[olderthanIusedtobe]

Huskies fought back to tie it in the middle of the first set, but then Baylor went on another run. 25-20. Bears hit over .500 and UW had way too many hitting errors. They look outgunned. Baylor has just about zero history in volleyball but they look like a #1 team so far.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Well...Dawgs take set 2 25-21. They cleaned up the hitting errors. Drechsel has been playing great today. Bajema got off to a slow start but warming up now.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Ugh, set 3 not good. Bad passing, bad serving. The block has been completely non existent today. 25-19 Baylor. Their setter is dumping the ball any times she wants and UW still hasn't quite figured out that's a possibility. She has 6 kills on 6 attempts. Wake up Dawgs!

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Well, they competed hard, but just way too sloppy today to beat a really good team. Bad passing, serving wasn't particularly good, a lot of hitting errors. For a little while it looked like they had a chance, but nope. 25-18 in the 4th. Baylor seemed to score a bunch of points on junk plays. All those dumps by the setter (7/7), oddly hit lobs to open spaces on the floor, the defense seemed to be out of position a lot. Kind of a frustrating match. Oh well. Nice careers for Bajema, Niece and McPherson, they will be missed. Bajema set a single season school record for kills this year. Pretty impressive considering they had a 2 time National Player of the Year in Vansant and some other past stars like Morrison and Tomasevic. After hitting .000 in the first set she ended up hitting .300 w/ 20 kills today (but Pressley from Baylor hitting over .500 w/ 24 kills, dang). Well, now I'm all in rooting for Stanford, and rooting against Nebraska and Penn St. I guess anybody else left in the field would be okay. Would actually be kinda cool to see some new blood win a Championship.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I'm a bit of stats junkie w/ basketball, I haven't spent much time looking at VB stats in comparison. I was perusing the UW record books. Bajema finishes #4 all time in total points scored (kills+aces+blocks) and #6 on the kills list. That's especially impressive when you consider she played middle blocker as a Fr., so she got a lot less swings that season, and soph year she was buried on the depth chart for a good chunk of the season before getting hot at the end of the year. That was a Sr. dominated team, but by the end of the year she was clearly their best hitter. She only played in 59 sets that season compared to well over 100 her other 3 seasons.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Kara Bajema was named first team All American, Ella May Powell third team.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

For any interested, National semi finals are today. Baylor-Wisconsin at 4 and Stanford-Minnesota at 6:30. Both matches are on ESPN. Championship is on Saturday.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Baylor melted down today and looked nothing like the team that beat the Huskies. Credit to Wisconsin for really tough serving throughout the match. Baylor's receiving/passing/setting was not good. Stanford swept Minnesota in the other match. Wisconsin has never won a Championship, Stanford has an NCAA leading 8 (including 2 of the last 3).

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Stanford just wiped the floor w/ Wisconsin. One of the most lopsided Finals I can remember seeing. Stanford waltzed thru Penn St., Minnesota and Wisconsin on their way to the Championship. Take that Big 10. Utah gave them their only decent match of the whole tournament, and the Utes weren't even seeded because the committee is so dumb. They lose a bunch of key Seniors, including Plummer who is just head and shoulders the best player in the country. They won't be the same next year, but it's been nice seeing the Pac 12 hoisting banners again during their run (3 Titles in 4 years for this group of Sr.).

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Long delay, but the season is just now starting. Dawgs are hosting ASU, streaming should be available. Match is at 3 pm. There's a match on Pac 12 Network right now, but I'm in basketball mode. Might take a while to get into the volleyball action.

[trestle]

Can you offer a reason to hope for UW Men's Basketball right now? I mean it with sincerity. The lack of recruiting is frightening, as is the lack of adjustments. Women's Basketball does seem to be trending upwards from two years ago. What platform does the volleyball stream on? I hope it's not the PAC-12 Network, because I stopped paying for bundled cable a long time ago.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Jeez, I think UW was up 18-14 in set 1 and lost 25-20.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Disappointing start. About to get swept. Gave up decent leads in Set 1 and 3. edit--dang, forced extra points, but still got swept -20 -15 -26.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

UW bounces back w/ a 3-1 win over Arizona St. today.