Volleyball | UW keeps distance from UCLA
LOS ANGELES - All-American Christal Morrison had 14 kills to lead No. 5 Washington in a sweep of No. 10 UCLA 30-20, 31-29, 30-27 Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.
The Huskies improved to 24-3 overall and 13-3 in the Pac-10. The Bruins fell to 18-9 and 8-8.
After a loss Friday night at No. 8 USC, the Huskies needed a win to stay in contention for the Pac-10 championship. They trail Stanford (15-2 Pac-10) by 1 ½ games. The Cardinal closes out the season with a home match against No. 7 California on Friday.
After watching their 2-0 lead over USC on Friday night disappear as the Trojans rallied for a 3-2 win, UW made sure that didn’t happen against UCLA, starting Game 3 with a 7-2 run and later leading by as much as six points at 25-19.
In the opening game, Washington steadily pulled away from UCLA after the two teams were tied early. The Huskies used a 4-0 run, fueled by kills from Stevie Mussie and Morrison for an 18-14 lead, before finally winning on a kill by Alesha Deesing.
Washington had to fend off a Bruins comeback in the second game as well.
Washington finished the night with a .262 hitting percentage. The Bruins finished with a .122 hitting mark.
Deesing and Mussie both tallied 10 kills, and Jessica Swarbrick and Becky Perry added seven kills apiece. Washington’s Tamari Miyashiro led all players with 28 digs, and Jenna Hagglund had 39 assists.
UCLA was led by Kaitlin Sather’s 16 kills. Jessica Fine had 15 digs.