Huskies Outlast Defending Champ Nittany Lions In 5

SEATTLE – After successful a nationwide championship with the Nittany Lions one yr in the past, outdoors hitter Alexa Markley joined the Huskies for her senior season and stepped right into a starring position from day one with the Dawgs. Tonight she helped lead her new squad over her outdated one, powering Washington to a script-flipping 5 set victory over Seventeenth-ranked Penn State. Markley had a team-high 16 kills together with the ultimate three UW factors of the decisive 15-13 fifth set.

It was the primary ranked win of the season for Washington (9-8, 4-3 Big Ten) which knocked off the Nittany Lions for the primary time since becoming a member of the Big Ten, and the primary time since 2006. That 2006 match was Penn State’s most up-to-date go to to Hec Ed, and UW additionally prevailed 19 years in the past within the NCAA Elite Eight within the final NCAA tourney match Penn State would lose till 2011 as it could win 4 titles in a row from 2007-10.

“I was proud of how we came out and were on our scouting report,” mentioned Head Coach Leslie Gabriel, whose Huskies have received 4 of their previous 5. “I thought they did a good job pressuring Penn State. They’re a great team and they’re not going to roll over after two sets. They came back, but our girls stayed on track.”
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In entrance of a Mariners-enthused crowd of 4,431 at Alaska Airlines Arena, the Dawgs rolled by means of two units, 25-11 and 25-17, earlier than Penn State fought again with a detailed third set win, 25-23, and a 25-20 win within the fourth. From 12-11 in set 5, Markley had two-straight kills to get the Huskies to match level at 14-11. After PSU saved two, and the Huskies known as a timeout, they got here again on the court docket and setter Alexis Haury went proper again to Markley once more and he or she completed it with yet one more swing.

On Markley, Gabriel mentioned, “I was proud of her, it’s hard to go against your former team when they know so much about you and you know so much about them. It can go one of two ways, you can be so worried about how you do that you don’t play well, but I thought she did a really good job tonight and played hard.”

Markley hit .308 with the 16 kills including 13 digs for her second profession double-double. Kierstyn Barton had 14 kills, hitting .295 with only one error for the night time, plus 9 digs. Simona Mateska had considered one of her finest matches as properly, hitting .393 with 13 kills and a career-high 14 digs. Julia Hunt added 5 kills and 4 blocks with two aces, hitting .556.
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Senior libero Zoria Heard turned in a profession night time within the again row, digging 27, as Washington out-dug Penn State, 74 to 67. That was 22 digs greater than UW’s earlier season-high. Alexis Haury additionally had a double-double with 43 assists and 10 digs.

“Zoria’s doing what Zoria does every match,” mentioned Gabriel. “Every match she’s producing a ton of digs for us, keeping balls flying and extending matches. I love how she’s playing and seeing the game.”

Washington dominated units one and two, hitting .345 within the first whereas PSU was within the negatives at -.054. And in set two UW stored rolling at a .391 mark with Penn State at simply .069. The Dawgs have been near closing it out in a sweep, main 22-21 in set three, however Penn State had back-to-back aces to assist keep alive, and one other late run in set 4 pressured the fifth.

UW received momentum again with a vital problem overrule on the primary level of set 5, giving a kill to Barton on a contact that was initially known as an error; that was adopted by an ace by Hunt, and shortly UW was up, 6-2. The Huskies maintained that to 11-7 till Penn State scored three in a row to ramp up the stress once more. But Markley took over with the three remaining UW kills, because the Huskies hit .333 in set 5.

Up Next: Saturday night time the Huskies will vie for a second-straight top-20 win, as 18th-ranked Minnesota is available in for an additional 7 p.m. first serve. The 2005 NCAA Championship group might be honored all through the match, and the Huskies might be sporting 2005 throwback uniforms.