Pac-12 | Washington’s Kelcey Dunaway awarded a postgraduate scholarship

Graduating senior is one of just three Pac-12 volleyball players to win honor

Pac-12 | What we learned from Washington’s win at California

#5 Washington 3, California 2 (25-22, 22-25, 16-25, 28-26, 17-15)

next: #5 Washington @ #1 Stanford | November 8 | 8PM | Pac-12 Network

All Pac-12: Rowland, Vansant, Ross

Bianca Rowland & Krista Vansant
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

Washington's Krista Vansant was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, and senior Bianca Rowland was named to the Pac-12 All-Conference first team today.

Vansant was also named All-Conference Honorable Mention. Outside hitter Summer Ross was honorable mention for the Freshman team.

USC swept all the other major awards: Mick Haley, coach of the year, Alex Jupiter, player of the year, Kendall Bateman, setter of the year, and Natalie Hagglund, libero of the year.

From where we sit, two players on the All-Conference honorable mention team belonged instead on the First Team: Correy Johnson and Robin Rostratter, both of Cal.

Summer Ross should have been on the All-Freshman team. Hitters are too often evaluated only for their hitting, but Ross is an exceptional server, passer and blocker, and she played nearly every single second of the season.

Lauren Barfield--one of the nation's top blockers and a vastly improved hitter--deserved Honorable Mention consideration.

The Pac-12 press release and full list of honorees: Pac-12 Postseason Honors Announced

How did California beat Washington?

“It might be the first time we lost a match when we won the serve/serve receive battle.” –Washington Coach Jim McLaughlin.

BERKELEY, CA— Haas Pavilion was sweltering. It was the second set, the score tied at 18, Cal leading one set to none. The ensuing rally seemed to last an eternity: sets were less than sharp, attacks were strong but digable. Time and again, someone made a near-impossible save and play continued. Tips fooled no one; roll shots didn’t drop; the ball seemed as if it would never hit the hardwood. Finally, after another how’d-she-do-that save, Summer Ross’ dig gave setter Jenni Nogueras enough options, and Krista Vansant finally found the floor.

Cal’s 3-1 victory over visiting Washington was not a thing of beauty. It was an odd, emotional and ultimately exhausting slugfest between two of the best teams in the nation. And it started with an unexpected twist that may someday be viewed as either brilliant or badly designed.

The twist had its roots five days earlier, when Washington Coach Jim McLaughlin studied stat sheets and film the Sunday after routine sweeps of Colorado and Utah. All season, his starting setter, Evan Sanders, had struggled to consistently connect with fellow senior All-American middle blocker Bianca Rowland. Redshirt sophomore setter Nogueras displayed better timing with Rowland, even if she was less in synch with some of her other teammates.

Washington Coach Jim McLaughlin sorting out
an out-of-rotation call
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

So McLaughlin had an idea: why not use both setters, with Nogueras paired primarily with Rowland, and Sanders with senior middle Lauren Barfield? The system has a name, a 6-2 (six hitters, two setters), and is in use in a significant minority of college and high school programs.

“I think it’s a good format for them (the Huskies),” McLaughlin said. “I thought of it Sunday, and we put it into effect, maybe Tuesday, Wednesday.”

In his eleventh season at Washington, it was the first time McLaughlin had ever used a two-setter system in a conference match. And his switcheroo surprised Cal coach Rich Feller.

“Yes, it did,” said Feller. “It was good. It was a great tactic by him.”

Time will tell. On three occasions, the Huskies were called for being out of rotation on serve receive, a common error when learning a new system. Kelcey Dunaway, one of Washington’ six hitters, got only three sets. And the Huskies’ two left-side hitters, junior Kylin Muñoz (.037) and freshman Krista Vansant (-.026) both had their worst matches of the season. Vansant struggled so mightily that she was pulled for the first time this year—at the end of the third set and most of the fourth set—for sophomore Gabbi Parker.

“Krista’s gotta learn,” said McLaughlin, “and sometimes you’ve gotta learn the hard way. Hitting down into the block just can’t happen. It can happen in high school, but it just can’t happen at a high level against a team that knows how to block.”

But the 6-2 offense also had a considerable upside. Bianca Rowland had 11 kills and just 1 error on 25 swings (.400). And freshman Summer Ross had her best match of the season: 14 kills, 1 error on 39 attempts, the most on the team.

“I told the team, I was proud of her (Summer), said McLaughlin. “She dug well and passed well, hit well, she did everything. I was really proud of her composure, her competitiveness. You know, they’ve written a lot of stuff about her, but she’s starting to earn it a little bit. It’s just different at this level, but she’s showing she can be a player at this level.”

But in the end, Cal earned its fourth straight victory over Washington, stretching back to last season. How did they do it?

THE BEARS DUG DEEP

Cal had 94 digs for the match; a big number. Some of that was due to poor hitting choices by the Huskies (see next section), but most was Cal’s never-say-die approach to defense. The Bears had good eyework, getting arms, hands and fists under the ball, then chasing several balls all the way to the stands to keep rallies alive. Libero Robin Rostratter had 26 digs; her UW counterpart, Jenna Orlandini, had another steady match with 20 digs.

The Huskies had 71 digs; they may have missed the presence of defensive specialist, who was the odd-player-out in the six-hitter system.

“Cal played awfully well,” said McLaughlin, “they played better than anything we’ve seen on film.”

THE HUSKIES DIDN’T MAKE CAL PAY

As they have all season, the Huskies served tough.

“That’s the best serving team we’ve seen,” said Feller.

