by UW Communications
SEATTLE – The Husky offense remained hot with All-American Ella May Powell putting up 41 assists and leading the Dawgs to a .345 attack percentage in a hard-fought sweep of Oregon State. Powell’s connection with her pin hitters clicked all night, as Samantha Drechsel and Shannon Crenshaw had 15 kills apiece, and Emoni Bush (Wei Wai Kum First Nation) added 13 more in the 27-25, 25-20, 25-16 win in front of 1,984 fans at Alaska Airlines Arena.
The Dawgs saved a couple set points, both on Emoni Bush kills, before winning the first set, and then UW was able to build momentum from there. With the victory, the 12th-ranked Huskies (21-4, 14-3 Pac-12) kept pace with 13th-ranked UCLA atop the Pac-12 standings with three matches to go.
“Certainly the first couple sets Oregon State played extremely clean, which creates a lot of pressure,” said Head Coach Keegan Cook. “The feeling of frustration we had came from them playing really clean. We found enough offense and we were good in the late moments to pull away, and then finally in the third set I thought we showed up defensively.”
In her first two starts since moving back to the outside hitter position from her libero role, Crenshaw has posted consecutive career-high kill numbers. The fourth-year junior had 13 kills last Sunday at Cal to tie her career-high, and she surpassed that tonight with 15 on 26 swings and just one error to hit .538. She also added 10 digs for a double-double.
Drechsel had 14 of her 15 kills in the first two sets, when the Beavers were putting up their toughest fight. She hit .448 for the match and collected eight digs.
Bush’s 13 kills were also a career-high for the second-year freshman, as the Campbell River, Canada native hit .286 and had three block assists.
All-American Claire Hoffman was back on the court after a one-match absence but played only in the back row, but she made her presence felt with three aces, including a crucial one to give the Huskies their first set point in the first set at 26-25, and another at 24-20 to close out the second set.
Washington had a big 54-35 advantage in kills and also improved to 12-0 when outdigging its opponent, as the Huskies had 49 digs compared to 43 for OSU. Lauren Bays had 12 digs to lead the back row.
