Volleyball survives Kansas

By Ben Miller

Dec 6, 2004, 12:00 AM

The Washington volleyball squad advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the second-straight year after defeating Kansas in the second round of the NCAA tournament Saturday And they did it without Pac-10 Freshman of the Year Christal Morrison, who tore a meniscus in her right knee during practice last Wednesday. Morrison suffered the same injury in high school and missed two weeks. It is an injury that cannot get worse by being played on, and coach Jim McLaughlin said they will play her if needed, as they did in the fourth game against Kansas. In a year full of promise, the Huskies' (26-2 Overall) championship dreams almost ended against the Jayhawks (19-12) in a five game UW victory Saturday. "We didn't meet many of our performance standards, but we met the main standard in that we won the thing," said McLaughlin. "In the second half of the fifth game, we met every one of our standards, and when we control the things that we control, we're good." The Huskies face St. Mary's next weekend in Seattle. Washington did not come out strong in the first game, falling behind 14-19 half way through. However, the Huskies picked up the pace and took a 34-32 victory. Kansas had 12 errors in the game to only seven by the Huskies. In game two, the UW was stronger from start to finish as they turned an early 6-1 lead into a 30-26 victory. The UW took a 2-0 lead in the match and came into game three looking for an easy sweep. The Jayhawks had different plans, coming out strong to take the next two games 25-30 and 26-30 to force a deciding fifth game. Facing elimination, the Huskies fought hard for a 15-12 victory to win the match. "Before the fifth game started, we said we are not losing the fifth game again," senior Sanja Tomasevic said. "We played like it was the last time we were playing on this floor." Junior Brie Hagerty led the offense with 22 kills on a .279 hitting percentage. Tomasevic collected 19 kills in the match while senior Katlin Leck added 15. Sophomore Courtney Thompson dished out 64 assists. Kansas out-hit, out-dug and out-blocked the Huskies with KU's Paula Caten leading all players in the match with 24 kills. Last Friday, the results were much different as Washington swept Idaho (17-13) in three games with scores of 30-22, 30-14 and 30-19. "I think Idaho is a good and dangerous team, and we had to play well to beat them," McLaughlin said. "I thought we controlled the ball well and stayed on their tendencies throughout the match." Tomasevic had 21 kills in the match on a hitting percentage of .525. She also had 13 digs. Hagerty and Leck both had double-figure kills again with 15 and 12, respectively. Washington served the ball at a high level in the match, producing seven service aces to just five errors. "We put a lot of emphasis on (the serving game) in the week, and I thought we actually met our standards and went beyond it," McLaughlin said. "With serving, you've got to be prepared and you've got to have your technique on, and I thought we were on today."

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