Five sets? No
problem, as Huskies refuse to fold
#5 Washington def. #4 Wisconsin 3-2 (22-25, 25-23, 22-25, 25-16, 15-12)
- Washington State @ #5 Washington | Wed, Sept. 24 | 7:30PM
- #5 Washington @ California | Fri, Sept. 26 | 8:00PM
If you were one of the 3,500 folks in Alaska Airlines Arena Friday, you’re probably still talking about
what you saw. If you weren’t, you missed one of the best sporting events at UW
since … well, perhaps the magic five-set Washington
win over Oregon two seasons back.
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| Washington's Lianna Sybeldon (10) faces Wisconsin's Courtney Thomas (3). Sybeldon led all blockers with 11; Thomas led all hitters with 18 kills -Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann |
We’re on assignment for Volleyball
Magazine this week, and we’ll pass along the link (9/22/14: here's the link) to our full story about
Washington’s dramatic 3-2 Friday night victory over Wisconsin as soon as it’s posted. But for now, we’d like to share
some photos from that extraordinary match … and underscore a couple of
eye-popping numbers:
- Since November 4, 2012, the Huskies are 11-0 in matches decided in five sets.
- Washington has now won 59 preseason matches in a row, dating to a razor-thin 5-set loss in Hawai’i in 2008. That’s six straight undefeated preseasons in a row.
- In 2001, Jim McLaughlin opened his first weekend as head coach at home, losing to both BYU and Texas. Since then, Washington has never lost a home preseason match.
- The Huskies are now 131-5 in preseason under McLaughlin, home and away.
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| Washington's Krista Vansant (16) jousts at net with Wisconsin -Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann |
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| KALEIGH NELSON FACES HALEIGH NELSON Washington's Kaleigh Nelson (6) attacks against Wisconsin's Taylor Ficano (5) and Haleigh Nelson (13) -Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann |
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| (top to bottom) Washington's Krista Vansant, Melanie Wade and Crissy Jones celebrate a point against Wisconsin -Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann |
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| (L to R) Washington's Courtney Schwan, Cassie Strickland, Bailey Tanner and Krista Vansant celebrate a point against Wisconsin before 3,548 fans in Alaska Airlines Arena -Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann |
We were in the crowd for that nail biter of a match. That was truely a match where heart won out over statistics. The only stat we were winning was blocks by a wide margin. Sybeldon was huge in the middle and our MVP IMHO, so glad to see production in the middle. We've got a lot of work to do in the back court with Cassie but none the less great win ladies!
ReplyDeleteNoticed UW ran 5-1 offense for one rotation at the beginning of the 4th set.
ReplyDeleteYou say, "Washington has now won 59 preseason matches in a row." No they have not. These are nonleague matches, not preseason.
ReplyDelete