How did Washington beat WSU?

The match was a rout.

Washington State had a reasonable excuse, however, for its 0-3 (25-14, 25-21, 25-14) pasting at the hands of rival Washington. The Cougars were playing their third road match in five nights … a wintry slog through Denver, Salt Lake City and Seattle.

Washington's Bianca Rowland (15) and Kylin Munoz (24) block against WSU's Chelsey Bettinson (12)
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

That kind of NBA-style roadtrip might not happen next season. More on that in a moment.

The first thing the Cougars had to notice on arrival was the large and loud crowd in Hec Edmundson Pavilion: an audience in excess of 3,000 on a cold, dark November Tuesday night. The turnout was unexpected, considering Seattleites were sloshing through a rain-soaked commute, trying to negotiate ever-distant parking lots as Husky Stadium renovation pushes arriving fans further and further from Alaska Airlines Arena. 

[note to Washington AD Scott Woodward: $7 is too steep a price to charge for volleyball parking on dark, stormy nights.]

[further note: The Thanksgiving week crowd was another reminder that volleyball continues a near-decade long pattern as the third-biggest UW sports attraction, behind only football and mens’ basketball. 3,000+ fans are way more than the women’s basketball team attracts, even in good weather.]

Washington's Kylin Munoz (24)
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

With an energetic crowd offering support and the Cougars looking tired, Huskies hitters had a field day.

• Washington hit .506 (45 kills, 5 errors on 79 attempts) … its highest conference average since hitting .533 against Arizona State in 2005—the year Washington won the National Championship.
• Junior outside hitter Kylin Muñoz hit a decent .333 (6 kills, 1 error, 15 attempts). UW’s other five attackers all hit better than .400, led by freshman outside hitter Krista Vansant (14/1/19, .684), senior middle blocker Lauren Barfield (6/0/9, .667), and senior middle blocker Bianca Rowland (7/1/10, .600). Over the past nine matches, Rowland is hitting an incredible .458 (88/12/166).

This match was originally scheduled for the first week of the conference season, back in September. Both teams agreed to move it to this final week of the conference season, to avoid playing three matches that first week. [see: Pac-12’s wacky rivalry week is upon us)

Volleyblog Seattle has learned that the Pac-12 plans to eliminate two conference volleyball matches next season, in part to avoid weeks when three matches are scheduled in six or fewer nights. We’re awaiting an official response from Pac-12 officials to answer questions about how the league will determine which two matches will drop from each team’s schedule, and whether volleyball will adopt North/South divisions, a la football.

The lessons from this match are more urgent than for most … these two rivals will square off again on Friday in Pullman. So, as the Cougars return home and try to figure this one out, let’s also consider: How did Washington beat WSU?

THE HUSKIES DOMINATED SERVE/SERVE RECEIVE

Washington setter Jenni Nogueras (9)
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

By now, all regular Volleyblog Seattle readers know Washington Coach Jim McLaughlin’s mantra: the team that wins the serve/serve receive battle almost always wins the match. Great serves force an opponent into either an error or a free ball; great serve receives allow a team to run all options in its offense.

Washington’s serve last night was consistently strong. Junior Jenna Orlandini had 4 of the Huskies’ 11 service aces. Junior setter Jenni Nogueras created a couple of serving runs with a beautiful float serve that drove Cougar passers all the way to the back line.

“She puts up a still ball that doesn’t rotate,” said Washington freshman Summer Ross about Nogueras, “and it just floats all over the place. It’s so hard to pass.”

When WSU served, it rarely rattled the Huskies, who guided most passes right to the setters.

“Krista and Jo (Orlandini) were passing really great,” said Ross. “Everyone’s really locking their elbows, like Jim taught us to. And getting our angle out. It’s pretty sweet.”

WSU's Meagan Ganzer
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

Meagan Ganzer, the Cougars’ talented outside hitter, agreed.

“I think the passing and serving is the base of our problem sometimes,” Ganzer said. “I know we have a good offense, we’ve just got to be able to run it.”

This was Ganzer’s last collegiate appearance at Hec Ed. The senior from Tahoma High School is one of the nation’s premiere hitters, currently sixth in Division 1 in kills per set.

“I love playing in this area (Seattle), I do,” she said. “In club volleyball, I played in the Emerald City Classic every year with my club team—I played on this floor as a 16s, 17s and 18s player. WSU/UW is a big rivalry for any Coug. I’m really excited to play them again on Friday.”

THE HUSKIES’ ATTACK CAME FROM EVERYWHERE

In the first set, WSU served with UW leading 16-10. After a good pass, Rowland sped around behind Nogueras, looking for all the world like she was going to hit a slide. The Cougar blockers planted, Rowland cocked her arm … but never pulled the trigger. The set kept rising until Vansant soared—seemingly from nowhere—to clobber the ball down the line.

When passing is near-perfect, it’s up to setters to keep the defense off balance by disguising which hitter they will set. Teams practice combinations all the time, but only the most confident teams actually employ them in matches.

Too often this season, setters Nogueras and Evan Sanders have pushed the ball out to Vansant and Muñoz—or tried to connect with middles Barfield and Rowland—when hitters Ross or Gabbi Parker were available on the right side, or when Vansant or Ross might attack from the back row.

Against WSU, the distribution was far and wide.

“I like it when I don’t know where the setters are going to go,” said McLaughlin. “We’ve got a little more confidence where we can play a little faster. So we’re playing a little faster to the pins.”

Jenni Nogueras (9), Krista Vansant, Bianca Rowland and Gabbi Parker
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

“Our setters were amazing,” said Ross. “Both Jenni and Evan were delivering perfect.”

“Jim told me earlier today that I really needed to work to make myself available in the back row,” said Vansant. “I was telling the setters, I’m here if you need me, set me the pipe.”

“I really want to continue to work on it. It can be a good thing for our offense to spread the block out a little bit.”

“She’s learning how to fight,” said McLaughlin about Vansant. “She’s learning how to learn and to make changes. She’s gonna take off.”

NOTES:

• This was the first time former UW assistant coach Pat Stangle has coached against his friend and mentor Jim McLaughlin. Stangle was a McLaughlin assistant at UW from 2000-2003. He was later head coach at Wyoming.
• Ganzer had a nice contingent in the stands for her final Hec Ed appearance. It included cousin Mike Mills, the head coach of Woodinville High School’s volleyball program.
• Pac-12 volleyball matches have four officials: an up ref, a down ref and two linespersons. The up and down refs usually fly in from another state, but since last night featured two Washington teams, all four officials were local. The up ref was Ami Filimaua, the down ref was Allan Chinn. The line judges were  John Bryant and Robyn Filimaua. Robyn is Ami's wife and has been selected to be a line judge at several NCAA Final Fours.