Nov. 17, 1999 FIRST SERVE: The Washington volleyball team (8-16 overall, 4-12 Pac-10) plays its final matches of the season this week when it travels to face No. 2 Stanford (23-2, 15-1) and California (10-15, 5-11). Friday, the Huskies’ 7:30 p.m. match at Stanford will air live on Fox Sports Net. Saturday, the UW closes out the season with a 7:00 p.m. match against the Golden Bears at the new Haas Pavilion. SERIES HISTORY: The Huskies are 2-29 all-time against Stanford and 19-13 against California. The Huskies last beat the Cardinal in 1989 and have lost 20 in a row in the series (including an NCAA match in 1994). Washington has won seven of the last eight against the Golden Bears, with the lone loss coming earlier this season in Seattle. UW coach Bill Neville is 0-17 vs. Stanford and 12-4 against California. 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., will likely end up just short of becoming only the third Husky in history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career. She needs 40 digs in the final two matches to do that. She missed nearly all of the ASU match two weeks ago when she sprained an ankle early in game one, but still returned to play her final home match last Saturday vs. WSU. Laffling ranks in the top 10 in UW history in five different categories: fifth in kills (1,233), fifth in attacks (3,099), fourth in digs (960), fourth in block assists (279) and fifth in total blocks (314). This year, she ranks fifth in the Pac-10 in kills per game, sixth in digs and eighth in aces. NOTES: Both Laffling and sophomore Allison Richardson have been named to the all-tournament team in both tournaments this year ... Richardson leads the Huskies with 33 aces in 81 games ... her 0.41 aces per game average is fourth in the Pac-10 and the best by a Husky since Dragana Djordjevic averaged 0.47 (52 in 110 games) in 1994 ... Richardson is also second on the team with 267 kills ... freshman quick hitter Paige Benjamin ranks No. 4 in the Pac-10 with her .363 hitting pct ... Benjamin set new career highs for kills in both matches in the ASU weekend with 11 vs. Arizona and 16 vs. ASU then had 12 with only one error vs. WSU ... the Huskies are 0-2 in five-game matches this season. 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 118-113 (.511) 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 75 of 82 games as DS 3 Paige Benjamin Q 5-10 Fr. 39 kills over last three matches 4 Allison Richardson SW 6-1 So. 16k-5e-33a (.333) vs. Stanford on 9/16 6 Gretchen Maurer S 5-11 Fr. Setter in game three vs. Stanford - 9 ast 7 Linnet Rain Q 6-2 Fr. Started vs. Wisconsin and Illinois State 8 Kristina Laffling SW 5-11 Sr. 2nd among active Pac-10 kills leaders 9 Malena Thompson SW 6-0 So. Has become regular starter at SW 10 Britni Churnside S 5-9 So. Has started 23 of 24 matches at setter 11 Kiki Maroutsos SW 5-11 So. Perhaps team’s top server off bench 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. 11k-2e-17a (.529) vs. Stanford on 9/16 17 Emily Seacat OP 6-3 Jr. 6 kills, 10 digs in earlier Cal match 21 Sarah Allmon OP 5-11 Sr. Out for the season after knee surgery |
