UW continues winning streak at Wazzu

The No. 8 Washington women's volleyball team continued their undefeated season streak as they swept Washington State 3-0 in Pullman Friday night.

Senior Christal Morrison had 15 kills to lead the Huskies to a 30-22, 30-18, and 30-24 win over the Cougars, totaling their overall record to 14-0 and 3-0 in Pac-10 play. Senior Stevie Mussie also added 13 kills while red-shirt freshman Becky Perry and junior Jessica Swarbrick had nine and eight kills, respectively.

"We're starting to focus better on things we do in practice and doing them in games," Mussie said. "Slowly in each week, day in and day out, we're getting a carry-over from practice to games."

On defense, freshman Jenna Hagglund led the way with 46 assists and 11 digs, while sophomore Tamari Miyashiro had 21 digs.

Friday night's match welcomed home the Cougars after having played on the road for a month. Eager to see their Cougs come home and the intense cross-state rivalry between the two teams, 1,690 fans were in attendance at Bohler Gym Friday night. However, the high number of Cougar fans didn't rattle the Huskies.

"We stayed focused on ourselves and didn't let the fans distract us." Mussie said.

In the first game, the two teams were tied nine times before the Huskies out-scored the Cougars 11-3, to move from a 19-point tie to a 30-22 win. In the second game, Washington took an early lead of 19-7 and then finished the Cougars off 30-18.

In the third and final game, Washington State made one final push to get back into things when they took a 10-4 lead in the beginning, but the Dawgs fought back to tie the game at 22.

From there, it was an intense battle between the teams, with WSU's Tara West making a kill to put her team up 23-22, only to have Swarbrick match her kill and even up the score at 23. Still not giving up, WSU's Brittany Johnson smashed a hit from the left side, putting the Cougars up 24-23, but Perry rallied back for the Huskies with a kill, tying the game up again.

After that, the Huskies ran away with the win. Miyashiro made the final serves of the game, and the Huskies defeated the Cougars 30-24 in the final match.

Friday's win marked the ninth match in a row in which the Huskies have defeated the Cougars since 2003, with Washington leading the all-time series 52-21. Miyashiro and senior Ashley Aratani both ended the game with season bests, with Miyashiro having a season-best eight assists and Aratani having a season-high three services of aces for Washington.

Next up, the Huskies will return home to take on Arizona State this Thursday at 7 p.m., where they will try to continue their winning streak.

"Our main focus is trying to get better each day," Mussie said. " The win-loss thing will take care of itself if we do what we're supposed to do and what we practice to do."

[Reach reporter Rebecca Rogers at sports@thedaily.washington.edu]