#15 UCLA @ #13 Washington | Fri Oct 01 | 8PM PT | PAC-12 Net

[bucky415]

Oct 2, 2021 2:00:20 GMT -5 ay2013 said:

Oct 2, 2021 1:58:57 GMT -5 jwvolley said:

I must say I think I’ve been sleeping on her a bit. Seems like a pretty consistent highlight of Washington’s offense.

when she is healthy, she is easily one of the top OH's in the country. She's not as flashy as a Pressley, but she gets the job done.

I know I have some PTSD from her in 2019.

[redbeard2008]

Blocking (more than 2):

UW:
Grote: 10
Sanders: 5
Powell: 5
Drechsel: 4
Bush: 4

UCLA:
Dodson: 5
Alupei: 3

[SakiBomb25]

The missed serves were driving me crazy…. Tonight both Stanford and Washington couldn’t go on long runs because they couldn’t keep the ball in. Entertaining match to watch tonight - congrats Huskies on the win. Was also impressed how the defense kept May in check.

[mikegarrison]

Huskies scored 9 points more than the Bruins. Where did those points come from?

Kills:
Bruins had +1 kill

Aces:
Bruins had +3 aces

Service errors:
Huskies had one more, so that's +1 point to UCLA

OK, so now we are looking for 14 points!

Blocks:
Huskies had +7 blocks

Non-block hitting errors:
Bruins had 5 more than the Huskies, so this is +5 points for the Huskies

Ball handling:
Fleck got called for a double, so this was +1 points for the Huskies

Blocking errors:
UCLA had one more, so +1 point for UW

And there are the missing points. Mainly UW blocks and UCLA non-block hitting errors. In other words, the key advantage for Washington tonight was actually when UCLA was attacking the ball.

[pbmu]

This was a great win for UW to help boost their confidence and especially in another 5 setter where they were down 2 points near the end! I haven’t seen the match cause of work but I’m glad to see Hoffman performing well and those blocking numbers wow!

[tomclen]

[tomclen]

The outcome:



The point in the 5th where the match turned:



But the whole match may have turned at this point in the 4th set:

[tomclen]

And a condensed visual recap of every Husky fan watching the match:

[blue-footedbooby]

Biggest disappointment, not seeing Luper on the sidelines. Biggest cause of consternation during the 4th set, the thought of starting league play 0-3. Most calming to the eye, seeing Bays wearing the libero jersey (A close second would be the teams blocking prowess having returned). Bays looked real poised and should be an excellent fit by tourney time. Also glad to see Bush really starting to mature. She still has some kinks but is definitely looking better (However I still think Endsley is the better option--get healthly please).

My only serious complaint about the match would be that all the free t-shirts and Starbucks cards landed in only two sections of the entire arena and mine wasn't one of them.

PS.  Crenshaw hitting from the back row seemed promising.  Hopefully we'll see more of this option in the future.

[vbjustice]

Dang it! Luper out = Bruins loss

[bigfan]

Congratulations to Washington.

[dawgnerd]

Oct 2, 2021 9:00:09 GMT -5 blue-footedbooby said:

PS.  Crenshaw hitting from the back row seemed promising.  Hopefully we'll see more of this option in the future.

Her first two swings were tenative, but the last had some punch to it. I look forward to seeing her get more comfortable with her swing and seeing the block at this level after a couple of years focused elsewhere.

[udubhuskiefan]

I am proud of the Dawgs. Here's what I thought...
- McCall was not an adequate sub for Luper. Not sure what's up. 
- I am so impressed with Hoffman. She is the glue and is definitely a top OH. 
- Drechsel seemed to improve from her last matches
- Our floor defense needs work. Blocking looked great though!
- Bays is coming into her own. Her passing struggled early, but her defense was good. 

Truly living up to "heart attack huskies!"

[VolleyballMag]

I am so tired ... That match ended at about 12:30 Central, almost four hours past my bedtime! But I was up early to write the roundup, which is here:
volleyballmag.com/ncaa-volleyball-100221/
A couple of observations from last night. Mac May is simply fabulous. A great college volleyball player.
The young libero for Washington, Lauren Bays, has a chance to be one of the best.
And oddly enough, Washington played better and did better as its hitting percentages dropped. The Huskies were hitting something like .398 late in the second set and finished at .273.
Looking forward to USC at UW on Sunday.

[alwayslearning]

I wasn't really up for posting something after 11 last night after getting home from the match. It was a gutsy, exciting win by the Huskies and fun to watch. I'll sum it up by listing my impressions of things that bode well for the Huskies going forward and things that are a work in progress and will require patience from the fan base.

The good:

Claire Hoffman is back -- thank goodness. As Hoffman goes, the Huskies go, and Claire played a magnificent all-around game.

Sam Drechsel also had an outstanding match. When 100%, Sam is clearly our best right side hitter and, IMO, should stay there. She also does reasonably well on serve receive on a team without many good receivers.

Lauren Bays has established herself as UW's libero. Bays is still a baby but has demonstrated she is a very quick learner. Just two matches into her role as libero, I would say she is already ahead of where McPherson was as a freshman -- and has a higher ceiling. I can't wait to see how she grows into the position and think she'll be one of the league's best before she's done.

The block reappeared, at least for this match. This is still a work in progress and not up to UW's historical standards but at least we saw progress last night.

Cohesion and resilience -- it took some grit to win tough fourth and fifth sets against a very good UCLA team.

The works in progress:

Serve and serve receive -- this was the difference in the first two sets, when the Huskies outhit UCLA but lost this battle. All credit to UCLA, who played fundamentally sound volleyball those first two sets. But if the Huskies are to make this season memorable, they really need to get their serve going. I doubt that this particular Husky team will ever be a great serve receive team, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

The play of Ella May Powell -- I'm not sure why but EMP is not playing as well as she did in the spring. The timing and placement of sets is often a little off, enough to make the difference between winning the point or not. EMP's serve, which used to be one of the very best on the team, is now just a little better than average.

Floor defense -- with Bays as the new libero, this will get better but this team is too slow to react to be an elite digging team. At this point, the improvement will come as players understand their defensive assignments better and communicate better. As Bays improves her understanding of her role and positioning, hopefully the entire team will get better at tip coverage, free balls, roll shots, etc.

Emoni Bush -- I haven't read the thread yet and so I don't know why Endsley couldn't play and how soon she might be back. No doubt UW needs her going forward. Bush is going through freshman growing pains and it's not surprising. When she hit high hands for a crucial point at the end of the match, Cook nearly leapt onto the court, as if to say "that's what we've been waiting for." We will all need to be patient as Bush develops greater range in her shots and greater consistency with her very good serve.

Shannon Crenshaw -- it was fun to watch Shannon in the hitting line before the match -- she looked pretty good. I'm guessing that Cook & Co. are getting her ready for some front row duty later this season. With Hoffman and Endsley missing matches, we really need more depth on the left side.