BYU stuns UW in round two
December 3, 2007
Photo by Trevor Klein.
Freshman Jenna Hagglund digs the ball after a Missouri hit went through blockers Becky Perry, left, and Alesha Deesing. The Huskies edged the Tigers 15-11 in game five on Friday, only to be eliminated in game five by BYU on Saturday.
Photo by Trevor Klein.
Seniors Stevie Mussie and Christal Morrison realize the end of their Husky careers after losing the match point to BYU in game five Saturday, knocking the UW out of the NCAA tournament.
One night after advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament with a 3-2 win over unranked Missouri (17-13), the No. 6 Washington volleyball team (27-4) suffered a 3-2 upset loss at the hands of another unranked team, Brigham Young, 30-28, 28-30, 25-30, 30-22 and 15-13.
Saturday's loss marks just the second time the Huskies have lost at Bank of America Arena all season, and the first time in school history that Washington has lost on its home floor during tournament play in 13 matches.
The Huskies remain winless against the BYU Cougars (23-7) in 12 all-time meetings.
Saturday's five-game thriller saw 33 ties and 15 lead changes, indicative of the back-and-forth nature of the match.
Washington stormed out to an 18-13 lead in game one before BYU countered with 5-0 run, to tie the score at 18-18. The teams would meet again at 26-26 before the Cougars broke free for the 30-28 win on a dig that went for a kill, giving BYU the early advantage.
In game two, the Cougars mounted an early run to take the lead at 21-16 before Washington scored eight of the next 10 points to get a one-point advantage, 24-23. The Dawgs would go up 29-27 before claiming two of the final three points to win the game 30-28.
In a decisive game-five battle, the Dawgs found themselves with their backs to the wall early, trailing 12-9 late in the closing stanza. Washington would trim the lead to just one, 12-11, but would ultimately fall 15-13.
The Huskies were led by senior All-Pac-10 outsider hitter Stevie Mussie, who tallied a career-high and Washington postseason-record 35 kills, and a hitting percentage of .403 for match, also a career-best.
Senior outside hitter Christal Morrison, the Pac-10 Player of the Year, set the previous UW postseason kills record Friday night against Missouri with 27. Morrison connected on 14 kills and added 13 digs in the losing effort.
The Cougars were led by the efforts of junior middle blocker Rachel Dyer, who also had a career-day 22 kills and a hitting percentage of .625.
With the win, BYU secures its spot at the Penn State regional Friday for a shot at Middle State Tennessee (35-2), while Washington's dream of reaching a fourth-consecutive Sweet 16 is over.
[Reach reporter Maks Goldenshteyn at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.]
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