Dawgs Set For Tough Two At Long Beach

THIS WEEK IN HUSKY VOLLEYBALL

Washington at Long Beach State, 7 pm | Live Stats | Live on ESPN+
Long Beach, Calif. • Walter Pyramid

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2

Washington vs. Indiana, 4 pm | Live Stats

Long Beach, Calif. • Walter Pyramid

SEATTLE — Week two of the 2023 season sees the Huskies staying on the West Coast, venturing down to Long Beach, Calif. where two challenging non-conference matches await this Friday and Saturday. Washington enters the Pyramid, where it will take on a Long Beach State squad receiving votes in the AVCA poll on Friday night at 7 p.m., live streamed on ESPN+. The next day the Huskies play Indiana for the first time in program history, but certainly not the last, at 4 p.m. Pacific time.

The Huskies went 2-1 to open up the season last week in Hammond, La. dropping a five-setter in the first match to UTEP but coming back with wins in six of the next seven sets to beat Southeastern Louisiana and Grambling. UW had six players make their Husky debuts, including three who made their collegiate debuts. One of those six, transfer May Pertofsky, led the Husky offense with 3.45 kills per set on a .388 attack percentage. Both starting middles, Elise Hani and Katy Wessels, saw the first action of their careers and posted 12 and 8 blocks, respectively. Freshman Kierstyn Barton also had 20 kills in her first weekend of action, hitting .216.

The Beach pulled off the early upset of the year in its first match of the year, as LBSU defeated No. 1-ranked Texas, the defending national champion, last Friday night in the Pyramid. The next day, however, Long Beach State fell to Loyola Marymount in straight sets to sit at 1-1. The team hit .223 against the Longhorns but .064 against LMU. Against Texas, LBSU had a balanced attack as five players had between eight and 10 kills. Zayna Meyer had 41 assists. The Beach was picked third in the Big West Preseason Poll after going 19-9 last season.

Indiana started its season with three wins, beating New Hampshire, Southern Indiana, and Radford, all in sweeps. The Hoosiers hit .309 for the weekend and held their opponents to just .054 combined, with 2.67 blocks per set and a 26-6 edge in aces. Morgan Geddes hit .750 with 3.50 kills per set and Mady Saris had 3.89 kills per set to lead the attack. Indiana was 16-16 last year and 9-11 in Big Ten play, with Saris leading the team with 3.47 kills per set….