UW Volleyball | Morrison closes out in style
Christal Morrison dropped to the floor after her combined block with Jessica Swarbrick produced the final point of a 3-1 victory for the Washington volleyball team over Oregon on Friday night.
On Senior Night, the three-time All-American from Puyallup High posted 21 kills in her final regular-season home match, one that sends the sixth-ranked Huskies (26-3 overall, 15-3 Pac-10) into the postseason on a high note.
She described her reaction as a mixture of emotion and elation.
“I didn’t mean to fall down after that last one,” Morrison said with a laugh. “But I had so much emotion in me, playing in, technically, my last home match. It was a blast.”
It wasn’t necessarily easy. The 13th-ranked Ducks (20-10, 9-9) won the first game before 3,252 spectators at Edmundson Pavilion and did not yield the lead in the second game until Washington rallied to take its first lead at 23-22. But the Huskies controlled the third game and dominated the fourth game, winning 27-30, 30-27, 30-25, 30-16.
The victory was almost enough to boost Washington into a tie for first place in the Pac-10. The Huskies needed Stanford to lose at home, but the fourth-ranked Cardinal (27-2, 16-2) held off seventh-ranked California 3-2 Friday night, squeaking out the decisive fifth game 16-14.
Washington, which has appeared in the past three Final Fours, now awaits its NCAA tournament assignment Sunday. The 64-team field will be announced at 5 p.m. on ESPNU.
Washington is hoping it can be home for an opening-round matches next week. The school’s chances will be greatly enhanced if Northwest neighbor Portland State wins the finals of the Big Sky tournament at Sacramento State tonight.
For UW, Stevie Mussie had 13 kills, and Swarbrick 12.