College | Pac-12 volleyball nonconference season opens against opponents big and small

#7 Washington goes 3-0 but #8 USC makes biggest splash | Seattle U gets big win

Washington's Cassie Strickland and Tia Scambray
-2014 file photo courtesy Shutter Geeks Photography

In Pac-12 volleyball, nothing is more imbalanced than the first four weeks.

On the one hand, schools like #8 USC and #2 Stanford traditionally seek out several top national opponents to tune up for the tough conference schedule. This year, USC matches up with—among others—#18 North Carolina, #12 BYU, #10 Kentucky, Creighton and Pepperdine, all front-line opponents. Stanford’s schedule includes #1 Penn State, #18 North Carolina, #6 Illinois, Duke, Minnesota and Texas A&M, perhaps the toughest nonconference lineup in the country.

All across the Pac-12, teams try to schedule at least one marquee matchup. #16 Arizona has #3 Texas and #22 Ohio State; #15 Arizona State has #6 Illinois and #9 Colorado State; #21 Colorado faces #1 Penn State, #6 Illinois and #14 Florida State; #11 Oregon takes on Florida and Nebraska, both tied at #4. And so on.

On the other end of the spectrum, both #7 Washington and unranked Washington State have scheduled teams that finished the 2014 season with relatively modest RPIs. Neither has an attention-grabbing opponent during the first four weeks, and the Huskies could enter the Pac-12 part of the season without being seriously tested.

In the Pac-12, scheduling philosophies fall into three general categories:

1. Get tough. Some coaches (USC’s Mick Haley, Stanford’s John Dunning) want their teams to face adversity early. Defeating opponents with high RPIs pays off at tournament time, when RPI helps determine which 16 teams get to host the first two rounds. Fans, of course, enjoy seeing top teams from other parts of the country.
2. Start slowly. Some coaches figure that success during the Pac-12 part of the schedule is what matters most, and all but ignore RPI implications. These coaches treat early season matchups essentially as part of extended preseason training, even if fans have little to look forward to. This season, Washington’s home nonconference schedule includes Buffalo (2014 RPI: 173), Murray State (114), two matches against Cal State Northridge (46) and St. Mary’s (162). None of those teams is currently ranked; Murray State is 3-0, St. Mary’s is 2-1, Buffalo and Cal State Northridge are both 0-3.
3. Play ‘em if only they’d come. Many Pac-12 teams travel across the country to face schools from other top conferences. But, with few exceptions, other power conference teams refuse to head out west, where they almost always lose.

Over the weekend, UW earned three sweeps in the annual Northwest Challenge, easily defeating Gonzaga, Portland State and Boise State. Three sophomore hitters—Courtney Schwan (4.0 kills per set, .444) Tia Scambray (3.3 kps, .300) and Crissy Jones (3.0 kps, .440) were the offensive stars across the three matches. Senior middle Melanie Wade had a hand in 16 blocks (1.78 blocks per set), while senior setter Katy Beals and sophomore setter Bailey Tanner each tallied 4 aces. Senior libero Cassie Strickland had a stellar weekend, averaging 4.38 digs per set. As a team, UW outhit its three opponents .363 to .132.

USC was the weekend’s biggest winner, defeating both North Carolina and 2014 National runner-up BYU at Galen Center. Trojan All-American Samantha Bricio led the way, averaging 5.80 kills per set, and was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week. It's all the more impressive considering USC snuck into the NCAAs last season with a 16-16 record, and saw All-American Ebony Nwanebu transfer to Texas in the offseason.

Stanford was without a star of its own: All-American Inky Ajanaku is out for the season with a knee injury. Even so, the Cardinal swept both Texas A&M and Minnesota, as senior Jordan Burgess averaged 4.0 kps. Haley Hodson was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week after averaging 3.17 kps.

Colorado lost to #23 San Diego, then upset #14 Florida State. The Buffs also defeated Oklahoma, dropping the Sooners to 0-3. Washington will play Oklahoma in Norman in three weeks, and the Sooners were thought to be the toughest team on UW’s nonconference schedule.

