UW: Still no five-set matches

As we reported two weeks ago ("Washington's five-set curse",) matches which go the full five sets (with one team, of course, winning 3 sets to 2), have not been the Washington Huskies' friend.

During Coach Jim McLaughlin's ten-plus seasons at UW, his teams have won 85% percent of matches lasting either 3 or 4 sets. But when they play 5, they win just 47% (23 of 49) of the time.

When Washington beat Utah Saturday, it was the first time in McLaughlin's coaching career that his team had started the season without playing a single 5-set match in the first 16 matches. The previous streak was 15 in 2009, when the undefeated Huskies lost 2-3 to Stanford in Palo Alto (more on that later this week.)

The Huskies' 3-1 win at Long Beach State was the only 4-set match of 2011 so far. The other 14 Washington victories have been 3-0 sweeps; the only loss was an 0-3 sweep at the hands of USC.

Given that UW has lost seven of its past ten 5-setters, the new record streak is probably good news.

Washington setter Evan Sanders
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

"I don't know," says McLaughlin. "I'm not sure about the significance. I've never thought about it."

"Now you're going to make me think about it."

UW VOLLEYBALL Number of matches to start the season without a 5-set match
2011	*16
2009	15
2002	13
2010	13
2005	12
2007	11
2003	10
2004	9
2008	7
2006	1
2001	1
*active streak