Washington newcomer Cassie Strickland taught the Cal women’s volleyball team a lesson on Sunday afternoon: Execution trumps size.
Standing at only five-foot-eight, Strickland found herself looking across the net at Cal’s front three — all of whom are over six feet. Yet at the end of the day, it was Strickland who won the battle at the net.
“[Strickland] is a great athlete,” cal coach Rich Feller said. “But, I’m not sure if that’s because of what she did effectively or what we did ineffectively.”
In Cal’s 3-0 defeat at Washington (17-2, 8-2), the Bears’ 0.073 hit percentage tells it all. Instead of hitting over the Husky blockers, the Bears hit into them, a shortcoming which doomed the Bears (10-10, 4-6).
In the first frame, Cal found itself down, 22-16. But then the team began to click during a surprising 7-1 run. A Washington unforced error evened up the score at 23-23, silencing the stunned crowd.
Out of a Washington timeout, the Huskies were finally able to put Cal to bed, winning the next two points to earn the set.
In the second set, Strickland unleashed her attack. At 4-1 in favor of Washington, senior Correy Johnson came across for a big spike. Strickland rose up and stuffed the shot of the six-foot-four Johnson, bringing the home crowd to its feet.
Only four points later, Strickland delivered another monster block to push the Huskies’ lead to 8-1.
Cal passed and moved effectively in the second frame, but shots weren’t falling.
“We went into the match knowing Washington led the conference in blocking, so we just had to recover it, we got stuffed,” Johnson said. “We didn’t do that and we didn’t do a good job of flushing points.”
At one point, Christina Higgins had two straight kills blocked. Unnerved by the Huskies, Higgins tried to maneuver a drop shot around the blockers and hit it out of bounds.
Throughout the match, Cal hit into the block, no matter the size the defenders. After two sets, Cal’s hit percentage was a mere .130.
In the third set, the Bears finally recorded their first successful block to nab the third point. Soon after, outside hitter Lara Vukasovic recorded the second and third blocks to push the score to 5-2 for Cal.
Just when it seemed Cal’s defense was coming alive, its offense faltered. Three straight stuff blocks by Strickland and her teammates quickly quieted any momentum the Bears had.
“We could not put a bunch of plays together,” Johnson said. “We would have a good play here, a good play there, but overall we were sporadic.”
At 19-12, the Huskies were cruising. Vukasovic hit balls long and Washington’s block was still creating issues for the Bears.
The Huskies easily took the last set, 25-15. One final block put an exclamation point on the match and snapped Cal’s six-game winning streak against Washington.
The Bears finished their Washington road trip 1-1. They swept Washington State, a squad that they were supposed to beat. But it was the loss against the favored Huskies that taught the Bears that execution may be the key to keeping their NCAA hopes alive.
Austin Crochetiere covers volleyball. Contact him at [email protected]
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