Volleyball Falls to No. 7 Washington 3-2
Dec. 5, 2004
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SEATTLE – Despite coming back from an 0-2 deficit to force a game five, the University of Kansas volleyball team fell to seventh-seeded Washington 3-2 Saturday night at the Bank of America Arena. The Jayhawks (19-12) fell to the Huskies (26-2) by scores of 32-34, 26-30, 30-25, 30-26 and 12-15.
The Huskies, 2004 Pac-10 Champions and No. 1 for seven weeks this season, move on to host the NCAA Sweet 16 while the Jayhawks end their campaign in the second round of the tournament for the second straight year.
Four Jayhawks notched double-digit kills with Paula Caten leading the pack with a career-high 26. In addition, four `Hawks added 12 or more digs. With her team-high 22, senior Jill Dorsey surpassed Jayhawk Adrian Powell to become KU’s all-time digs leader with 1,338 for her career.
Josi Lima added 18 kills and three aces and Jana Correa had 16 in the loss. Ashley Michaels rounded out the double figure kills with 13. Andi Rozum had a match-best 67 assists and a career-high 21 digs while Emily Brown added a season-high 17 digs and Lindsey Morris added 12 in the defensive effort.
Lima started the match with a service ace. The Jayhawks went on to lead 17-14 after three straight KU kills and forced a UW time out. The Huskies came back with a 7-0 run and jumped ahead 20-19 for their first lead of the game.
The teams exchanged points and came out with a 32-all tie in the first stanza. UW knocked in a kill and Correa hit a ball out of bounds as the Huskies claimed game one 34-32. Lima led KU with six kills but the Jayhawks hit just .148 with 12 attack errors.
The Huskies began game two with a 4-0 run but the Jayhawks answered later with six straight points to come within one, 7-6. KU then took its first lead of the game 14-13 after four consecutive points but could not overcome UW’s blocking.
The Huskies extended their game two lead to 25-20 and despite five hitting errors, closed out the stanza with a kill that found the back line, 30-26. KU had three serve reception errors but had four blocks in game two.
KU came out from the break and tied the Huskies 4-4 after a minute-long rally in game three. The Jayhawks then scored four straight behind Michaels’ serving and went on to a 27-19 lead, their largest of the match.
The Jayhawks rattled the UW offense with strong blocking and held on to their lead and Correa ended the third stanza with a kill, 30-25. Caten led KU with seven kills while the Jayhawks out blocked UW 5.0 to 2.5 and out hit them .276 to .097 in game three.
KU led 6-3 in game four but committed five hitting errors to give UW a 12-10 lead. The Jayhawks came out of their called time out and scored four straight but fell behind 20-16 after two Husky blocks.
KU again came out of their time out and threatened UW with five unanswered points to take a 21-20 lead in the fourth stanza. The Jayhawks jumped ahead 24-22 after a Husky hitting error, kill by Lima and ace by Rozum. KU never looked back, winning 30-26 behind four kills from Paula Caten and forcing a fifth game.
The teams exchanged leads in game five and KU had the 8-7 advantange when they changed sides of the court. After a big KU block, UW took a 10-9 lead on three straight points and held on to its lead. KU fought back and stayed aggressive, but the Huskies won the final game 15-12 on a KU double-contact violation.
The Jayhawks held an advantage in nearly every statistical category, including a season-best 18.0 blocks and 102 digs in addition to 83 kills on a .190 hitting percentage.
“We have some special seniors who will always be remembered by this performance, one of their best,” head coach Ray Bechard said. “This is a stepping stone for our program. Four years ago we were struggling to stay above .500 and tonight we had a chance to beat arguably one of the best teams in the nation.”
Saturday’s match marked the final career appearance for KU seniors Michaels, Dorsey, Morris and Ashley Bechard.
