[olderthanIusedtobe]

It appears head coach Jim McLaughlin is leaving UW to go to Notre Dame. Nothing official from either school yet, but all kinds of scuttlebutt on volleyball blogs. Shocking, I would've never predicted that. Hopefully UW can quickly find a good coach and continue to do well.

[trestle]

I was wondering if he was going to be moving on soon. It's about the right time, a coach can't last forever anymore. Let's hope the AD can find a high-quality replacement and there is no drop-off.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

A new season and a new era kicks off tonight. Krista Vansant used up her eligibility and Coach McLaughlin went to Notre Dame. The Huskies promoted assistant coach Keegan Cook, who was mostly involved with the sand program previously as far as I can tell. UW playing Gonzaga in Spokane as part of a multi day tournament. I believe it is live streaming on gohuskies.com, I think I'll check it out. 4 pm which is...now!

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I gave it a try, but really low quality streaming. It was really weird because randomly for a few moments it would be hi def, then go back to blurry crap. Frequent pauses and I kept missing when points were scored. I can't deal with it. Gonzaga jumped out 3-0 but UW was up 9-5 when I gave up on it.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Haven't updated this for a while. Huskies went thru their non-conference undefeated, barely dropped a set, but had a fairly cupcake schedule. A few matches into the conference schedule had to do the LA trip. Swept UCLA. Lost to USC 3-1 but it was closely contested. The Trojans are undefeated and after the match moved up to #1 ranked in the country (Penn St. actually lost a match). UW hosted the Arizona schools this week, both are fairly tough, ASU was undefeated entering the match. They aren't anymore, the Huskies CRUSHED them. Depends on what else happens tonight but I think the Dawgs will be sitting in 2nd place in the Pac 12 about 1/3 of the way thru the season. Not bad. For some bizarre reason the UW-ASU match was not broadcast on Pac 12 Network. Two teams ranked in the top 6, only one combined loss between them, but no TV. Instead they showed unranked Wazzu against Arizona who's ranked somewhere in the teens. They certainly miss Vansant. At times it's been a struggle with their outside hitters being able to terminate consistently. Their leader in kills went down with an injury against UCLA. She was barely used last year but right out of the gate was the go-to player this year (Courtney Schwan). Their middle blockers are great. It remains to be seen how their new coach does long term, but he's off to a good start so far.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Dawgs keep rolling along. Some big matches the next 2 weeks. Road trip to the Bay Area this week, play Stanford tonight (Wed.). The Cardinal is always tough but they are a bit down this year, UW might actually have a chance for a rare win on The Farm. Cal is really down this year, I think only 1 conference win so far. The following week they host the LA schools. USC is still undefeated and ranked #1 in the country. That will be a HUGE match on Friday the 30th, should be a big, loud home crowd. Then on Sunday they get UCLA, whose only conference losses so far are against USC and UW.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Grr. UW was up 2-1 and had control in set 4, up 6 about halfway thru. Then they completely fell apart. Stanford came back and forced it to 5, then won the 5th set. So frustrating. Dawgs totally HAD this one and let it get away. Outhit and outblocked Stanford, yet somehow lost. Too many service errors. Their libero had a really rough night. Middle blocker Sybeldon had a monster night, but it wasn't quite enough. Stanford has a freshman outside hitter named Hodson that is a stud, we'll be seeing a lot of her the next 3 1/2 years.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

If you're looking for something fun to do on a Friday night, should be a barnburner of a match tomorrow (the 30th) against #1 USC. General Admission went up from $6 to $10 recently, but I saw somewhere if you show up in a Halloween costume it's only $5. 8 pm. Should be a big crowd, so show up early for choice of seats.

[JimK]

Huskies have won the first two sets of the match against the #1 team in the country. It's over. Huskies beat USC 3-0! The last set was not close.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Just got back, first match I've gone to all season. Bit of a weird night, a bit sloppy, neither team played their best. First 2 sets went back and forth, then the Dawgs crushed them in the 3rd. Bricio from USC is really good, but it seemed like UW kept her somewhat under control most of the night. Huskies really couldn't get Sybeldon going, but a number of other players stepped up. I think Scambray played really well. Fun to watch, now I'm pondering going back for the match against UCLA. Sunday 11 am.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Didn't go to the match today, but watched on TV. 3-1 win over UCLA. Good weekend. Beat the #1 and #8 ranked teams. All alone in 2nd place in the conference, 1 game behind USC (I'm assuming USC beats Wazzu today). UCLA and Stanford are 1 game behind the Huskies. Road trip to the Arizona schools coming up this week. ASU is in free fall ever since their best player was injured about a month ago against UW, she's done for the season.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Huskies had a pair of fairly easy sweeps against the Arizona schools. Rolling along into a BIG showdown with Stanford on Thursday in Seattle. Top 4 teams in the Pac 12 have totally separated themselves. USC in first, UW 1 game back and UCLA and Stanford tied for 3rd 2 games behind USC. Big drop from their to the 5th place team. Huskies really don't have a star player. In any given match any one of 5 or 6 different players can lead the way for their offense, never know which players are gonna be hot. Hard to game plan against that. In today's match no Husky reached double digits in kills but they hit over .300 as a team.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Went to the match tonight against Stanford. UW won fairly easily 3-1. Had a big lead in set 1 but blew it. Had a big lead early on in all 4 sets, let it slip away each time, but then rebuilt it and pulled away in sets 2-4.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

After beating Stanford, UW swept Cal at home and Oregon St. on the road. In both matches the team hitting % was ridiculous. Biggest test remaining during the regular season is at Oregon on Friday. Ducks have been a bit down this year, talented but they have had trouble closing out sets when they have leads. Still a dangerous team. After that just one more road match, at Utah (they often struggle on the Mountain road trip, but get to skip Colorado this year) and then home for the finale and Sr. night again Wazzu.

[Malachai Constant]

Go Dogs!