[olderthanIusedtobe]

Another volleyball season has started. I haven't seen the Huskies play yet. They are undefeated but have been playing fairly weak competition. Sounds like they are a work in progress. Replacing both MB, one setter and their libero. Plenty of experience returning among their OH. I think they are trying to run a 5-1 instead of a 6-2 so far this year. Have a big test coming up later this week when they travel to play Hawaii. A bit of a rivalry between the 2, but most of the matches have been in Seattle during the playoffs.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

UW won a 5 setter at Hawaii last week. I finally got to watch a match yesterday, was on Pac12 Network vs. Maryland. Part of a 4 team event that USC is hosting. Huskies play Oklahoma today. Anyway UW swept the Terps. Looked good in stretches, but inconsistent play. Too many hitting errors and too many service errors. The match turned into a block party, seemed like both teams scored a huge percentage of their points off of blocks. UW is definitely running a 5-1 this year, it's been a LONG time since they did that (Courtney Thompson of course and then her predecessor Jenna Haglund were the last UW setters that didn't do the platoon system).

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Uh oh. The unthinkable happened tonight. Washington St. hadn't beaten the Huskies since '09 and hadn't won in Seattle since '01. Until tonight. UW cruised in set 1, then it was all Cougs. Just dominated. Not a good start to the conference schedule for UW. Hopefully just a bad night they can shake off and not an indication of how the season is gonna go.

[fourteen410]

[olderthanIusedtobe]

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Up and down for UW. Swept USC in LA, returned home and lost a 5 setter to Stanford, then beat Cal in 4. Meanwhile...those Cougs have won 3 straight against top 10 teams, 2 of them on the road. After beating UW they won a 5 setter in LA against UCLA and just moments ago took out Stanford in a 5 setter in Pullman. 3-0 in conference and in first place, with a fairly easy match against Cal to close out their week. Maybe this is WSU's year.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

So...the Pac 12 is CRAZY this year. UW now finds themself all alone in first place at 6-2, but SEVEN teams are one game behind them at 5-3. Just about anybody could win the conference at this point, except Cal, OSU and ASU who are battling it out for the cellar. Oregon and Wazzu both sprinted out to 4-0 starts but then stumbled and lost 3 of their next 4. The usual suspects like Stanford, UCLA and USC are still in the mix. Huskies have had several injuries and keep juggling their lineup, but keep winning matches.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

UW won a pair of matches on the road last week against the Arizona schools. This week they are on the road in the Bay Area (they seem to have been on the road pretty much the whole season and 4 straight away games in conference is pretty rare). Tonight it was their nemesis Stanford. Something about the Card. Already beat the Huskies in a 5 setter in Seattle earlier this year. Ordinarily they are just about impossible to be beat in Palo Alto, but not this year. Lost a couple matches early on in non-conference and recently lost in 4 at home to both Utah and Arizona, not exactly traditional powerhouses. But alas they swept the Dawgs 3-0 tonight. Fortunately I only caught the tail end when it was replayed. UW still leading the conference but only have a half game lead now and could find themselves in a 2, 3 or even 4 way tie after everyone has played their pair of matches this week. The conference race could very well go down to the last couple of matches played this year.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I met one of the Huskies on Saturday at the Burke Museum. Jade Finau, the backup setter. Chatted with her for a minute or two. She's really nice.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Dawgs just got swept by Oregon in Seattle, including losing the second set 25-8. How is that even possible?! I honestly don't know because I quit watching and changed the channel. Weak. Now in a 4 way tie for first place in the conference with Stanford, UCLA and Oregon.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

UW wins a tough 4 setter against Oregon St. today. OSU is pretty solid for a team buried near the bottom of the conference. Wasn't on TV, but I followed it on gametracker. UW had an uncharacteristic number of hitting errors. Schwan took over late in the third set and Scambray took over down the stretch of the fourth set. The other 3 teams at the top won their second game of the week, so there continues to be a 4 way log jam at 10-4. I think UW has the most favorable schedule of those 4 teams, but they need to start playing better. Wazzu is fading fast, after starting 4-0 I think they are only 7-7 now.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Huskies have been on a winning streak. Only 2 regular season matches left. Still in a tie for first place, now it's just UW and UCLA. Stanford 1 game back, Oregon 2 games back. UW and UCLA play Wednesday night at Hec Ed, huge match! Winner can do no worse than tie for 1st place, could win the conference outright. After Wednesday the Dawgs have to play WSU in Pullman. Cougs have been up and down but still dangerous.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I wasn't able to go to the match tonight, out of town. UW beat UCLA 3-1! Pac 12 Champs again. New coach has won or shared the title both years he's been the head coach. Not a bad start to his career.

[trestle]

Congratulations UW volleyball! The only good thing about the PAC-12 network is their volleyball coverage.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

UW swept the Cougs, finished at 16-4 in conference and in sole possession of first place. Stanford and UCLA 1 game back. The brackets for the playoffs will be announced on Sunday, not sure what time.