In Berkeley, Seattle U (3-0) raised eyebrows with a 3-0 sweep of California (2-1). Jelena Vujcin had a big weekend for the Redhawks, averaging 3.33 kps. Including 9 against the Golden Bears.

Pac-12 schools suffered other early losses. Oregon State, coming off its best season in a decade, lost to both Wichita State and #17 Hawai’i. Utah lost to Lipscomb, a team with a 2014 RPI of 39, just behind the Utes’ 37. UCLA lost 3-0 to Loyola Marymount (44 RPI in 2014.) Washington State lost to Radford before sweeping both Elon and East Tennessee State.

NOTES:

• In 2001, Jim McLaughlin started his Washington tenure by going 1-2 that first weekend, beating Purdue, but losing to BYU and Texas. This past weekend, McLaughlin started his Notre Dame career by going 1-2, beating Middle Tennessee State, but losing to Bowling Green and Cleveland State. Over three matches, the Fighting Irish have been out-hit .251-.196. The Notre Dame roster includes just one senior and two juniors.
• The USA Women’s National Team is now 6-1 in World Cup play, and has taken the overall lead in the 12-team race for two 2016 Olympic berths. The most recent matches—against Peru, Algeria, Kenya and Argentina—have all been 3-0 blowouts. In three sets, Algeria managed just 14 total points (25-7, 25-2, 25-5). USA’s final four matches are against Cuba (2-5), Russia (6-1), Japan (6-1) and Dominican Republic (4-3)
• Congratulations to Brooke Niles and Karolina Sowala, women’s winners of the National Volleyball League’s Seattle Championships over the weekend at rainy/windy Alki Beach. Dave Palm and Eric Zaun won the men’s title.

USA beats China in World Cup despite struggles at setter

No UW alums on roster | HS volleyball surpasses basketball | Beach tourney at Alki

USA players celebrate a point during a 3-0 World Cup win over co-favorite China
-FIVB

The 2015 World Cup, hosted by Japan, is a big deal. That’s because the top two teams in the 12-team round-robin earn the first two berths for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

Yesterday, USA defeated co-favorite China 3-0, overcoming passing and setting problems that led to an earlier 3-2 loss to Serbia. Three Washington alums were left off the World Cup roster: setter Courtney Thompson, libero Tama Miyashiro and outside hitter Krista Vansant. All three are still in the running for an Olympic roster spot next summer.

See much more in our online report for Volleyball Magazine. And once you’ve read the report, feel free to add your comments.

VOLLEYBALL PASSES BASKETBALL TO BECOME MOST POPULAR HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS TEAM SPORT

As we’ve been charting for years, girls’ and women’s volleyball has been on a trajectory to overtake basketball as the most popular team sport in America.

Now, at the high school level, that landmark has been reached. According to the latest National Federation of High Schools Participation Survey, volleyball passed basketball in total female participants this year. 432,176 girls played high school volleyball last year, compared to 429,504 for basketball. In Washington State, volleyball has long been #1, and continues to widen the gap, 10,593 to 8,591. Ten years ago, volleyball led 9,099 to 8,863. Twenty years ago, basketball was tops, 10,586 to 10,280.

As always, this means that parents, players and coaches need to constantly remind those who manage gymnasiums—especially in schools and public recreation centers—that basketball hoops should not always be the default setup in their gyms. There are huge numbers of girls, boys, women and men who are eager to walk into gyms where volleyball nets aren’t buried in the back of the storage closet.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT AT ALKI

The National Volleyball League, one of two competing professional sand volleyball circuits, is coming to Seattle’s Alki Beach this weekend.

The NVL’s Seattle Championships are this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Alki, running throughout the morning and afternoon all three days. Sunday’s women’s finals are at 2:30; the men’s are at 4:00. The complete schedule is here.

On Sunday, NVL is offering a free clinic on basic beach volleyball fundamentals for students 6-18 years old. Register here.

