UW volleyball transformed into one of the nation's elite

If it meets its self-assigned standard — winning a national championship on Dec. 17 in San Antonio — Washington's volleyball team can claim a spot among the elite teams in Seattle sports lore, and among the best assembled in any sport at the University of Washington.

Pretty cool for a group of fun-loving college women.

The cast of characters includes the Pac-10 coach of the year (Jim McLaughlin), the Pac-10 player of the year (senior outside hitter Sanja Tomasevic) and four additional All-Pac-10 honorees. They're the core of a talented, experienced squad that's well-acquainted with successfully navigating what McLaughlin calls "the dimension of improvement" while still finding time to mug for Christal Morrison's video camera.

The task ahead: Win six straight matches over the next three weeks. The reward: Join football, men's crew and women's crew as the only Washington sports programs to conclude a season at No. 1.

Postseason play begins Friday as the Huskies (26-1), the No. 3 overall seed in this year's NCAA tournament, open in Fort Collins, Colo., in a likely first-round mismatch with Siena (20-11), from suburban Albany, N.Y. The winner plays a second-round match on Saturday.

As the journey begins and many people look for a spot to hop on the bandwagon, we offer today's primer on one of the most athletic and engaging sports teams seen locally in many moons. We even include some answers to assorted team FAQs:

NCAA volleyball regionals


At Fort Collins, Colo.

Friday

4 p.m.: Washington (26-1) vs. Siena (20-11)

6 p.m.: Colorado State (20-8) vs. Colorado (15-12)

Saturday

6:30 p.m.: Winners of Friday's matches.

What do you know about the Dark Ages of Washington volleyball?

The nadir came in 2000, when the Huskies went 8-19 and recorded the school's third straight season with fewer than 10 wins. They also finished tied for last in the Pac-10. It was the third straight year Washington had not been invited to the NCAA tournament. Tumbleweeds were on the verge of rolling across the Edmundson Pavilion court. Grim.

Who rode to the rescue?

McLaughlin, a cerebral former surfer, a Barbara Hedges hire. Before Hedges became Washington's athletic director, she got to know McLaughlin while both were at USC, where McLaughlin won a men's title in 1990. In 1997 he switched to coaching women, moving to Kansas State where he reached the NCAA tournament in his four seasons there, once getting to the Sweet 16. Hedges eventually persuaded him to come to UW in 2001.

What makes him so good?

"He's a meticulous, hard worker," says Oregon State coach Terry Liskevych, a three-time U.S. women's volleyball coach at the Olympic Games (1988-1996, earning a bronze in 1992). "He knows how to put a team together and create good team chemistry.

"He uses a methodology of creating competition in a practice setting that is as close as possible to a game. He measures and observes those performances to determine who plays in games, and that generates accountability in his players."

The soft-spoken McLaughlin is enthralled by statistics, and toils almost obsessively over analytical charts, task lists and comparative numbers, all with the belief that he can detect an incremental adjustment in a player's game that will yield surprisingly bountiful benefits.

"He's one of the top coaches in the country for sure," says Liskevych.

Hey, it's volleyball — a backyard game for the Fourth of July. Just how good could the college version be?

College women's volleyball, especially in the Pac-10, is on the fringes of Olympic-level competition. Of the 24 NCAA championships played since 1981, 12 have been won by Pac-10 schools.

Karch Kiraly, beach volleyball legend and FSN analyst, thinks both sophomore outside hitter Morrison and senior libero Candace Lee are U.S. national-team candidates.

"She's a really solid offensive player," Kiraly said of Morrison. "She looks great in the front row, the back row and has a strong jump serve. Both she and Candace have great ball control."

McLaughlin expects Tomasevic, a senior who previously played on the Serbia and Montenegro national team, to do so again in the future. And junior setter Courtney Thompson draws raves from every opposing coach. "She may be the best setter in the country," says Arizona State coach Brad Saindon, who coached Australia in the 2000 Olympics.

What's it like in person?

Imagine a variation of Cirque du Soleil with a ball and they keep score. Top teams follow strategically choreographed movement patterns that, with a single attack, can detour into a spontaneous riot of desperate contortionism — anything to keep a ball up and in play.

Backyard volleyball it's not. McLaughlin has aimed a radar gun on balls served by his players and finds the hardest hitters can sometimes crack 60 mph — close to the speed of a heater thrown in college softball.

Do fans get into it?

"The team is exciting to watch," says Jim Belcher of Bothell, a season-seat holder [$5 per ticket] who takes in games with his wife, Erin. "I think they're the most exciting team in Seattle.

"The players are well coached and they play together well as a team. It's as if they move together as one unit, like a single-cell organism — or something like that. I'm sure there's a good analogy in there somewhere."

A hometown vibe prevails after matches. Players autograph items for fans — typically younger girls — then mingle with family and friends.

So why isn't UW hosting first- and second-round matches?

Thorny question. The school hosted early rounds the past two years, and ranks fifth in home attendance this season, drawing an average of 2,888 fans per match.

Basically, the NCAA wants early-round matches to be played in geographic "pods" in order to minimize travel time and expenses, and to avoid extended classroom absences for players. Since no other tournament invitees are within driving distance of Seattle, the Huskies were shipped to Fort Collins, close to the University of Colorado, which is also in the tournament.

"I'm very disappointed about that," says UW athletic director Todd Turner. "I think I understand the reasons, but I think the NCAA needs to reexamine the wisdom of them."

Will Washington some day host a Final Four?

Turner has applied to have UW considered as a host-site contender for the 2008 or 2009 Final Four at Edmundson Pavilion. "I think we'd be an exceptional host," says Turner. "With 10,000 capacity, it's a great size for volleyball," he says.

What are the players like, and how do they get along?

It's a jumble of dissimilar personalities, a fact that senior outside hitter Brie Hagerty says works to the team's advantage.

"I think that's one of the formulas for our success, because we're not all the same," she says. If you get too many people with the same personality, then there's going to be constant fighting.

"We have a mix of laid-back and really aggressive and 'Wooo! I-don't-care' people. So I think those differences are what keep us bonded so tightly. It's like a puzzle."

Tomasevic agrees: "We're all totally different people. But on the court we're all on the same page. We practice so competitively that recruits have told us they think we might hate each other. No. Look around this room. We laugh, we're friendly, we like having fun with each other. We practice hard, but we care about each other."

Can UW win it all?

"Winning a national title involves a little bit of luck along with the ability to play well at the right time," says Liskevych. "They're strong at every position. Not only do they have a strong outside hitter in Tomasevic, they have three good hitters, as good as you're going to have in college. ...

"They got a good draw in the brackets. They have only one Pac-10 team in their regional, although that's Cal, and Cal's taken them to five games both times they played. I'm not sure they can do it a third time."