but seemed energized in Edmunson Pavilion. They brought a vocal fan section, thanks largely to the families of two Seattle-area players, setter Megan McBride (Auburn-Mountainview HS) and outside hitter Ashley Eneliko (Kennedy HS). And though their offense was weak against the Huskies (they hit just .071), their defense was among the better Washington has faced this season.

So, how did Washington win?

The Beavers were unbalanced.

McBride set one teammate—outside hitter Camille Saxton—a jaw-dropping 57 times. McBride had 15 attacks of her own, which meant that the rest of her teammates had relatively few opportunities to swing. Saxton had just 4 errors, but 39 of her attacks were dug, leaving a modest .200 average. And as impressive as McBride's setter attacks and dumps looked, they rarely succeeded--UW's defense had adjusted nicely.

Husky setter Evan Sanders, by contrast, continued to spread it around, with the biggest share of her sets going to Kylin Muñoz. Sanders usually dishes out more attempts to freshman Krista Vansant, but Muñoz had many of her attacks dug, particularly when she hit cross-court at Beavers libero Becky Defoe. For the night, Muñoz hit just .186.

Summer Ross came through again.

As Washington Coach Jim McLaughlin points out almost every match, freshman Summer Ross’ many contributions don’t always show up in the box score. Against the Beavers, she had 6 kills and just one error on 17 swings (.294). Ross shared in 6 blocks (out of 12 total team blocks.) And she was both the server and the biggest stud in the final rally of the match.

Ross’ value against OSU was hidden in her dig total: she was credited with 12. But so many of those digs were of the head-slapping how’d-she-do-that? variety. With years of experience as one of the world’s elite beach volleyball players, Ross instinctively assumes that every ball might be hers, and she is rarely unprepared or out of position. Her digs are usually clean and right on target. She is most valuable when points deteriorate to tip-and-scramble; more times than not, Ross is there to pick it up.

Washington's Lauren Barfield (8) and Summer Ross (99) stuff block Oregon State's Kelsey Zimmerman (12)
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

Lauren Barfield is no fluke.

After the match, McLaughlin admitted that All-American middle blocker Bianca Rowland and transfer setter Sanders are struggling to find their groove—Rowland’s numbers were once again way below expectations, and many times it seemed as if Sanders was setting the quick too high. But the hole in the middle was once again patched by Lauren Barfield, whose long arms and slower approach seem well-matched with Sanders’ pace. Barfield had 7 kills and no errors; for the weekend she hit .414 and shared in 10 blocks. As long as Barfield is producing, Rowland and Sanders will be given more time to work out their timing.