Although Cal was forced out of system time and again (resulting in several sloppy-looking sets by Cal’s Elly Barrett), the Huskies all-too-frequently couldn’t convert the opportunity. In some cases, Sanders and Nogueras passed up opportunities for quick sets or back sets that might have gone for quick kills. In other cases, Vansant and Kylin Muñoz missed chances to tool the blockers or hit line, sending far too many attacks straight to Rostratter.

Cal’s serving, by contrast, was nothing spectacular, but once again, the Huskies had too few “first time” kills.

“It might be the first time we lost a match when we won the serve/serve receive battle,” said McLaughlin.

SLIP AND SLIDE

Washington has often struggled when the opposing middle blocker pulls behind the setter for a right-side slide. When Cal needed a run, they often ran their middles, to great effect.

“That’s their identity; they like to run the slide,” said McLaughlin. “And they had some success on us. But we’ll get better at that, it’s just exposure. You’re in a tight match against a good opponent, little things like that can make the difference.”

A BIG-TIME PLAYER STEPPED UP

All-American Tarah Murrey was all but invisible the first two sets. For the match, she hit just .132, taking 68 swings. But like all great athletes, she took over when the match was on the line. With the Huskies trailing 20-22 in the fourth set, a Cal For the match, she hit just .132, but Murrey took 68 swings. service error and three Summer Ross kills pulled UW even at 22, then 23, then 24, then 25. During most of Pac-12 play so far this season, the Huskies have come back time and again at the end of sets, and they seemed poised to do it again.

Cal's Tarah Murrey, off balance, attacks against Washington's Lauren Barfield (8) and Kelcey Dunaway (2)
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

But Murrey was on the other side of the net, and two of her kills were big-time: an out-of-system bomb that most players would have sent across as a free ball, and a back row attack that ultimately made the difference in the set and the match. Murrey would not be denied.

Both Summer Ross and Krista Vansant have all the tools be similarly big time. And McLaughlin thinks matches like this one can play a part. “We’re still growing, and we’re learning that, if we don’t do things right, there’s consequences. And that’s a good lesson.”

And, in the moments after the match, before Washington fans had time to weigh in about the wisdom of a 15-1 team—ranked second in the nation—changing its offense as it faced a fellow national power on a hostile court, McLaughlin was not backing down from his previous Sunday’s inspiration.

“This team has a chance, if we can learn, learn from our mistakes. And just kind of get into that and grind and accept it and get fired up about making some changes to get better.”

Pac-12 weekend preview

They are, without doubt, the two highest-profile matches in the nation this week: Washington's visit to the Bay Area.

On paper, the UW/Cal match Friday night is the bigger deal. Last season, Cal swept the Huskies home and away, then eliminated them at Hec Ed Pavilion in the Elite 8. The Golden Bears eventually advanced to the national championship match, where they lost to Penn State.

The Bears still have the multi-talented and eminently-likable Tarah Murrey; they still have Kat Brown and Robin Rostratter. What they don't have is last season's national player of the year, now-graduated Carli Lloyd. Lloyd was not just a great setter, she drove Washington crazy with setter dumps and attacks. In two conference matches against UW, she had a combined 10 kills on 19 swings with no errors. It will be interesting to see if the Bears miss that weapon this season.

No team has defeated Jim McLaughlin-coached Washington teams as often as Stanford. Many of the losses have been by the smallest of margins; when these two teams play, serve and serve receive usually decides the match. This year, the Huskies are one of the national leaders (#5) in aces per set.

Washington Huskies huddle
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

Only once have the Huskies swept both of these teams in the Bay Area: in 2005 when Washington won the national title. Can they do it again? While history suggests no, we're gonna guess yes, both in four sets.

Oregon's early success is quickly fading, and its matches in LA could either make it a contender or a pretender. Here's guessing the latter, in 0-3, 0-3 fashion.

Arizona will likely pick up two wins in the Rockies; ASU, Utah and Colorado will battle to avoid the very bottom of the standings. We'll say Utah beats ASU, and ASU beats the Buffaloes.

Pac-12 Players of the Week

The Players of the Week, announced by the Pac-12 Conference, are Oregon’s Alaina Bergsma (Offense), Cal’s Robin Rostratter (Defense) and Arizona’s Chloe Mathis (Freshman).

Among this week’s nominees were three Washington players: Bianca Rowland, Jenna Orlandini and Krista Vansant.

2011 Pac-12 Women's Volleyball Player of the Week
Date	Offensive	Defensive	Freshman
Aug. 29	Alaina Bergsma, ORE	Bianca Rowland, WASH	Krista Vansant, WASH
Sept. 5	Rachael Kidder, UCLA	Karissa Cook, STAN	Krista Vansant, WASH
Sept. 12	Rachel Williams, STAN	Carly Wopat, STAN	Arica Nassar, OSU
Sept. 19	Alaina Bergsma, ORE	Robin Rostratter, CAL	Chloe Mathis, ARIZ

More on Cal over Stanford ...

From Bay Area Volleyblog reader W.E.:

We went to the 1-2 game in Berzerkeley last night. Good stuff, electric atmosphere even though the intros with the lights out and swooping spotlight was a little much.

Stanford couldn't take Cal's consistent pressure. Cal’s hitters [Tarah Murrey,Shannon Hawari & Adrienne Gehan] recovered from early timing issues with new setter Elly Barrett, and kept the fires lit outside. Cal’s slide worked well until about halfway through the fourth set. Barrett had a lot of success with setter dumps [4 kills on 4 attempts.]

Cal also seemed to have the better libero [Robin Rostratter, 29 digs]. Overall, Stanford lacked punch. Cal’s experience showed.

Cal setter Elly Barrett dumps against Stanford's Jessica Walker
(goldenbearsports.com)

The Haas Pavilion paid attendance was 3,854.