by SEATTLE – Washington won a very tight first set tonight against the visiting Bruins, but then three more very tight sets all went the way of UCLA, as the Bruins dealt Washington a second consecutive defeat, 25-27, 26-24, 25-22, 25-23 in front of 2,643 fans at Alaska Airlines Arena. The 24th-ranked Huskies fall to 13-2 on the year and 3-2 in Big Ten play with their first loss this season to an unranked opponent.
UCLA outhit the Huskies, .298 to .245, as for the second-straight match the UW defense was unable to sufficiently slow down its opposition. The Bruins had 11.0 blocks and the Huskies had only 5.0. Washington had an edge in aces, 8-6, but UCLA finished with more kills (65-57) and two more in the digs column (61-59).
Head Coach Leslie Gabriel said “Our block is usually helping us score some points and we haven’t been able to do that (the past two matches). UCLA is a good team and they had a gameplan to hit high and deep and mix in some tips and we had a hard time defending that so that was frustrating. We have to work on it and get better and look at the block and see what opportunities did we miss.”
Emoni Bush led the Huskies with 13 kills and hit .393, and Julia Hunt was stellar on offense once again with 11 kills on 15 swings to hit .667. A huge lift was provided by sophomore Elise Hani, who came in to start the third set and finished with five kills on seven swings without an error (.714) adding two blocks. Audra Wilmes had a double-double with 13 kills and 14 digs. Freshman Alexis Haury’s 27 assists led the way and she had a career-high four aces. Lauren Bays added 15 digs and two aces.
