FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – For just the second time since 2001, the Huskies came up short in their first match of the season, dropping a 25-18, 20-25, 25-20, 25-22 battle on the road against Arkansas. The eighth-ranked Huskies had trouble slowing down Arkansas’ offense as U of A hit .355 for the night in front of a fired-up crowd of 1,462 at Barnhill Arena.
Washington will have a chance to quickly avenge the loss, as the teams will play a rematch on Saturday at 4 p.m. Central/2 p.m. Pacific.
“Serve, serve-receive, and defense come to mind. I don’t think we created a lot of pressure, not as much as they did,” said Head Coach Keegan Cook. “Defensively, they were really good in the most important parts of the court, at the pins. Certainly they did a nice job offensively. Serve, serve-receive, and success in the outside hitters is where most games are won and lost, and they were better than us in that space. But we got what we came here for. A good, disciplined team that plays clean and creates pressure on opponents, and we’ll get another shot tomorrow.”
Senior setter Ella May Powell had a homecoming to Fayetteville made bittersweet by the loss, but she tied her career-high with six kills and also surpassed the 5,000 career assist mark during the match. She joins Courtney Thompson and Jenna Hagglund as the only Husky setters with over 5,000 assists.
Arkansas held advantages in attack…
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