NCAA | Seattle U finally hires new volleyball coach

James Finley arrives from VCU, where he left amid controversy

More than two months after Shannon Ellis announced she was stepping down as head volleyball coach at Seattle University, the Redhawks have, at long last, named her successor.

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 | Olympic HS Coach wins national NCAA Volleyball Tournament bracket competition

Bremerton’s Keith Peden beats out nearly 1,000 other contestants to claim top prize 

Recruiting | Bailey Tanner lives with—and learns from—a legend

6’2 Washington setter/hitter “doesn’t want special treatment.”

There’s a spot in Southern California, just south of the San Clemente pier, and just up the shore from Richard Nixon’s former Western White House.

Recruiting | Washington recruit Carly DeHoog trades the pitcher’s mound for the volleyball court

6’4 hitter from Ontario, California is rated one of the nation’s top recruits

Carly DeHoog figures she got into the game a little late. No one recruited her until halfway through her sophomore year at Southern California’s Ontario Christian High School.

NCAA | What we learned from the 2012 Final Four

Lessons from Louisville for next year’s host: Seattle

We’re back from 12 days in the Midwest, soaking up Sweet 16/Elite 8 volleyball in Omaha, the Final Four in Louisville, with a few days in Chicago in between. Here’s what we learned:

NCAA | Media rank Washington ninth in season’s final poll

Reporters echo coaches’ conclusions

-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

NCAA | Washington ninth in season’s final coaches’ poll

Washington (25-7) gets the most respect of teams that missed the Elite 8

NCAA | Bracket busters: Stanford, USC, Nebraska lose

Final Four:
Penn State vs. Oregon
Michigan vs. Texas

NCAA | What we learned from Washington’s Sweet 16 loss to Nebraska

Nebraska 3, Washington 0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-23)

OMAHA—There was a point, more than halfway through the second set, when the Washington Huskies came alive.

NCAA | Nebraskans love their volleyball

Washington vs. Nebraska @ Omaha | December 7 |4PM (Pacific) | ESPN3

OMAHA—The billboard was our first clue.

It was our inaugural visit to Lincoln, Nebraska, part of a cross-country summertime journey. Looming next to the freeway was a huge outdoor ad: an image of a hard-hit volleyball, splintering a gym floor.

The message: Get your Nebraska Volleyball season tickets before they’re all gone.

Here in Nebraska, volleyball long ago arrived. It ain’t football, but it’s at least as big-time as any other collegiate sport here. Our hotel bellman knew the heights and blocking stats of the Huskers’ front row.

We’ve covered NCAA volleyball tournament matches across the country, and one thing is constant: Nebraska fans turn out in droves. Folks book their Sweet 16/Elite 8/Final 4 tour packages months in advance, even with no assurance the Huskers will still be in contention.

In 2010, there were busloads of Nebraska backers at the Kansas City Final Four, even though their team wasn’t there. The same was true last season in San Antonio, where the Riverwalk was a sea of red windbreakers and ballcaps, each sporting a bold “N”.

We saw that same red wave at championships in Tampa and Sacramento, and should expect to see them again next December at Seattle Center when the Final Four comes to Key Arena.

So, who are these fans? Mostly, they come in pairs—husbands and wives—most born before JFK was President.

“Many of us are in agriculture,” one woman told us. “In December, the fields are frozen. It’s a good time to travel. And many of us consider volleyball our second-favorite sport.”

“When the football team isn’t so hot,” her husband said, “volleyball is number one.”

In 2006, Washington reached its third consecutive Final Four, hosted that year by Omaha. Two other Pac-12 schools—Stanford and UCLA—also qualified, but it was Nebraska that won its first title since 2000. As you might guess, it seemed every seat was filled with someone wearing red (and not Stanford’s cardinal red.)

But if there were any Nebraska students in the 2006 crowd, we had to strain to see them. Mostly, they were middle-aged (or older), and enthusiastic without being raucous. In truth, they weren’t even loud. Supportive? Yes. Respectful? Absolutely. Intimidating? Not really.

And when the Huskers won the 2006 title, a Seattle contingent gamely headed for Omaha’s bars and restaurants, expecting a post-championship celebration. But to our collective surprise, all that red had simply vanished, leaving Husky purple, Bruin blue and Stanford cardinal at the barstools and on the dance floors.

“Oh,” a lone Nebraska couple explained, “folks gotta get home. Many got a long drive. And there’s church in the morning.”

NCAA | Does Nebraska have home court advantage?

Huskers playing in their own state, but not their own gym

Washington vs. Nebraska @ Omaha | December 7 | 4PM | ESPN3

[12.06.12: CLARIFICATION: Nebraska's Bob Devany Center is being renovated to accommodate the volleyball program. The NU Coliseum will no longer be used for home matches.] 

The Nebraska Cornhuskers couldn’t play in their own gym this weekend if they wanted to. 

NCAA | Washington, Nebraska coaches almost came to blows last time they met

A 2010 confrontation between Washington’s Jim McLaughlin and Nebraska’s John Cook set the sports world buzzing. On the eve of a rematch, McLaughlin expresses regret.

by Jack Hamann, Volleyblog Seattle

Special to the Seattle Times

Assistant coaches step between Nebraska's John Cook and
Washington's Jim McLaughlin on December 10, 2010 in Seattle
-Omaha World-Herald photo by Matt Miller

They should, you would think, be two mellow dudes.

Nebraska coach John Cook grew up playing volleyball on San Diego beaches. Up the coast in Santa Monica, future Washington coach Jim McLaughlin was rippin’ waves and setting quicks.

Both married athletes. As acclaimed coaches, both won multiple championships. Neither has ever been terribly comfortable in the spotlight.

But on December 10, 2010, the two former beach boys kicked sand in the face of the volleyball world by doing something totally gnarly.

They nearly came to blows.

Read the rest of the story in the December 5, 2012 Sports section of The Seattle Times, in print or online. Feel free to comment on both the Seattle Times site and/or on Volleyblog Seattle.  

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 | What we learned from Washington’s win over Hawai’i

#5 Washington 3, #8 Hawai’i 2 (25-20, 20-25, 25-19, 27-25, 15-11)

• next: #5 Washington @ #10 Nebraska | December 7 | 4PM (Pacific) | ESPN3

On the court, she’s her team’s shortest player.

Junior Jenna Orlandini may also be Washington’s most talkative player, even if fans could be forgiven for not hearing her above the din of an often frenetic Alaska Airlines crowd.