By
Rebecca Rogers
October 15, 2007
After suffering a heartbreaking loss to No.10 California Thursday, the No. 8 Washington volleyball team rallied back and upset No. 2 Stanford 3-2.
Photo by Whitney Little.
Senior middle blocker Alesha Deesing attempts to block against Arizona State earlier this month. Deesing was one of the players to lead the team with 6 blocks during Friday’s game against Stanford, where the Huskies won 3-2.
Photo by Trevor Klein.
Outside hitter Stevie Mussie goes for a kill during last week’s match against Arizona. Mussie led the Huskies with 20 kills during their win over No. 2 Stanford in five games on Friday.
A back-and-forth battle between the two teams lasted all evening. The Huskies won the first game 30-24, only to have the Cardinal come back in the second and third games, winning 21-30 and 24-30. In the fourth game, the Huskies barely edged out the Cardinal 30-27, bringing the match to a fifth and final game.
Both teams stayed pretty even with each other during the final game, until Washington finally took a solid lead at 12-9. The Cardinal’s Foluke Akinradewo cut the lead to one, but the Huskies came back and defeated the Cardinal, 15-10, with a kill by senior Christal Morrison.
Morrison and fellow senior Stevie Mussie led the Huskies on offense. Mussie pounded a total of 20 kills, and Morrison followed suit with 19. Junior Jessica Swarbrick also added 13 kills, and had a team-best .261 hitting percentage in the final game, leading the Huskies to the win.
On defense, sophomore libero Tamari Miyashiro had a season-best 37 digs. Morrison and Mussie also played their part on defense as well, adding 13 and 10 digs, respectively.
On the Cardinal’s side of the net, senior Bryn Kehoe broke the all-time Stanford assist record with 62 for the night, bringing her total career tally to 5,023. Junior Cynthia Barboza also had a record-breaking night as she notched her 1,000th career kill.
Despite some impressive stats, and even with a record crowd of more than 3,000 fans behind them at Maples Pavilion, the No. 2 team in the nation could not stop the Huskies.
Friday’s match was one of the most anticipated matches in the country, as both teams boasted undefeated records going into the beginning of last week. Having lost to Cal Thursday night, though, the Huskies could have crumbled under the pressure of taking on a still-undefeated Cardinal.
A resilient Washington managed just the opposite, and used its loss to motivate itself to defeat Stanford. Both teams now have a 17-1 overall record, and are tied for first in the Pac-10 at 6-1.
The Huskies return home next week to take on another pair of ranked teams. They host No. 4 UCLA Thursday, and take on the No. 6 Trojans of USC Friday.
[Reach reporter Rebecca Rogers at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.]
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