Huskies finish first half of Pac-10 volleyball season at WSU

The fourth-ranked Washington volleyball team concludes the first half of its Pac-10 schedule Friday night on the road against the surprise team of the conference — doormat-no-more Washington State.

The first-place Huskies (17-1 overall, 7-1 Pac-10) visit Pullman to face a WSU team that won its first 12 matches and last Friday upset 18th-ranked USC 3-0, an opponent UW struggled to defeat 3-2 one night later.

Led by Tahoma High School grad Meagan Ganzer, a sophomore who tops WSU in kills (3.21 per set), the Cougars (15-4 overall) hold sixth place in the Pac-10 at 4-4.

That's big news for a team that has not finished higher than ninth in the past five years. WSU won just four Pac-10 matches its past two seasons combined.

Washington coach Jim McLaughlin says he is focused only on getting more consistency from his players, regardless of the opponent.

"It doesn't matter who we're playing," McLaughlin said. "In this conference you're always playing good teams. There are no nights off, especially on the road. If we're not totally prepared, a team that is prepared could send us home feeling very sad."

After blitzing California 3-0 with a season-best .490 hitting percentage on Oct. 9 for their 15th straight sweep, UW is 2-1 in its past three matches, each one a battle against tough foes: a 3-2 loss at second-place Stanford (ranked No. 6 this week), a 3-1 win over UCLA (No. 13) and a 3-2 comeback win over USC (No. 18).

McLaughlin says the Huskies, ranked third nationally in hitting percentage (.313), recently have not played at a uniformly high level.

"Our biggest challenge is us," he said. "That won't ever change. We need more people contributing at the same time to have a greater effect as a team. We have six weeks before the [NCAA] tournament, and we can make a lot of progress before then."

Notes

• A win tonight assures UW of at least a one-match lead over Stanford in the Pac-10 race. The Huskies, Pac-10 champions in 2004 and '05, have finished second to Stanford the past three years. Stanford (12-5, 5-2), which plays at UW on Nov. 6, lost 3-2 last week at No. 12 Oregon. Oregon, UCLA and Arizona are tied for third at 4-3.

• Washington has won its past 12 matches vs. WSU and leads the all-time series 55-21. The Cougars last won in 2002 (in Pullman), the last year a WSU team was ranked until two weeks ago when the Cougars cracked the top 25. WSU finished seven points out of this week's top 25, becoming the top "also receiving votes" team. Seven Pac-10 teams are ranked 18th or higher.

• For the past five years, Washington, 2008 NCAA champion (and current No. 1) Penn State and Nebraska are the only teams to be ranked in the top 10 of every coaches' poll. All three teams were last excluded from the top 10 in December 2003.

• A key player in UW's come-form-behind 3-2 win over USC? McLaughlin says it was freshman defensive specialist Kelly Holford from Long Beach, Calif., inserted as a server after Bianca Rowland logged three straight service errors. "She did a good job serving and digging balls," McLaughlin said. "She works hard, and it's neat to see her get a return for all that work."

• Junior Kindra Carlson posted 18 kills in both wins last weekend and also accumulated 29 digs. She leads UW in kills per set (3.61).

• Carlson and seniors Jill Collymore and Airial Salvo have started every Pac-10 match, but junior Becky Perry, a 2008 second-team All-American selection by Volleyball magazine slowed by an ankle injury four weeks ago, remains in the mix. "The competition in practice is so close," said McLaughlin, who uses weekly practice stats to determine starting lineups. "Becky is playing better. I feel comfortable using anyone we need to use."

• Libero Tamari Miyashiro, who recorded a season-high 30 digs against USC, played in her 401st consecutive set in the win, the seventh-highest total in school history. She has played in every set UW has played since the opening match of the 2006 season.