SEATTLE – An undermanned Husky squad gave its all on the road and pushed 21st-ranked USC to four sets, but saw its four-match win streak end at the Galen Center in front of 3,418 fans. Washington fell 11-25, 18-25, 25-21, 15-25 to drop to 17-5 on the season and 7-5 in Big Ten play.
The Huskies were missing two of their outside hitters, and the two hitters who primarily handle serve-receive, in
Kierstyn Barton and
Audra Wilmes. The Trojans took advantage of that and had 10 aces and put the Huskies into scramble mode on too many rallies today. Washington only found its offensive rhythm in the third set when it hit .278, but overall for the match the Dawgs hit just .061. USC hit .315 and improves to 16-6 and 8-4 in conference.
Kiune Fletcher led the Huskies with eight kills and hit .312.
Madi Endsley also had eight kills and she had a season-high four aces, one off her career-high.
Julia Hunt had six kills and four blocks. Senior
Sophia Tulino made her first start of the season at outside hitter and had five kills and her first two aces of the year plus a team-leading eight digs.
The Trojans pulled away early and ran off with set one as the Huskies adjusted to the lack of Barton and Wilmes in serve-receive and struggled with hitting errors. Set two still saw USC in control but UW showed it was figuring things out.
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