Lanier’s career night powers USC to 3-2 road win over No. 12 Washington

SEATTLE – The USC women's volleyball team (13-8, 7-4 Pac-12) pulled into a tie for third place in the Pac-12 with a 3-2 win (18-25, 25-22, 19-25, 25-21, 15-11) over 12th-ranked Washington (16-5, 7-4) at Alaska Airlines Arena on Friday, Nov. 1, to open the back half of the conference schedule.

NEW RANKINGS: Texas is No. 1 | Scoreboard

KEY PLAYERS

• Sr. OH Khalia Lanier set new career highs with 33 kills (11e, 73att, .301) and 36.0 points (one ace, four blocks). Lanier also had 10 digs to put up her fourth double-double of the season (38th career). Her 73 attacks matched her career high as well. Her 33 kills are the most by a Trojan since Samantha Bricio had 30 in a win over Washington (Oct. 26, 2012) and are tied for 10th most in a single match in school history. Lanier's 36.0 points mark the sixth-highest single-match output in program history; the highest since Bricio had 34.0 points in a five-set win at Stanford (Sept. 27, 2015).
• So. setter Raquel Lázaro put up 53 assists with eight digs and served three of the Trojans' eight aces.
• Defensively, Sr. libero Raegan LeGrand had 12 digs and Fr. defender Keila Barra had a career-best 10 digs with two assists.
• Jr. OH Brooke Botkin collected nine kills (5e, 30att, .133) with seven digs before going out with an injury. For the Huskies, three players had double-digit kills, led by Kara Bajema (20), Shannon Crenshaw (13), and Samantha Drechsel (12). Crenshaw and Bajema had double-doubles with 21 and 19 digs respectively. Ella May Powell distributed 47 assists with 14 digs and served three aces.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Lanier had six kills in the opening frame and USC led, 9-5, before the Huskies went on a 12-2 run to seize control and walked away with a 25-18 win. UW out-dug the Women of Troy, 18-9, in the first set and out-hit the Trojans, .433 to .154.
• Washington won the first three points of the second set, but the Trojans responded with a 7-0 run to climb in front and was never tied again to finish up a 25-22 win. Lanier tallied nine kills (2e, 15att) and hit .467 to lead the Trojans who had a 17-8 edge in kills with three service aces and four blocks.
• USC led, 16-13, in the third and Lanier added six more kills, but Washington blasted through a 12-3 run to hold off the Women of Troy and take a 25-19 win for a 2-1 lead in the match.
• Down by five, 20-15, the Trojans turned it on in the fourth set. Sr. MB Jasmine Gross served through an 8-0 run to give the Trojans a 23-20 lead. The Huskies scored one more point, but Lázaro scored a kill for set point and then served an ace to seal a 25-21 win for USC. The Trojans hit .324 to Washington's .167 to force the fifth set.
• USC had just six kills (all from Lanier) in the fifth frame and hit .235 as a team. The Trojans added two blocks and had six digs and allowed Washington to make the mistakes en route to an 8-5 lead. The Huskies hit .000 with eight kills and eight errors on 24 attempts. Back-to-back kills from Lanier put the Trojans on top, 12-7. Washington fought back to close the gap to two points at 13-11, but Lanier scored back-to-back kills again to close the books on a 15-11 win.

"Set me from the bench! I got this!" ~ Khalia Lanier (probably)

Lanier finished with a career night as USC’s strong play as of late continued on Friday with a come-from-behind five-set win at No. 12 Washington.⁣#NCAAVB | @uscwomensvolley pic.twitter.com/Y6i0SBA2NC

— NCAA Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) November 2, 2019

UP NEXT

The Women of Troy head to the Palouse to face No. 22-ranked Washington State (18-5, 7-4 Pac-12) on Sunday, Nov. 3, at Bohler Gymnasium in Pullman, Wash. The Trojans and Cougars will play at noon PT and be shown live on Pac-12 Networks.

MATCH NOTES

• USC improved to 43-28 all-time against Washington; including 17-16 when the Trojans play the Huskies in Seattle.
• The Women of Troy won back-to-back matches against the Huskies for the first time since 2011 and defeated UW twice in the same season for only the third time since 2003 ('11, '19).
• USC improves to 138-88 all-time in five-set matches and to 60-45 in road five-setters. Against Washington, the Trojans go to 8-10 in five-set contests (3-5 when played in Seattle).
• The Women of Troy improved to 40-30 all-time in the state of Washington.
• The Trojans snapped a streak of five straight losses in five-set matches and improved to 2-5 in five-setters this season.
• USC's win over No. 12-ranked Washington is its third over an AVCA-ranked opponent (3-6 this season). The other two victories were over No. 8 Washington (Oct. 4) and No. 15 California (Oct. 25).