The Daily of the University of Washington

No. 4 Huskies down 'Cats, record fifth- straight sweep


The No. 4 Washington volleyball team (21-1, 10-1 Pac-10) had a fairly easy evening in the desert last night.


Photo by Whitney Little.

Senior outside hitter Christal Morrison returns the ball during last week’s 3-0 shutout of Washington State. The Huskies will face off against Arizona State tonight in Tempe.


The Huskies swept Arizona (12-12, 2-10 Pac-10) 30-28, 30-18 and 30-20 in Tucson to extend their winning streak over the Wildcats to eight and deal UA its seventh straight loss.

Stevie Mussie paved the way for UW with 20 kills, 12 digs, two blocks and a kill percentage of .436.

Jenna Hagglund also had a big night for the Huskies, as she tallied two kills, 44 assists, nine digs and four blocks. Christal Morrison added 10 kills and 11 digs for UW.

Arizona was led by Tiffany Owens' 19 kills, Paige Weber's 36 assists and Brittany Leonard had 12 digs.

Washington has now swept 18 of its 22 matches this season.

UW now travels to Tempe to take on Arizona State (13-11, 5-6 Pac-10), which hasn't defeated the Huskies since 2002.

The Dawgs have already swept the Sun Devils this season, winning 31-29, 30-24, 30-27 in Seattle. UW has defeated ASU 10-straight times and owns a 29-18 series advantage.

The Devils are coming off victories over Oregon State and Oregon, as they swept the Beavers and beat the Ducks 3-1. ASU is led by Sydney Donahue, who leads the Pac-10 in digs with 6.23 per game, and Marina Mercer, who is averaging 12.55 assists per game — good for third in the Pac-10.

Sarah Reaves leads the team in kills with 4.37 per game, which ranks fifth in the conference.

Arizona State is fourth in the Pac-10 with 16.41 digs per game.

Next weekend, Washington returns home to host No. 5 Stanford and No. 8 California.

The Huskies are in sole possession of first place, having already knocked off the Cardinal this season.

Cal is the only team to beat the Huskies all year long, making next weekend's games all the more important in the hunt for Pac-10 supremacy.

[Reach reporter Christian Caple at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.]


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