Oct. 26, 1999 FIRST SERVE: The Washington volleyball team (8-11 overall, 4-7 Pac-10), fresh from a pair of wins over the Oregon schools, head south to take on a pair of ranked teams in Los Angeles. The Huskies play No. 7 UCLA (19-1, 11-0) Thursday at 7:00 p.m. before moving across town to take on No. 17 USC (13-5, 8-3) Friday night at 7:00 p.m. SERIES HISTORY: Washington is 5-30 all-time vs. UCLA and 9-21 vs. USC. All five of the Huskies' wins over the Bruins have come since 1994. Since that first win over UCLA, the Huskies are 5-5 in the series, but have lost three straight. The Huskies have also lost three in a row to the Trojans since splitting the two league matches in 1997. LAFFLING: Senior Kristina Laffling is putting together a fine end to what has been a tremendous Husky career. The 5-foot-11 Q/SW from Richmond, B.C., is only 69 digs away from becoming only the third Husky to record 1,000 career kills and digs. She ranks in the top 10 in UW history in five different categories: fifth in kills (1,173), fifth in attacks (2,961), fourth in digs (931), sixth in block assists (267) and seventh in total blocks (7th) NOTES: The Huskies will play 10 matches against teams in the preseason top 25, including six against top-10 teams ... both Laffling and sophomore Allison Richardson have been named to the all-tournament team in both tournaments this year ... Richardson lead the Huskies with 25 aces in 64 games ... last year, the Huskies' aces leader (Angie Short) had only 27 aces all year ... Richardson is also second on the team with 214 kills and third with 148 digs ... she had 62 and 86, respectively, all of last season ... freshman quick hitter Paige Benjamin ranks No. 2 in the Pac-10 with her .369 hitting percentage ... in the Oregon and OSU matches, sophomore Lisa Underhill combined to hit .397 (29k-63-58a) ... the UW had two of its five best hitting pct. performances in the UO & OSU matches. COACH NEVILLE: Bill Neville (George Williams '67) is currently in his ninth season as the Husky head coach. The former USA men's team assistant and Canadian men's team head coach has an overall record of 118-110 (.518) since taking over the UW program midway through the 1991 season. His teams have made three NCAA appearances, all in the last five seasons, during which they have posted a 4-3 record. Neville is assisted by Diane Flick, Julie Baker and Duane Storti. QUICK HITS: Here's a quick rundown of the Husky volleyball team: No. Player Pos. Ht. Yr. Notes 1 Sabrina Page DS 5-3 Jr. Has played in 60 of 65 games as DS 3 Paige Benjamin Q 5-10 Fr. 2nd in Pac-10 in hitting at .369 4 Allison Richardson SW 6-1 So. All-tournament at both ISU and UoP 6 Gretchen Maurer S 5-11 Fr. Spent summer with U.S. Junior team 7 Linnet Rain Q 6-2 Fr. Started vs. Wisconsin and Illinois State 8 Kristina Laffling Q 5-11 Sr. Needs 69 digs to join 1,000-1,000 club 9 Malena Thompson SW 6-0 So. Career-high 15 digs, 6 blocks at WSU 10 Britni Churnside S 5-9 So. Has started 18 of 19 matches at setter 11 Kiki Maroutsos SW 5-11 So. Perhaps team's top server 12 Elissa Ross DS 5-9 Fr. Career-high 16 digs vs. No. 9 Wisconsin 14 Janelle Grovey SW 5-10 Fr. Won 13 letters at Sweeny HS in Texas 16 Lisa Underhill Q 6-3 So. 16 kills, 8 blocks vs. Oregon State 17 Emily Seacat OP 6-3 Jr. 21 kills, 6 aces in win at Oregon St. 21 Sarah Allmon OP 5-11 Sr. Out for the season after knee surgery |
