College | Volleyball video replay challenges on the horizon?

NCAA volleyball rules committee recommends experiment by Big 12 schools; What do you think about the idea?

NCAA | The volleyball All-American Cassie Strickland oversight

Regional snub precluded national consideration

• NCAA semifinal | BYU vs. Texas | Oklahoma City | 4PM (Pacific) | ESPN2
• NCAA semifinal | Stanford vs. Penn State | Oklahoma City | 7PM (Pacific) ESPN2

NCAA | Impressive tournament pedigrees for four volleyball teams headed to Seattle

Seattle Region foursome boasts consistent postseason success and recently-honored athletes

• #12 BYU vs #8 Florida State| Fri, Dec 12 | 4:00PM | Alaska Airlines Arena
• #11 Nebraska @ #3 Washington| Fri, Dec 12 | 6:30PM | Alaska Airlines Arena
• Regional Final | Sat, Dec 13 | 8:30PM | Alaska Airlines Arena

College | Pac-12 volleyball teams establish preseason dominance

Pac-12 teams are 63-5 after two weeks

• Seattle University @ #5 Washington | 7PM | September 11

NCAA | As Washington volleyball travels to LA, is home court an advantage for USC?

Trojans not invincible in Los Angeles as many teams lose at home during tournament

• #3 Washington vs. #14 Kansas | December 13 | 5PM | Galen Center (USC) | ESPN3

NCAA | Washington volleyball still among elite of weekly RPI and polls

Huskies remain among top four in all rankings

NCAA | Pac-12 teams slip in weekly media poll

Huskies rank high but Big Ten teams look overrated

Pac-12 | Breaking down Jim McLaughlin’s 300 Washington volleyball wins

In 12+ seasons, Washington’s winningest coach has the edge on most opponents

• next: Coppin State @ #3 Washington | September 19 | 7PM

NCAA Men | #1 BYU meets it match against UC Irvine

Anteaters win second straight NCAA men’s title; fourth in seven years

#2 UC Irvine (25-7) 3, #1 BYU (26-5) 0

(25-23, 25-22, 26-24)

Pac 12 | Washington’s Kylin Muñoz will return for another season

BYU agrees to release Muñoz from her 2009 National Letter of Intent

Kylin Muñoz will wear a Washington uniform one more season.

NCAA | Is Omaha the toughest regional?

Four seeded teams remain; none have lost to a non-tournament team

Of the 16 teams still in the hunt, 12 earned seeds from the NCAA Tournament Committee. The only region where all four seeded teams survived was Omaha:

WEST LAFAYETTE REGIONAL			AUSTIN REGIONAL
(1) Penn St vs. (16) Kentucky			(3) Texas vs. (14) Florida
Purdue vs. (8) Minnesota			Wichita St vs. (6) Southern Cal
OMAHA REGIONAL			BERKELEY REGIONAL
(5) Oregon vs. (12) BYU			Michigan St vs. Michigan
(13) Washington vs. (4) Nebraska			(15) Iowa St vs. (2) Stanford

NCAA | Quiet Kylin Muñoz makes noise for UW volleyball

Terry Wood profiles Washington’s senior right-side hitter in today’s Seattle Times

Washington senior Kylin Muñoz moved from the left side to the right this season. As a result, she may be the most improved player on the Washington team, and certainly among the most improved in the Pac-12.

Don’t miss Terry Wood’s profile of Muñoz in this morning’s Seattle Times: Quiet Kylin Muñoz makes noise for UW volleyball.

NCAA | Top 5: Washington among elite in week 9 coaches’ poll

Washington (17-2) remains in the top five

NCAA | Top 5: Washington among elite in week 8 coaches’ poll

Washington (16-1) slides three spots after first loss of season; Pac-12 again claims 5 of top 7 spots