A competing tour, the AVP, had a stop in our region earlier this month at Lake Sammamish.

JENNI NOGUERAS HONORED

Former Washington setter Jenni Nogueras is currently playing professionally for Cayey in Puerto Rico.

Alert Volleyblog Seattle reader Rex Andrew points out that Nogueras was named Rookie of the Year for Puerto Rico’s Premiere League this past season. Thanks, Rex, and congratulations Jenni.

College | Washington volleyball ranks high in preseason polls

Coaches predict Huskies will finish 3rd in Pac-12, #10 in first national AVCA poll

Third team All-American Lianna Sybeldon will be a Washington senior in 2015
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

Volleyball coaches like Washington’s chances in 2015.

In the annual preseason Pac-12 coaches’ poll, Washington finished third, behind Stanford and Arizona State. Stanford got 11 first-place votes, Washington got the other top nod. Because coaches cannot vote for their own teams in this poll, we know Stanford’s John Dunning picked UW for the top spot, and that Washington’s Keegan Cook joined every other coach in choosing Stanford. Stanford will be without All-American middle blocker Inky Ajanaku, out for the season with a knee injury sustained while playing with the US National Team this summer in Peru. (see: Stanford volleyball All-American Inky Ajanaku injured.)

In the first weekly AVCA national coaches’ Top 25 poll, Washington is ranked #10. Penn State is #1 and Stanford #2. Other Pac-12 teams include #13 Oregon, #16 Arizona State, #17 Arizona, #20 UCLA, #22 USC, #23 Utah and #24 Colorado. Oregon State is not in the top 25, but received enough votes to rank #29. Only two Pac-12 schools—California and Washington State—did not receive votes.

Over the past two seasons, the Huskies have won a combined 63 of their past 69 matches, losing just twice each season to Pac-12 foes (once at Stanford, once at Utah, twice at Colorado). The other two losses were to eventual national champion Penn State in the 2013 NCAA Final Four, and to Nebraska in the 2014 NCAA Round of 16.

AVCA Week 1 Poll			Pac-12 Preseason Poll
1	Penn State (54)		1	Stanford (11)
2	Stanford (6)		2	Arizona St
3	Texas (1)		3	Washington (1)
4	Florida		4	Oregon
T-5	Nebraska		5	USC
T-5	Wisconsin (1)		6	Colorado
7	North Carolina		7	Arizona
8	Illinois		8	UCLA
9	Florida St		9	Oregon St
10	Washington		10	Utah
11	BYU		11	California
12	Colorado St		12	Washington St
13	Oregon
14	Ohio State
15	Kentucky
16	Arizona St
17	Arizona
18	Hawai'i
19	Michigan St
20	UCLA
21	Iowa St
22	USC
23	Utah
24	Colorado
25	Duke

National Team | Krista Vansant transitions to volleyball’s world stage

Vansant joins fellow UW alums Thompson and Miyashiro for Give it Back Foundation fundraiser; Misty May-Treanor at AVP event in Seattle this weekend

US National Team setter Courtney Thompson, outside hitter Krista Vansant and libero Tama Miyashiro at the Give it Back Foundation workshop in Lynwood's Academy Sports Center
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

From where she stood, Krista Vansant could see both her past and her future.

In Washington Volleyball Academy’s gorgeous new Academy Sports Center in Lynwood, the former Washington All-American looked out at bleachers full of eager young athletes. The youngest were freckled, wearing braces on their teeth and headbands across their foreheads. The oldest were anxious about the approach of college and the demands of big-time volleyball.

On either side of Vansant were nine of her US National Team teammates, including fellow UW alums, Olympians Courtney Thompson and Tama Miyashiro. Thompson and Miyashiro had gathered everyone in Seattle for three days of technical and team-building workshops, all to raise funds for their new nonprofit, the Give it Back Foundation.

Squeezed between those two worlds, Vansant admitted that the transition from college star to international rookie has been a challenge.

