Arizona @ #12 Washington | Sun 11/7 Noon PT | Pac-12

[pbmu]

Seattle, WA @ Alaska Airlines Arena 


6-7 [14-10]                                                    10-3 [17-4]
STATS | PAC-12

 ASU vs. UW Gameday Recap
Huskies Look To Start New Streak Versus Arizona Schools



Wildcats Fall 3-0 to No. 21 Washington State
Gameday Coverage

[pbmu]

[JJVb]

AZ will need to play at a very high level to beat UW, and I can't see that happening, as they haven't been able to do that against teams with their starting lineups. However, they did start strong against them in AZ last time, but UW will not be surprised this time, and hasn't been starting as slow in matches recently.

[pbmu]

[hammer]

This should be a sweep ... Arizona just doesn't match up physically with U-Dub.

[pbmu]

UW takes first set

Hoffman 6k .308
Drechsel 3k .400

Maldona-Diaz 4k .571

[uofaGRAD]

If you wanna see the difference so far, the outsides with the most swings for each side:

Jaelyn Hodge: 5 kills, 5 errors on 18 swings, hitting .000
Claire Hoffman: 10 kills, 2 errors on 19 swings, hitting .421

There’s your difference. Feed the reigning PAC 12 freshman of the year please!

[vballfreak808]

Grote is hammering the slide today

[pbmu]

Nov 7, 2021 15:57:26 GMT -5 vballfreak808 said:

Grote is hammering the slide today

chef's kiss kind of hammering

UW takes set 2 
25-22

[pbmu]

UW .358%, 3bl
Hoffman 11k .409
Drechsel 9k .400
Grote 7k .700

Arizona .262%, 5bl
Maldonado 10k. .500
Stubbe 5k .312

[azcatsfan]

I think Hodge is lacking confidence. Definitely needs to work on her out of system attacks and tooling the block. Is she can do that, she has the athleticism to really take this AZ team to the next level.

[pbmu]

nice to see Crenshaw getting playing time front row with a couple blocks. Also her swings were all solid, I'd like to really see her start OH instead of Endsley and see how she does.

Madi hit 5k .154, 0bl in 3 sets and Crenshaw hit 3k .500, 2bl just in the last half of the 3rd set.

[pbmu]

UW .396%, 5bl
Hoffman 15k .464, 9d
Drechsel 13k .417
Grote 7k .636
Powell 39as in 3 sets

Arizona .224%, 7bl
Hodge 12k .241
Maldonado 10k .304

[alwayslearning]

Before posting separately on my impressions, I'd like to highlight possibly the biggest question facing the Huskies regarding personnel. The question is who to play at the OH2 position.

With Bush apparently injured, Endsley had an opportunity to seize the day and show what she could do in the front row this weekend. It was a little underwhelming, to be honest (overall hitting percentage of .114), with too many hits right into the block or the net. And bear in mind this is against the two Arizonas, not the most elite blocking or defensive teams. Madi did show some excellent serving this afternoon. I do think she needs more in-game reps to build up the confidence and skill set.

The question is whether continuing to play Madi is the most productive move for the Huskies or whether you go back to Bush (when healthy) or Crenshaw. Bush is hitting .113 for the season and can look spectacular one moment and one-dimensional the next. She is probably a better blocker than Endsley but probably is not an option for either serving or back row duty. I have no doubt she is a critical piece of the Huskies' future and so that could be an argument to just have her get more experience. But Endsley is also a potentially critical piece of the Huskies' future.

Of course there is another possiblity: Shannon Crenshaw. Cook inserted Shannon midway through a third set that was basically a blow out win. We are looking at an extremely small sample size here, but I will say that Shannon looked really good on the left side. She already had a couple kills out of middle back. In her short time at the net, she pounded a couple cross court balls that were dug nicely by Arizona, tooled the block a couple times, and got a couple block assists. In short, she looked comfortable and confident. Shannon entered the match with a grand total of 5 kills for the season, so she really hasn't gotten the opportunity to strut her stuff.

In my opinion, Cook should continue the Crenshaw front row experiment. A larger sample size will tell us whether she has the hitting chops to consistently hit above .200, which neither Bush nor Endsley have done this season. I don't think she will be a liability on the block and she will provide better defensive instincts and ability than either Bush or Endsley. Plus she may bring greater maturity, as a fourth year player, than her younger teammates, and would save the team substitutions as a true six-rotation outside. The upcoming Bay Area road trip might be a good chance to try this out, especially against the tall block of Stanford.

[alwayslearning]

Ok, random impressions of the match:

- the Huskies were in a good groove the entire match, siding out efficiently, passing well, and serving tough

- Arizona gave the Huskies a much better match than ASU, but had problems handling UW's serve

- Lauren Bays continues to grow before our very eyes; she had some spectacular digs, took charge of various rallies, and just raises the level of UW's defense by several notches; last but not least, her serving (and the variety in her serving) is already at an elite level

- Hoffman, Drechsel, and Grote combined for a .476 hitting percentage (!)

- EMP had a really solid match but I'd still like her to get her serving mojo going again

- Sianna Houghton has done a really nice job as a serving specialist and has filled in nicely while Emma Calle has been out

- Arizona's two big arms -- Diaz and Hodge -- are incredible weapons; when they cut down their errors, they will be one of the best 1-2 punches in the PAC

- Grote was pretty devastating on the slide today; she seemed to be in a minor mid-season slump over the last 3 weeks or so but looked fantastic today

- it was really nice to see Sophie Summers back in action in the third set