Young Washington Squad Sweeps USC

Young Washington Squad Sweeps USC

Freshmen came up big in a Pac-12 volleyball battle between Washington and USC.

Sep 25, 2016 by Jack Hamann
Young Washington Squad Sweeps USC
Shayne McPherson might as well have had a target painted on her white libero jersey.

In her first Pac-12 match, the Washington freshman had been bombarded with serves from rival Washington State. Her frequent shanked passes were key to the Cougars' first victory in Seattle in 15 years.

USC head coach Mick Haley noticed. On Friday, Washington arrived in Galen Center in a matchup between last season's Pac-12 co-champions. Haley figured that getting under McPherson's skin was key. 

"[McPherson] was passing under 2.0 this season," Haley said. "Our plan was to go after her."

But Haley had libero issues of his own. Star senior Taylor Whittingham was nursing a partially-torn ACL, leaving sophomore Victoria Garrick to don USC's libero jersey. The Huskies decided to target Garrick just as much as the Trojans planned to single out McPherson.

"We knew we had to hit good serves," Washington head coach Keegan Cook said. "We knew we had to pass the ball well."

Early on, the Trojans had the upper hand. Washington's talented junior setter, Bailey Tanner, was forced to scramble, as McPherson and the Huskies' two junior outside hitters, Tia Scambray and Courtney Schwan, sprayed passes around the court. But after tying the Huskies at 24, USC let two set points slip away, Scambray landed several strong crosses. Tanner reached up and over for the final stuff block to seal a 28-26 Washington first set win.

In passing, simple is better than complex. Shayne really calmed down her feet tonight, and just let her arms do the work.

"We needed that first set to get settled," Tanner said. "After that, we played our game."

Early on, the bright spot for Southern Cal was the play of outside hitter Khalia Lanier, the nation's top-ranked high school recruit. Muscular and confident, Lanier used the whole court to rack up five quick kills. But as the second set began, Washington's strategy of serving Garrick paid off more than USC's decision to serve McPherson. Garrick was aced three times in the set, part of six UW aces in that frame alone. McPherson, for her part, settled down and began passing nails.

[album albumId="450320"]

"She was great," Tanner said. "We were totally in system the rest of the way."

"What a response by that kid," Cook said of McPherson. "In passing, simple is better than complex. Shayne really calmed down her feet tonight, and just let her arms do the work."

The Huskies have no true seniors on their roster; their core players include McPherson, fellow freshmen Kara Bajema and Avie Niece, and four solid juniors: Tanner, Scambray, Schwan, and Crissy Jones. As the match rolled on, Tanner had increasing freedom to set Jones on both the right side and back row, and to connect with Scambray and Schwan. UW hit .357 in a 25-16 second set runaway and .448 in a match-winning 25-18 third.

"We didn't do a good job of blocking," Haley said. "But that started with bad serving and bad passing."

As good as Lanier will someday be, poor Trojan passing allowed Washington passers to shut her down the second half. She finished with just six kills and five errors on 21 attempts. For the Huskies, freshman middle blocker Bajema continued her sprint out of the 2016 gate with nine kills and a .438 clip. When Huskies' passing clicks, UW loves to feed its middles.

"Kara is a total stud," Tanner said. "She's never played middle before this season, which is unreal. We're asking a lot of her, and she's totally delivering."

"Nothing seems to faze Kara," Cook said. "She just plays her game, no matter what gym she's in."

Last season, Southern California and Washington each suffered just two losses in Pac-12 play. The Trojans and Huskies were conference co-champions, both 18-2. They entered the postseason with UW ranked No. 1 by AVCA and USC the NCAA tournament's  No. 1 seed. In the regional semifinals, the Huskies lost to eventual champion Nebraska, while the Trojans fell to Kansas in five sets (15-13 in the fifth) in the regional finals.

She's never played middle before this season, which is unreal. We're asking a lot of her, and she's totally delivering.

Now, just two matches into league play, USC has already equaled last season's conference loss total.

"Our schedule [at Utah and Colorado this week] is tough," Haley said. "We need to get better in a hurry."