SEATTLE – The Dawgs rolled through a successful first week in the Big Ten, sweeping Illinois one night after sweeping Indiana to keep their unbeaten start to the season going at 12-0. Washington had a thrilling 30-28 second set win rallying back from 19-24 down, ultimately saving nine set points before winning on its first chance, much to the delight of the 3,575 fans in Alaska Airlines Arena.
Once again, the Huskies played lockdown defense, holding Illinois (8-4, 0-2 Big Ten) to just .030 offensively and only 26 kills for the match. Washington had 44 kills and hit .215, but got progressively better after a slow start, hitting .256 in the second set and .265 in set three. UW had a 42-32 edge in digs while Illinois had a 11.0 to 8.0 blocking advantage and had five aces to UW’s three.
Set two was clearly pivotal, and it seemed that the match was about to be even at a set apiece, with Illinois leading 24-19, but the Huskies rallied on junior Molly Wilson’s service, and Emoni Bush had three kills during the run back to tie it at 24-all. From there Illinois kept earning additional set point chances, and UW continued to wipe them away. Wessels had a kill and Bush saved two more, then Endsley…
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