“Definitely uncomfortable,” she said. “I don’t know if there’s ever a point where you feel comfortable. Even when I was at Washington, I don’t think I ever actually felt comfortable. I think that’s how you learn. I don’t think you can learn in a comfortable setting.”

In American volleyball, it’s rare for players just out of college to be in serious contention for roster spots in major competitions. But both Vansant and UCLA grad Karsta Lowe have made a splash this summer. Vansant was the leading scorer and MVP of her first international tournament, the Pan Am Cup in Peru. Last month, she spent two weeks in Turkey and Russia as USA won its first six matches of the World Grand Prix, then headed to Toronto as USA’s starting outside hitter at the Pan Am Games.

“It was a little weird,” she admits, “because the Toronto group had been training while we were off at Grand Prix. They had been working on different things and had a good sense of each other, especially with the setters. But we’re all friends, we all get along. So, it’s easy to fit in.”

On one amazing Saturday, one American split squad—including Thompson, Miyashiro and Lowe—won the Grand Prix gold in Omaha by defeating a Brazilian split squad, while Vansant and her teammates in Toronto beat the other Brazilian squad—including several Olympians—for the Pan Am gold medal.

At the international level, outside hitters must excel at attacking, blocking, passing and serving. Vansant has stepped into a system that some are calling “USA fast,” a quick-tempo offense with sharp passing and flat, pinpoint sets, something Vansant experienced during her four years at Washington.

“It’s not that much faster in-system,” Vansant says. “But out of system, it’s way faster than what I’ve ever done. At UW, we called a first step set out-of-system, now we’re going second-step sets in transition out-of-system. The coaches had to tell me multiple times, ’Krista, we’re going to set you a go.’ I had to trans off faster or get going faster.

“It’s definitely what I try to do. I think (former UW coach) Jim (McLaughlin) ingrained that into my head my freshman year: you’ve gotta get off the net, you have to be an offensive option. And it’s what I’ve been doing since then. But even today, there were times in Toronto when my teammates looked at me and said, you’re not transing hard enough, you need to trans harder.

“That was a wakeup call for me. You think in your head you’re doing something really well, and then some outsider tells you that, you figure it’s time to really kick yourself into gear and go. I think it’s a part of me, but I know I can still get better. I can get even further off to get an even bigger approach. I’m going against some huge blockers, so I have to take every advantage I can.”

Later this month, the US joins 11 other teams in Japan for the World Cup, an 11-match, 15-day round-robin. The top two teams earn a ticket to next summer’s Rio Olympics. 14 players will be on that World Cup team, and Vansant may be one of them (with setter Thompson and libero Miyashiro also likely candidates.) This fall, she’ll get her first professional paycheck, playing (with USA teammates Foluke Akinradewo and Natalie Hagglund) for Thompson’s old team, Volero Zurich.

And besides working on the technical side of her game, she hopes to take other steps forward, too. On that list: learning to relax when something on the court goes wrong.

“When I make mistakes, I get within myself. I stop talking, and that’s when bad stuff happens. Self-talk has really helped me. I’m trying to play outside myself. Jim (McLaughlin) would tell me that all the time, just play outside yourself, let your instincts come.

“I’ve been playing this game for over half my life, so it is instinctual for me. I hope frustrations are not too dramatic on my face, but sometimes it just happens.”

NOTES:

• Two giant Northwest beach volleyball events conflict this weekend. The AVP professional beach volleyball tour will be in Seattle this weekend at Lake Sammamish, while the annual Seaside tournament kicks off in Seaside, Oregon. The latter event is for beach players of all skill levels, while the AVP event is a chance to see some of the world’s top professionals and Olympians make a rare appearance in the Seattle area.

Olympian Misty May-Treanor will play in her first pro tournament since the London Olympics, partnering with Brittany Hochevar. An AVP spokesperson would not call this a “comeback,” for May-Treanor, and points out that she and Hochevar will be seeded 12th.

Also on the sand will be former UW player Summer Ross, and recent Pan Am Games indoor gold medalists Kristin Hildebrand and Lauren Paolini, playing in their first-ever AVP tournament.