Box Score
No. 5 Huskies Overcome Wedan and Usher in Showdown on The Bluff
PORTLAND, Ore. --- Junior outside hitter Autumn Wedan returned to the Pilots lineup with authority on Tuesday by striking a match-high 17 kills, but the No. 5 Washington Huskies escaped with a 3-0 victory (25-16, 25-21, 25-22) over the Portland Pilots. Senior outside hitter Ariel Usher hit a blistering .462 with seven kills to compliment the Pilots’ attack at the Chiles Center.
Wedan consistently peppered the Huskies’ (9-0) back line with missiles, guiding the ball into open court regularly throughout the match. The Pilots’ (5-6) junior from Klamath Falls tallied five kills in the first set before posting six in each of the last two to lead the offensive.
After missing the last match-plus due to illness, Wedan added seven digs and two service aces to help clear the way for Usher, who has finished attacks with greater accuracy in her senior campaign.
“We’ve been talking about where we’re going to find increased efficiency offensively and Ariel and Autumn we’re outstanding tonight,” Portland head coach Joe Houck said of his offensive leaders. “Autumn was just putting on a show and [Ariel had] a pretty impressive line against a team at this level.”
Coming off a junior year with a career-high 303 kills, Usher is averaging 3.14 kills per set this season – nearly half a kill more than her career-best 2.87. Even more impressive is the fact she has increased her contribution more efficiently.
Through the first 11 matches of the season, Usher has hit .300-plus in six matches, topping .350 in five of those contests. With a hitting percentage of .317 on the year, she ranks in the top 200 of all D1 players in attacking percentage across more than 300 schools.
“I’m really proud that we continued to get better as the match went on,” Houck added. “The setters did a nice job of recognizing what was working and going back again and again to the people who were producing.”
Houck concluded by looking forward to the teams next challenge, the Penn State Classic, which will include a match against No. 4 Penn State. “We’re ready to step into this level of play with our trip to Penn State this weekend because it will be a similar match at this level of play. This is what our conference is. It’s great preparation for our WCC schedule because the teams in our league are not far off this mark.”
Portland will play a pair of Saturday matches against Eastern Illinois (10 a.m. PST) and Duquesne (4 p.m. PST) in the final non-conference matches of the season.
