Hurricanes Lose Heartbreaker to Washington State in Five Games
Sept. 11, 2004
Los Angeles, Calf. – The University of Miami fell to Washington State, 3-2, at the Furama Hotel Invitational held at the Gersten Pavilion on the Loyola Marymount University campus, Saturday morning. The Hurricanes are now 1-2 on the season.
“We outplayed them in every statistical category but came up short. It was unfortunate that we lost because we did a lot of great things,” said head coach Nicole Lantagne Welch. “We’re definitely playing better with each match.”
The Hurricanes rallied in the first game by scoring seven unanswered points to take an 18-11 lead. But WSU tied it at 19. Tipiana hit a key kill and an ace to regain the lead, before the Cougars were able to tie the score again at 27. After a Miami timeout WSU regain the lead for good, eventually taking the game 30-28.
The Hurricanes played what coach Lantagne Welch considered “the best periods of play of the season” to dominate the second and third game. In game two, the Hurricanes held WSU to a -.121 hitting percentage after hitting .424 as a team in game one. The Hurricanes hit .265 in game two. Miami dominated game three winning 30-20 to take the match lead.
The Hurricanes gave up an early lead in the fourth game and could not catch up despite stopping WSU twice at game point and lost, 30-26.
Both teams reached ties three times in game five before WSU took a 12-10 lead. After a Miami timeout and a WSU service ace, Johnson came up with a big kill to give the Hurricanes the ball. The Cougars followed with two consecutive blocks to give WSU the game, 15-11, and the match.
Senior Valeria Tipiana, led the offensive attack by hitting a team high 23 kills for a .395 hitting percentage. She also landed five of the Hurricanes’ 14 service aces, which is a new team record. Junior Karla Johnson followed suit with 16 kills and seven digs. Sophomore Jill Robinson led the team with 58 assists.
Defensively, the Hurricanes were led by senior Jamie Grass who tallied 16 digs. Robinson played a key role on defense recording a career high 13 digs in five games. Redshirt sophomore Ciara Michel made a team-high seven blocks (2 BS, 5 BA).
“Valeria Tipiana had an awesome match. She was on fire attacking and had a great all around game,” noted Lantagne Welch. “Karla Johnson was productive while Jamie Grass was good defensively. Jill Robinson had some incredible digs and was doing a great job attacking.”
Miami closes out the Furama Hotel Invitational with a 5:00 pm (PST) match against the University of Cincinnati.
