Pac-12 | Washington volleyball bounces back, sweep Utes

Right-siders help Huskies right ship

• #1 Washington def. Utah 3-0 (25-23, 25-15, 30-28)

24 hours after losing its first game of the season, Washington stormed back to sweep Utah 3-0 (25-23, 25-15, 30-28) in Salt Lake City. And two players who struggled in the loss led the way in the win.

Washington celebrates 3-0 sweep of Utah
-Utah Athletics

Kaleigh Nelson had a huge night, with 13 kills and 3 errors on 26 swings. Her fellow right-side hitter Kylin Muñoz added six kills and 2 errors on 18 attempts. The combined 18 kills more than doubled their output in the four-set loss to Colorado.

The Huskies’ performance improved in all departments, as they recorded 6 aces (2 by Krista Vansant) and 7 team blocks (3 block assists each by Lianna Sybeldon and Cassie Strickland.) Setters Jenni Nogueras and Katy Beals sent 44 attempts to their opposites, 42 attempts to their outsides and 23 to their middles.

Trailing by 3 in the first set, Washington scored 7 of the final 9 points, including 2 kills and a block assist by Nelson. The Huskies’ dominant second set featured a 5-point serving run by libero Jenna Orlandini as UW closed on a 20-8 run. In the deciding third set, Washington fought off two Utah set points before winning 30-28.

For the match, UW outhit Utah .255-.174. The Utes committed 21 attack errors, 8 service errors (against just 2 aces) and 2 blocking errors.

NOTES:

• This was a rare Saturday Pac-12 match; the Pac-12 Network prefers to broadcast football on Saturdays, so the Utah match was available as a live feed from its athletic department. There are four conference matches Sunday, highlighted by Cal @ #2 USC and #21 Oregon @ #15 Arizona St.
• The Big Ten had a lot of fives. #5 Penn State needed 5 sets to overtake #24 Purdue, after trailing 2 sets to 1. Ditto for #8 Minnesota, which won the final three sets against Iowa after dropping the first two. In an upset, Illinois needed 5 to defeat #14 Michigan. And #10 Nebraska took five to stop #23 Wisconsin.