Huskies bash Bears, grab share of Pac-10 title

By Ben Miller

Nov 22, 2004, 12:00 AM

The Washington volleyball squad responded with a decisive 3-1 victory over California Friday after its first loss of the season to Stanford the previous night. With the win, Washington (23-1 overall, 15-1 Pac-10) clinched a share of the Pac-10 title for the first time in school history. The match went to four games as the Huskies beat the 14th-ranked Golden Bears (15-10, 10-6) with scores of 30-21, 26-30, 30-23 and 30-20. "It's a good deal and now we have a piece of (the conference title), but we want to get the whole thing for ourselves," coach Jim McLaughlin said. The Huskies have a chance to clinch sole possession of the Pac-10 title with a victory over either USC Friday or UCLA Saturday this weekend in Seattle. The UW defense was tough all night as they held Cal to a .156 hitting percentage, including .000 in the fourth game. Junior Candace Lee had 20 digs on the night to tie her own school record she set last year for digs in a season with 467. The Husky hitters overpowered the Golden Bears, as three players finished the night with more than 15 kills in the match. Junior Brie Hagerty led all players with 19 kills on a .286 hitting percentage. Freshman Christal Morrison and senior Katlin Leck both had 16 kills on the night. Morrison also added 15 digs for second on the team. Courtney Thompson also had a strong showing in the match as she put up 60 assists and even added two kills on four attacks. "Her presence was strong, she was decisive and she knew what she wanted to do and she just went out and did it," McLaughlin said of Thompson. "She wasn't affected by the ebbs and flows of the games, and she remained steady and remained on the game plan." The Washington defense finished with 14.5 blocks. Junior Darla Myhre collected eight blocks, including two solo blocks. Hagerty and junior Jessica Veris both finished the night with six blocks each. The California attack was spread around as four players ended the night with double figure kills. Senior Camille Leffall led her team with 13 kills. McLaughlin thought his team responded well to its loss against Stanford the night before. "I was concerned because we hadn't been in that situation," he said. "I wanted to see what kind of resolve we had, how we would come out and how we would handle it. I thought we came out and played hard and we got into a nice rhythm and put a little pressure on Cal."

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