Volleyball | Unhappy ending for Huskies

OMAHA, Neb. — Winning is hard.

That's the message Jim McLaughlin inscribes on his bulletin board at the start of each season.

It's a message the UW volleyball coach hopes his team remembers now that the season has come to a sudden end.

"There's nothing easy about being great," McLaughlin said. "But our athletes don't go through all they do because it's easy; they do it because it's hard. And winning is hard."

The day after their devastating 3-0 loss to Stanford in the NCAA semifinals on Thursday, most of the Huskies had to be rousted from their Omaha hotel rooms for their noontime meal.

"It was tough to fall asleep," sophomore Ashley Aratani said.

Senior Janine Sandell was wide awake into the wee hours commiserating with players from UCLA, who lost earlier to Nebraska in the other semifinal.

"We were all mad [about the losses]," Sandell said. "You try to put it out of your mind, but the memories of the matches kept rushing through us."

Although this was the Huskies' third straight Final Four appearance, this year's team was relatively young. Five key members of last season's national-championship team had graduated, and four current starters had never played in a Final Four.

"We played well at home this season, but not as good on the road," McLaughlin said. "That's usually a function of maturity."

Several players found the atmosphere in Omaha's Qwest Center disconcerting. The 17,000-seat arena was packed with fans, almost all of them there to root for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the night's first match. During the Huskies' second match, the spectators watched in near silence.

"It was weird," sophomore middle blocker Jessica Swarbrick said. "We would shout out our plays, and it seemed as if they echoed."

UW players and coaches were quick to credit Stanford for playing a great match, particularly strong serving. In contrast, the Huskies had one of their worst serve and serve-receive nights of the season.

"That hurts the most," McLaughlin said. "The thing we usually do best is pass, and that's the thing we did worst. As the match wore on, I could see that we began to question ourselves."

McLaughlin will look at film next week "to close the books on the season," then spend time with his family before focusing on next season. But the cupboard won't be bare: the Huskies return three all-Americans — Christal Morrison, Alesha Deesing and Swarbrick — plus hitters Stevie Mussie and Jill Collymore, and defenders Tamari Miyashiro and Aratani. He loses just two seniors: Sandell and all-everything setter Courtney Thompson.

McLaughlin was trying to fall asleep Thursday night when a knock came on the door. It was Thompson, as distraught as he'd ever seen her.

"I think that women understand these situations better than men do," said McLaughlin. "They know it's important to talk it out."

"I was bummed," Thompson said. "I just wanted to play a good volleyball game. When you play your last game you want to play well, even if you lose. And we did not play well."

McLaughlin told her the pain she felt was normal — and a good sign.

"It means she understood how hard she had worked, and that it wouldn't feel like that if she hadn't put so much into her four years at Washington."

Winning is hard, McLaughlin told her, but it's also great. And it means that losing hurts all that much more.

"It's a lot different when it's your last match," Thompson said. "I feel numb, I feel sad. But, at the same time, I feel peaceful about my career. So many great players play this game who never make it to even one Final Four."

Note

• The players received an avalanche of text messages and voice mails from back home, since few fans had access to ESPNU and were literally left in the dark by Thursday's fierce Northwest windstorm.

By Friday, many in the Seattle area still did not know the results of the UW-Stanford match: Few local newspapers were published, and widespread power outages meant fans couldn't access the Internet or watch television.