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Stanford sweeps UW

Washington's Janine Sandell digs the ball next to Tamari Miyashiro, left, and Christal Morrison. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
News Service Report The Spokesman-Review
Washington's Janine Sandell digs the ball next to Tamari Miyashiro, left, and Christal Morrison. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

OMAHA, Neb. – The defending national champion Washington Huskies lost to Stanford 30-12, 30-25, 30-15 in the NCAA national volleyball semifinal Thursday evening at the Omaha Qwest Center.

The game was a rematch of the 2004 semifinal in which UW lost in four games.

The loss snapped Washington’s 10-match postseason win streak, dating back to the 2004 semifinal. Washington ended the season 29-5, while Stanford improved to 30-3 and advanced to take on top-ranked Nebraska in the NCAA final Saturday, in a match to be televised live on ESPN2.

Washington is 24-10 all time in the NCAA tournament and 2-2 in the final four, tying for third in 2004 and 2006 and winning the NCAA championship in 2005.

Stanford outhit the Huskies .315-.000, Washington’s lowest hitting percentage of the season, and held advantages in kills (51-24), assists (49-23) aces (8-3) and blocks (13-4). The teams were even with 47 digs each.

“Stanford, congratulations to them,” said UW head coach Jim McLaughlin. “They played a great match, the best match they played against us for sure, but we didn’t do the things we are capable of doing. It was a tough match. I told these guys in the locker room, we knew it would be tough, we knew the whole season would be tough. We put in a lot of time and had a good season.”

No Huskies recorded double-figure kills for the first time this season. Pac-10 Player of the Year and first-team All-American Christal Morrison and third-team All-American Jessica Swarbrick led the offense with six kills each.

Courtney Thompson paced the UW offense with 21 assists to bring her career total to 6,552, which ranks third on the NCAA all-time list.

Freshman libero Tamari Miyashiro anchored the UW defense with 20 digs, falling nine shy of the school record. Morrison added nine digs and Thompson had eight.

Stanford was led by Foluke Akinradewo with 15 kills and a .444 hitting percentage, while Cynthia Barboza chipped in 10 kills and three aces. Setter Bryn Kehoe had 44 assists and four aces and Jessica Fishborn led the defense with 14 digs.

The match marked the final appearances for Huskies seniors Thompson and Janine Sandell. Thompson concludes her career ranked third all time on the NCAA assists list and holds the record for assists per game. She started all 450 games during her four-year career, more games than any other player in Washington history.

A record crowd of 14,013 fans was on hand for the opening match between Nebraska and UCLA, although the stands thinned considerably for the nightcap between Washington and Stanford.