SEATTLE – Washington couldn’t have asked for a better start in its pre-Thanksgiving showdown with No. 20 USC, but the Trojans couldn’t have asked for a better finish. The Huskies (19-10, 9-10 Big Ten) took the first set, 25-17, but then USC (20-9, 12-7 Big Ten) took control, winning the next three sets, 25-21, 25-19, 25-10. A crowd of 3,425 was on hand at Alaska Airlines Arena in the penultimate match of the regular season.
The Huskies were led by Madi Endsley’s 11 kills. With the 11 kills, Endsley passed Head Coach Leslie Gabriel for 16th in career kills at UW with 1,147. Lauren Bays had 15 digs, Julia Hunt had six blocks, and Molly Wilson had a double-double with 14 assists and 11 digs.
Washington pulled away midway through set one for an impressive win, hitting .344 in the first and holding USC in the negatives at -.027. But while the Huskies kept playing well in set two, USC found its rhythm and hit .414 compared to .321 for the Dawgs to take a close second set. But after that, the Dawgs could not put the ball on the floor. They hit negative in both the third and fourth sets, with 15 kills and 19 errors over the two sets. USC forced a lot of those errors, with 13.5 total blocks, most over the final two sets.
“I really liked how our team came out and competed the first set. We were on our assignments and they did what we had asked them,” said Coach Gabriel. “But USC picked their game…
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