Pac-12 | Volleyball before football: Washington vs Boise State

First Huskies/Broncos matchup is in Portland, not Montlake

• #5 Washington vs. Boise State | @ Portland St Univ | August 30 | 6PM
• #5 Washington @ Portland St | August 31 | 12noon
• #5 Washington vs. Gonzaga | @ Portland St Univ | August 31 | 5PM

With the University of Washington set to unveil its refurbished football stadium Saturday against Boise State, let's not overlook that the first UW/BSU this season is actually Friday.

The 2013 NCAA D1 volleyball season—which ends in Seattle this December—kicks off Friday in preseason tournaments across the nation.

Washington, ranked #5 in the AVCA preseason poll, continues its annual nonconference volleyball competition with Northwest schools Boise State, Portland State and Gonzaga. This season, the tournament is hosted by Portland State.

 

Liann Sybeldon (10) and Kylin Muñoz (24) block against a Gonzaga attack during a 2012 preseason match
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

The Huskies have won 40 consecutive nonconference matches in a row, dating back to a 2008 loss to Hawai’i in Honolulu. They’ve won 67 of their past 68 preseason contests. During the current streak, UW has dropped just one set, a 3-1 win at Long Beach State in 2011.

For Pac-12 schools, the nonconference season spans four weeks. Five teams are nationally-ranked: #3 Stanford, #4 USC, #5 Washington, #8 Oregon and #12 UCLA. USC has the toughest schedule this first week, facing #16 Purdue and #21 Western Kentucky. Unranked Arizona hosts #20 Kansas and unranked Central Arkansas, the team that faced Washington in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Unranked Arizona State plays #24 Wichita State while unranked Colorado plays twice against a strong St. Mary’s team.

#8 Oregon, last season’s national runners-up, and unranked Oregon State appear to have the weakest schedule this weekend. The Ducks, in particular, host two teams near the very bottom of last season’s RPI.

The Pac-12’s first week schedule, ranking the opponents from hottest to coldest:

		2012 RPI	2012 W-L
ARIZ	Kansas (20)	9	26-7
USC (4)	Purdue (16)	22	23-11
USC (4)	W Kentucky (21)	30	33-4
COLO	St. Mary’s	31	18-11
COLO	St. Mary’s	31	18-11
ASU	Wichita St (24)	36	24-10
UTAH	Northern Iowa	41	25-10
UCLA (12)	Loyola	48	18-13
ARIZ	Central Arkansas	51	30-5
ORE (8)	Ohio	52	21-10
WASH (5)	Portland St	77	21-11
CAL	New Mexico St	85	22-11
UTAH	Utah St	99	21-9
WSU	Alabama	104	18-14
UCLA (12)	North Texas	105	26-12
STAN (3)	UCSB	109	16-17
WSU	Seton Hall	121	18-10
OSU	C Michigan	131	16-14
ASU	Utah Valley	133	18-9
UTAH	Fairfield	139	22-9
WASH (5)	Boise St	141	17-15
OSU	Oakland	145	16-13
UCLA (12)	Albany	154	14-15
WSU	Army	155	20-9
ASU	North Dakota St	165	13-18
WASH (5)	Gonzaga	182	9-20
OSU	Villanova	215	11-19
CAL	Nevada	240	4-25
USC (4)	Alabama A&M	278	12-20
ORE	E Washington	288	5-26
ARIZ	Morgan St	303	5-21
ORE (8)	Bryant	306	12-21

NOTES:

• Seattle U travels to Ogden, Utah, for its first matches under new head coach James Finley. The Redhawks face Texas Tech Friday morning, Weber State Friday night, and UC Riverside Saturday afternoon. Riverside is coached by former UW setter Michelle Patton; her assistant coach is former Seattle U coach Teron Uy.