NCAA | How the Top 20 fared

How the Top 20 fared, September 24-30, 2012

Another busy week …

• St. Mary’s (8-7) hands #11 BYU (15-1) its first loss of the season … just one day after the Gaels also knocked off #18 Pepperdine.
• Pepperdine had a bad week: the Waves also lost to Santa Clara
• With BYU’s loss, there are only two undefeated Division 1 schools remaining: #2 Oregon and #5 Washington. Those two teams meet in Eugene a week from Saturday.
• #1 Penn State absolutely crushed #10 Minnesota, including 25-8 in the second set.
• Both #3 USC and #4 UCLA lost … both to Washington.
• #13 Purdue keeps on winning … which could be significant down the line for Washington’s RPI (since the Huskies beat the Boilermakers 3-0)

USC's Katie Fuller (22) attacks against the Washington block of Amanda Gil (1) and Krista Vansant
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

NCAA | Washington volleyball stuck at #5 in week 6 coaches’ poll

Washington (11-0) gets three first-place votes and is one of 5 Pac-12 teams in the top 7

Five Pac-12 teams dominate the weekly coaches’ poll is conducted by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).

• If you’re a regular reader, you know that we’ve been saying for weeks now that coaches have been underestimating Oregon. Even after the Ducks beat Ohio State on the road, they only moved up when other teams lost, and not on their own merit. Now, it seems, their dominating sweep against USC in Los Angeles has belatedly caught coaches’ attention, with 16 first-place votes.
• Even with one loss (at a Chicago tournament to Oregon State), Penn State is a deserving #1. The Nittany Lions have impressive victories against Louisville, Stanford and Texas.
• Hawai’i struggled mightily this week in conference play; BYU should be ranked ahead of them.
• Wouldn’t it have been sweet if the Washington @ Penn State match could have been played two weeks ago as originally scheduled? It was cancelled when the Pac-12 changed Washington’s conference schedule, but what a great showdown that might have been.



University of Washington fans
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Jack Hamann

• This is Washington’s third straight week at #5. If Huskies fans don’t like the fact that their undefeated team still trails USC and UCLA in the polls, then this is the week to put up or shut up: The Bruins will be in Seattle Wednesday, followed by the Trojans on Friday.

NCAA | How the Top 20 fared

How the Top 20 fared, September 17-23, 2012

Crazy numbers this week:

• Number two beat number one and number four beat number three.
• Number two would have become number one, except it lost to number seven.
• Numbers ten, twelve, eighteen and twenty also lost

Washington's Jenna Orladinia
-Volleyblog Seattle photo
by Leslie Hamann

And you thought YOU worked hard:

• Seattle University has played six five-set matches this season, including the last five in a row. The Redhawks are 3-3 in five-set matches in 2012.
• #17 San Diego lost a set to San Francisco 33-35. The next night they won a set against Santa Clara 32-30.
• #10 Louisville won its first two sets against Notre Dame 25-16, 25-16 … then went on to lose the fifth set 3-15. It was only Louisville’s second loss of the season.
• #8 Hawai’i played its first road matches of the season—and its first matches in the Big West Conference. The Wahine Rainbow went 3-0 this week, but were pushed to five sets by both Cal State Northridge and Cal State Fullerton.
• Five teams fell from the ranks of the unbeaten this week, including #2 USC (0-3 to #7 Oregon), #12 Kansas State (0-3 to Oklahoma), Michigan State (2-3 to #16 Purdue); South Carolina (1-3 to Auburn then 1-3 to #20 Tennessee) and Northwestern (1-3  to Wisconsin, then 1-3 to #11 Minnesota).
• Only three undefeated teams remain (of 327 Division 1 schools): #5 Washington (11-0), #7 Oregon (11-0) and #14 BYU (14-0)

NCAA | Washington volleyball climbs to top five in week 4 coaches’ poll

Washington (8-0) moves up two more places; 5 Pac-12 teams in top 9

For the third consecutive week, Washington has moved up in the weekly coaches’ poll is conducted by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).

Washington's Amanda Gil
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

The Huskies (8-0) are #5 in this week’s poll, moving up from #7. In week 2, UW was #12, and started the preseason at #14.

Also making moves this week:

• Louisville (#12, up from #24), after beating Big Ten powers Purdue and Illinois (and recovering from an early-season loss to Penn State)
• Ohio State (#21, up from #26), after beating former #10 Dayton and a decent Western Kentucky team. The Buckeyes’ only loss is to Oregon.
• Miami, FL (#26, up from #34), after beating former #6 Florida State (and an earlier win against Oregon State.)
• BYU (#15, up from #21), after beating Utah, and staying undefeated.

