Washington, given a shot at its former coach, defeats Gophers in volleyball

Washington defeated the No. 14 Gophers volleyball team 25-21, 25-23, 14-15, 25-22 on Thursday at Maturi Pavilion.

It was the first meeting between the two programs since Keegan Cook left Washington after eight seasons to become the Gophers coach in 2023.

The loss ended the Gophers’ four-match winning streak and was just their second loss in the past nine matches. The loss dropped the Gophers (16-7, 9-4) to 7-2 at home this season.

Julia Hanson had 15 kills to lead the Gophers. Lydia Grote had 13 kills and McKenna Wucherer had 12 kills and 11 digs. Melani Shaffmaster had 39 set assist and 10 digs for the Gophers.

The Gophers hit .248 and had 16 blocks, but they allowed 13 aces from the Huskies. Washington hit just .123 and had 10 blocks.

“It’s one of those boxscores that will confuse you for a while,” Cook said. “To outhit a team by almost double their hitting percentage and certainly block at a high level — but the game is won and lost in serve receive. Certainly, there were things late in the match that I was familiar with, and that was Washington at their best.”

Emoni Bush had 19 kills and Madi Endsley had 10 kills to lead Washington (18-5, 8-5 Big Ten), which was coming off a four-set loss at Southern Cal on Sunday. Molly Wilson had 37 set assists and 15 digs for the Huskies. Bush contributed 12 digs.

The Gophers play host to No. 12 Oregon on Saturday.