SEATTLE - Though the end came sooner than planned, Tia Scambray's University of Washington volleyball career has still left her with an abundance of treasured memories and terrific highlights.
When she looks back in the years to come, Scambray expects "it'll be all the little things that I'll remember." Even now, she said, what stands out "are the trips we went on and all the memories I made with my teammates. We'll be friends forever."
Scambray was one of seven UW seniors whose college careers ended with a recent five-set loss to Illinois in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Every season-ending defeat is painful, of course, but this one was particularly heartbreaking given the program's recent history. After reaching the Sweet 16 in 2014, the Huskies advanced to the Elite Eight in 2015 and 2016, and they were aiming even higher this season.
Alas, it was not to be. But as difficult as the Illinois loss was, one disappointing match cannot diminish what Scambray and her fellow seniors accomplished in their years at Washington. On Wednesday, it was announced that Scambray earned the first All-America honor of her career, getting an honorable mention from the American Volleyball Coaches Association, and earning it at libero, a position she only began to learn this year.
As UW coach Keegan Cook said so aptly after the Illinois match, "I am in gratitude to this group of (seniors). Never have I seen such resiliency in a collection of athletes. They reached a rare place of excellence that few groups have attained. This university should be proud of the students, athletes and women that they've become."
A few days earlier, Cook sat in his office and reflected on Scambray's contributions to Washington volleyball. It was not a brief conversation. There was plenty to talk about and Cook took his time, addressing the many ways that Scambray has enhanced the program.
"What comes to my mind when you ask me about Tia is just her resiliency and reliability," Cook began. "She might be the Cal Ripken of Washington volleyball."
He was referring to the Hall of Fame baseball player who set a major league record by playing in 2,632 consecutive games over 17 seasons. A lofty comparison, yes, but not exactly hyperbole either. Scambray broke Washington's all-time record for sets played this season, finishing with 467, having missed just one match as a freshman and all of 10 sets in four seasons, playing every set in her final two years.
On virtually every day of her college career, and in spite of the occasional jammed finger or twisted ankle, she showed up ready to practice and to play.
"She played a lot of volleyball here and she handled a large workload in a lot of phases of the game," Cook pointed out. "She hasn't spent a lot of time injured. She's someone who logged a ton of minutes in big roles on successful teams. … Not only has she played more games than any other Husky ever, she's probably been to more practices than any other Husky ever. And that's a big part of her story." Scambray finished 5th in UW history with 1,340 digs and tied for 3rd with 146 career aces.
Other teammates have achieved greater individual accolades, including two Huskies who became Pacific-12 Conferences Players of the Year -- Krista Vansant in 2014 and Courtney Schwan in 2016. But in Cook's opinion, Scambray might be called the program's "glue kid."
"I hear from fans, 'Tia's my favorite player.' Or they say, 'Tia makes you guys go.' People have identified that she's a big reason that we were successful," he said.
"There are," he added, "a lot of things that make her special, to be honest." On a roster of players with varying talents and temperaments, Scambray was "the piece that binds them all together a lot of times. She's not a player I ever had to go to and talk about team chemistry or team conflicts. She's at the center of a lot of friendships on the team.
"Everyone likes her and everyone's with her. She includes all of her teammates in her life. And so there's no question, we don't win as many games as we have in the course of these four years if we don't have Tia Scambray."
Scambray was raised in the scenic community of Dana Point, California, which borders the Pacific Ocean midway between Los Angeles and San Diego. As it turned out, Scambray played all four years at Washington with three other teammates from the greater Los Angeles area -- setter Bailey Tanner from San Clemente, which neighbors Dana Point; outside hitter Crissy Jones from Los Alamitos, which is closer to Los Angeles; and outside hitter Carly DeHoog, who grew up further east in Ontario.
Scambray, Tanner and Jones all knew each other since grade school, with their friendship developing from a shared love for volleyball. Troy Tanner, Bailey's father, coached the Tstreet club team on which she, Jones, and Scambray all played.
In her first three seasons with the Huskies, Scambray was one of the team's top outside hitters. But in the past offseason Cook approached her about playing libero, a switch that would move her away from the net and give her primary responsibilities of digging, passing and setting.
As Cook explained, Scambray had been showing continuing improvement "in her back-row play, and specifically her serve-receive passing and her defense. She started to kind of pull away to a level that I didn't see coming, and all of a sudden she was so much better than every other serve-receive passer in our gym. … We thought OK, here's a change we can make."
First, though, he had to sell Scambray on the idea, and that became "probably a six-month process," he said.
"Originally she was cautiously open to it," Cook said. But during the team's two-week trip to Europe last June -- they visited Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria, and played several matches against top opponents -- "that was the first time I saw it being a challenge. Where she wasn't totally enjoying it."
By the start of summer training camp later in the summer, Scambray was again willing to go ahead with the position change. "She didn't love it at first, but she certainly went for it," Cook recalled. "She said, 'If I'm going to do this, if I'm going to play this position, then I'm not just going to play it. I want to be the best at it.'"
Still, Cook understood the sacrifice and commitment he was asking Scambray to make. "Whenever you ask players to make a transition," he said, "it's always more complicated than you think it's going to be. You might think it's simple, but it always ends up being more complicated for the player than I (anticipate). As a coach, sometimes you can think the players are chess pieces and you can move them around, but it's more complex than that.
"The biggest part of it was me explaining to Tia, 'You're so good at libero that I have to make this move. We have additional outside hitters that can do your job. But with your excellence in this area, it's not even close how much better you are than anyone else at this position. You can change our team by playing this position.'
"I had to get her to see it like I saw it," he said. "But explaining that to her and getting her to see it and to know how good she could actually be was hard."
At the outset, Scambray admitted, "I was a little bummed because I loved playing outside." Ultimately, though, "I was going to do whatever the team needed. … We needed somebody in that position that was older and could take really control. I think that was my job this year and I think it worked out great for us." Scambray jumped back from libero to outside hitter midseason due to injuries and surpassed the 1,000 career kills mark before returning to libero.
Scambray will graduate in the spring with a degree in interdisciplinary visual arts. At some point she would like a career in interior design for homes and businesses, but in the immediate future she wants to play professional volleyball. It will likely mean living overseas, probably in Europe, though there are other pro leagues elsewhere in the world.
But when Scambray leaves Seattle, she will take with her a great appreciation and gratitude for what has been a memorable UW volleyball experience. Asked to mention a few highlights, she quickly cited the team's Pac-12 championships in 2015 and 2016.
Equally meaningful, she said, has been the chance to be part of "the family within the UW (volleyball) program and all of (Washington) athletics. Everybody is just behind you 100 percent."
That unity and pride extend outside the program, too.
"The fans we have are unreal," she said. "We always have people in stands (at home matches). It's really cool to have that kind of support and to feel like you're a part of something that's so amazing."
Her four years at Washington have "changed me into almost a completely different person," Scambray said. "I came here not really knowing what I wanted to do and where I was going afterwards. But now I know where I'm at and what I want to do, and all these people have helped me along the way."
