Dawgs Head For Final Mountain Pass

THIS WEEK IN HUSKY VOLLEYBALL

Washington at Utah, 6 pm PT
Salt Lake City, Utah • Huntsman Center
Live stream on UtahUtes.com

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19

Washington at Colorado, 11 am PT

Boulder, Colo. • CU Events Center

Live on Pac-12 Networks Washington

SEATTLE — The final road trip of the regular season is at hand for a Husky volleyball team searching for a pair of wins to bolster its postseason chances. The road trip is also a final visit to Salt Lake City and Boulder for the Huskies before UW enters the Big Ten and Utah and Colorado move to the Big 12.

Washington (14-13, 5-11 Pac-12) goes first to Utah on Friday, Nov. 17, to take on the Utes at 6 p.m. Pacific time. That match will be live stream only. Then the Dawgs travel on to Boulder to face the Buffs on Sunday, Nov. 19, at 11 a.m. Pacific in a match televised on Pac-12 Networks Washington.

In the national RPI, the Huskies slipped to 60th this week, and they will need several wins over these final four matches to try and boost that number back up into the 40s where history suggests the at-large NCAA tourney cut-off usually falls.  After this weekend, the Dawgs do get to close out the regular season at home, hosting Arizona next Wednesday, and then 11th-ranked Washington State on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

Utah (10-16, 5-11 Pac-12) is out of the postseason running as it won’t be able to reach .500 for the season, but that just gives the Utes nothing to lose. Utah and the Huskies went down to the wire in the first meeting in Seattle, with the Dawgs pulling out a five-setter, 16-14, behind 24 kills from Audra Wilmes. Utah is hitting .194 as a team in Pac-12 play, which ranks 10th. Their best stat is 1.64 aces per set, which ranks third. Lauren Jardine and Kamryn Gibadlo are tied both averaging 2.50 kills per set. Emrie Satuala adds 2.35 kills per set hitting .297. Vanessa Ramirez is one of the top liberos in the Pac with 3.31 digs per set.

Colorado is in a similar boat to the Huskies, trying to push for a postseason bid. The Buffaloes have the same overall record (14-13) as the Huskies and are one game ahead of them in the Pac-12 at 6-10, and are also two spots above the Huskies in the RPI at No. 58. Colorado dropped both matches last week to the Arizona schools, in four sets to ASU and five sets to the Wildcats. Washington had a 3-0 win over Colorado in the first meeting in Seattle…