And, in our humble opinion:

• Silly to rank #8 Hawai’i above #9 Oregon.
• Illinois, Kentucky and Iowa State have all overstayed their welcome. Those who deserve to be in the Top 25 instead: Michigan State (9-0), Oregon State (7-2), Miami (7-1)

No sentimental sendoff for volleyball legend Al Scates

[this report includes a video link, below]

WESTWOOD, CA—A true legend gets ready for the final home matches of his 50-year career. The weekend’s checklist seems pretty obvious:

• Dozens of alumni fly in from everywhere? Check 

• The university prepares tear-jerking tributes? Check 

• Fans pack the arena? Check 

• A weekend full of sappy sentimentality? Not quite.

UCLA men's head coach Al Scates
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

UCLA men’s volleyball coach Al Scates, whose tenure and success may never be surpassed, managed to avoid a saccharine exit when his team tangled both Friday and Saturday with visiting BYU.

How sour was it? Here was BYU head coach Chris McGown, speaking to the BYU school newspaper after the Cougars split the weekend series with the Bruins:

“The way Scates went about arguing his point was completely contrary to not only league rules but also sportsmanship and ethics.”

Harsh words to direct at a fellow coach who has won 21 national championships.

UCLA triple block vs. BYU
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

McGown—son of another volleyball coaching legend, Carl McGown—was talking about the conclusion of Friday’s match. Which actually concluded Saturday. Which was a BYU win. Then a tie. Then a BYU loss. Then a tie. Then a BYU win.

Got it?

“I’ve never seen a sporting event with such a bizarre ending in my life,” said Karch Kiraly, in the stands to root on his old Bruins’ coach.

In Friday’s fifth set, with BYU serving at 16-15, redshirt freshman Josue Rivera served a ball to the back line. The line judge called it long; the up ref overruled. Ace serve, end of match, BYU joyous.

But Scates was not done. He challenged the call, and not gently. After twenty long minutes, BYU was stunned (to say the least) to be called back out of the locker room. The score was set at 16-16, and play continued. A few minutes later, the Bruins prevailed 20-18.

According to McGown, both he and his players were so upset with the outcome, no one could sleep after Friday’s match.

Saturday evening, many dozens of disappointed fans were turned away from the Wooden Center as the weekend’s second match was sold out. Inside, both the Cougars and Bruins were still seething.

During the day, BYU officials had filed a complaint. Three hours before Saturday’s match, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation decreed that the score of Friday’s fifth set would once again be reset to 16-16, to be concluded before the start of Saturday’s match. The conference called in veteran referee Rick Olmstead to officiate the match; Olmstead had spent the day in Malibu officiating five hours of women’s sand volleyball between USC and Pepperdine.

UCLA had first serve for the continuation of Friday’s match. BYU—on the strength of a kill and a block— quickly won 18-16. McGown chest-bumped his assistant coach, as two BYU players performed backflips in front of the partisan crowd. [see Volleyblog Seattle video]

The scheduled Saturday match began 15 minutes later; UCLA won in a rout. McGown blamed his team’s sleepless night; UCLA players credited the desire to send their coach out with a win.

Most BYU players did not stick around for the post-match ceremonies honoring Scates and his wife. If they had, they would have witnessed five decades of Olympians, All-Americans and national champions join their coach all posing for what should long be an iconic photo of men’s volleyball history.

50 years of UCLA men's volleyball alumni pose after coach Al Scates' final home regular-season match
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

The biggest crowds and the best jobs in American collegiate volleyball are in the women’s game. But watching the passion and power of the men’s game was a reminder of what a big deal this could become throughout the Northwest, Arizona and the Rockies. Among Pac-12 schools, only USC, UCLA and Stanford sponsor men’s volleyball teams. Fans in the rest of the conference should be making the kind of noise heard in Westwood this weekend to insist the men’s game is played everywhere.

Do you agree? Let us know.