[olderthanIusedtobe]

Of course like everything else in the world, it's going to be a strange season. No non-conference opponents. All season they will play a pair of matches against the same opponent in the same location to minimize traveling. Started w/ ASU in Seattle, next week will be Arizona in Tucson. Stanford has already cancelled their matches for this opening week.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

After dropping their opener, UW won 5 matches in a row. 2nd place in the conference, Utah is still undefeated. In a battle w/ UCLA tonight. Down 2-1 but leading in the 4th set. If you want to beat Stanford, this might be your year. The squad that won 3 of the last 4 Championships has been gutted w/ players using up their eligibility, and it sounds like some of their returning players are out with injuries. Very young and inexperienced at this point. 0-3 to start the season. I'm gonna go ahead and guess they've never been 3 games under .500 in conference play before. OT, but almost every D1 sport is happening simultaneously in this bizarre year. Men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball, baseball, softball, men's and women's soccer have all either started or are about to start. That's A LOT of stuff happening all at once. Streamed a bit of the UW softball team today, started their season w/ a pair of wins. Probably the best of any of the UW sports teams on campus currently. edit--darn it, forced a 5th set but then fell behind early and were never really in it

[olderthanIusedtobe]

UW bounced back to take the 2nd match from UCLA, swept a pair of matches @ Colorado this weekend. Seems like they NEVER win in Boulder, they got 2. One was 3-2 and the other 3-0. In 2nd place at 7-2, face lead leaguing Utah (8-0) in Seattle next weekend.

[stever]

Not to nitpick but they are actually 8-2 not 7-2. SR

[olderthanIusedtobe]

[olderthanIusedtobe]

First place Utah rolled into Seattle. Dawgs beat them 3-0 on Thursday and 3-1 today. UW really seems to be rounding into shape. I think UW is now 1/2 ahead of Utah at 10-2 compared to 8-2, although correct me if I'm wrong again. It looks like Oregon and Washington St. are both 7-2. There have been numerous matches cancelled, so like basketball teams have not played the same number of matches as other teams.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Dawgs @ Oregon this week. Swept them on Friday. Today had a 2-0 lead, then lost the next 3 sets. Utah won both of their matches this week, so I think the Utes inched back ahead of the Dawgs. Or maybe they're tied? It's hard to tell w/ the uneven number of matches everyone has played. UW hosts USC next. Trojans are only 3-5 thus far. Stanford is near the bottom of the conference, that will probably never happen again.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Friday night Dawgs let another 2-0 lead get taken to 5 sets, but they pulled it out this time for a 3-2 win over USC. Today they flattened the Trojans 3-0 and 2 of the sets were laughers.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

A bit OT, but UW fired women's bball Coach Wynn today. She had a remarkably unsuccessfully 4 year stint. I have no idea who they will get as a replacement, but it can't get worse.

[stever]

WSU Volleyball matches cancelled due to Covid issues within WSU program. https://gohuskies.com/news/2021/3/17/volleyball-washington-state-series-canceled.aspx

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Huskies won a pair of hard fought matches against Stanford over the weekend.

[stever]

Since Older has not reported I will....Dawgs swept Cal and are PAC-12 Champs. WOOF!

[olderthanIusedtobe]

[olderthanIusedtobe]

The field for the post season tournament was announced today. Huskies got the #6 seed. It's a smaller field this year. UW gets a first round bye, will play the winner of Towson vs. Dayton. If seeds hold they will play #11 Louisville and then number #3 Minnesota (maybe #14 Utah can take care of the Gophers) on the way to the Final 4. I'm assuming this will be taking place in a bubble, I don't even know the location. Big 10 got 6 of the 16 seeds. Pac 12 got 4 (UW, Oregon, Utah, Washington St; also unseeded UCLA). No Stanford in the tournament, that's crazy. No USC either.

[stever]

The bubble is in Omaha. They are playing all the games there. SR