UW Volleyball | No. 4 Huskies sweep No. 5 Stanford

The Washington women's volleyball team generated a power surge inside Edmundson Pavilion on Friday night, leaving perennial Pac-10 rival Stanford in the dark.

Rocketing attacks from all angles and pressuring a youthful Stanford lineup with tough serves from start to finish, the fourth-ranked Huskies turned in one of their best performances of the season in front of 4,557 by sweeping the fifth-ranked Cardinal 25-21, 25-23, 25-19.

"We put the pressure on them and kept it on them," said UW coach Jim McLaughlin. "There's two parts to the thing: You've got to have a good plan and know your assignments, and you have to have good execution.

"When you've got both going and you're on, you can beat a really good team."

Washington (20-2 overall, 10-2 Pac-10) had lost four straight to Stanford, last winning in 2007. The Cardinal (15-7, 8-4) had handed UW its first loss this season at Stanford on Oct. 10, rallying from a 2-1 deficit to win 3-2. Accordingly, the Huskies savored the win, the first time the Cardinal has been swept by a Pac-10 team since 2006.

"It feels really, really good," said senior Jill Collymore, who shared UW's team-high total in kills (12) with Kindra Carlson and scorched Stanford with four heat-seeking aces. "When you work hard to fix things and work for your win and earn it against a good team, that's just the best."

Collymore struggled in UW's win last week at Arizona State, managing just two kills in 16 attacks and committing four service errors before McLaughlin pulled her.

"Jill had a good week of practice, and the game reflected that," McLaughlin said. "It's always great to get a return on a good day's work."

Collymore, who said she spent the week working on her hitting mechanics and the toss for her intimidating jump-serve, hit .385 with just two attack errors and one service error.

"My mentality back at the service line was go after it — no fear," she said. "This is the standard of the kind of player I want to be and just go up from there. Throughout the season I've been trying to complete my game and become a more complete player. So I'll just take tonight and keep going."

Washington fell behind 4-0 in the first set but quickly rallied for a 14-8 lead en route to the win. The Huskies led 7-2 early in the second set but let Stanford tie it at 22 before Airial Salvo (nine kills) and Collymore finished the set with kills. Washington hit .308 in the third set and dominated.

McLaughlin praised setter Jenna Hagglund's work for teeing up great shots for UW's outside hitters.

"Jenna kept us in system and we got really good swings on the ball. Whenever you get good swings, we're a powerful team," he said.

"The girls played intelligent volleyball. I thought we were mentally tough because we were in good places at good times, and we stayed focused on those things that told us where to be. So we were sharp."

Note

• UW hosts 13th-ranked California tonight at 7. Cal defeated Washington State 3-1.