Sept. 1, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
THE NORTHWEST CHALLENGE
Friday, September 3, Bronco Gym
#9 WASHINGTON vs. Portland State, 4:00 p.m.
Boise State vs. Gonzaga, 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, September 4, Bronco Gym
Gonzaga vs. Portland State, 10:00 a.m.
#9 WASHINGTON vs. Boise State, 12:00 p.m.
#9 WASHINGTON vs. Gonzaga, 4:00 p.m.
Boise State vs. Portland State, 6:00 p.m.
SETTING THE SCENE
The 2010 season continues to pick up steam as the Huskies set out on the first of four-straight road weeks, traveling to Boise, Idaho for the Northwest Challenge hosted by Boise State.
The tournament, entering into its third season, is a round robin format between the ninth-ranked Huskies, Boise State, Portland State, and Gonzaga. Washington will face the Vikings this Friday evening at 4 p.m. Pacific time. They'll then face a challenging double-header on Saturday, taking on the Broncos at 12 noon then coming back for a 4 p.m. mtach against the Bulldogs.
Washington has won this tournament each of the first two years, taking the inaugural title in Seattle in 2008 and winning again in Portland last season. The host site rotates between the four each year. Last season, Becky Perry took home MVP honors after helping herself to 31 kills with a .491 hitting percentage. Kelcey Dunaway was also named to the All-Tournament team after posting a tourney-best 19 blocks.
Last weekend the Dawgs kicked off the year at home with 3-0 victories over Mercer and Eastern Washington.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!
The Huskies kicked off the season in front of the home fans, co-hosting The Invitational In Seattle, Washington along with Seattle University. Opening night brought the Mercer Bears to Hec Ed, and the Huskies powered to a 3-0 sweep, 25-13, 25-10, 25-15. Kindra Carlson led the way with 14 kills and the Dawgs hit .451 for the night. Saturday night, the Huskies took down Eastern Washington in three sets again, aided by 14 aces, their most in two years. Washington closed especially strong in the final set, hitting .647. Becky Perry had eight kills and four aces while Carlson matched Perry's kill total with one fewer ace. Working their way into the UW lineup for the first time in their careers was sophomore Kylin Muñoz who had nine kills over the weekend, hitting .333, and redshirt freshman Jenna Orlandini, who played all six sets at libero and led the team with 13 digs. Freshman Gabbi Parker also saw her first action in the third set against the Eagles, picking up her first career kill.
2009 IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR
Washington entered the 2009 season with typically high expectations, and burst out of the gate with straight set wins in each of its first 15 matches. Washington was the last team in the country to lose a set, winning a programrecord 46 in a row. In a win at the Tampa Twice Tournament, the Huskies swept then-No. 9 Minnesota and then-No. 4 Florida on back-to-back nights. All told the Huskies went 10-0 in non-conference play. Stanford gave UW its first loss, 3-2 in Palo Alto, but the Huskies got revenge with a sweep of Stanford in Seattle. It was Stanford's first straight-set Pac-10 loss since 2006. The Dawgs finished with a 13-5 Pac-10 record, and had to settle for second after dropping the finale in five sets to Oregon after having three match points go by the wayside. The Huskies, ranked No. 3 for much of the season, were seeded sixth in their eighth consecutive NCAA tournament and sent to Colorado State for the first and second rounds. After beating Northern Colorado in the opener, UW was upset by CSU on its home court, 3-1, to end the season. Postseason honors were numerous, as four Huskies earned AVCA All-America honors: Kindra Carlson (2nd Team), Tamari Miyashiro (2nd), Jenna Hagglund, (3rd), and Bianca Rowland (HM). Carlson, Miyashiro and Hagglund were voted All-Pac-10, and senior Jill Collymore was an Academic All-American. During the year, Miyashiro broke the school digs record, finishing ninth in NCAA history at 2,382. Rowland set the school record for attack percentage, hitting .456 to lead the Pac-10 and rank third in the NCAA. Washington led the Pac-10 in hitting at .288 and also limited opponents to a league-best .174 percentage.
ALL HOME MATCHES ARE ONDEMAND
If you miss any of Washington's home matches this year, or just want to relive the action or a particular play, remember that every match is available to watch on Comcast OnDemand. The video is taken from the GoHuskies.com live stream with all the accoutrements of your typical television broadcast. To find the Huskies, start under "Get Local" or "Sports & Fitness" then "Local Sports" followed by "UW" and then "Volleyball."
SCOUTING THE VIKINGS
Portland State scoped out Hec Ed Pavilion last weekend as one of the participants in The Invitational In Seattle, Washington, but did not meet up with the Huskies. The Vikings beat Seattle U. by a 3-1 count and knocked off Mercer 3-0 during their Seattle stay. Portland State then took Oregon State to the brink of a major upset on Tuesday, taking the first two sets before the Beavers rallied for a 21-25, 25-27, 25-15, 25-19, 15-13 victory which gave PSU its first loss of the season. Senior Whitney Phillips was named Big Sky Conference Player of the Week for her efforts during the opening weekend, which included 51 kills in two matches, and she added another 22 kills against Oregon State. PSU has used two setters thus far, freshman Garyn Schlatter and sophomore Dominika Kristinikova. Junior Nicole Bateham had a career-high 26 digs vs. OSU.
ABOUT THE SERIES
The Huskies and Vikings were frequent combatants in the program's early days, having met 32 times, the first coming in 1976. The UW owns a 18-13 edge and has won the past seven meetings. Last year the Huskies recorded a sweep in Portland during the Northwest Challenge by a 25-22, 25-15, 25-15 count. Becky Perry led the way with 10 kills and a .500 hitting percentage.
SCOUTING THE BRONCOS
The tourney hosts from Boise State are 2-1 entering the weekend, having lost their opener against South Dakot State at the Air Force Tournament, before coming back to defeat Long Island and Air Force on Aug. 28. The Broncos were picked to finish fifth in the WAC, and return six starters from an 8-22 2009 squad. Shawn Garus is in his second season at the helm. Middle blocker Sadie Maughan, setter Breann Nesselhuf, and middle Alisha Young were All-WAC second team picks last year. Young is averaging 3.82 kills/set and Maughan is at 2.55, both hitting over .350.
ABOUT THE SERIES
The UW-BSU series has been a tale of two streaks, with the Broncos winning the first five matches, and the Huskies taking the last six. The first meeting came back in 1983. Washington swept BSU last year, 25-15, 25-11, 25-12, hitting over .400 for the match and hitting .708 in the second set.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Gonzaga opened the season in Grand Folks, North Dakota for the North Dakota Classic. The Bulldogs got off to a rough start, losing to Drake in three sets and North Dakota in five sets, but came back on the final day with a sweep of San Jose State and a 3-2 win over Cal State Bakersfield to enter this weekend 2-2 overall. Senior libero Allyson Powell was named to the All-Tournament Team. Dave Gantt is in his second season coaching the Bulldogs, and led the team to a 10-18 record in year one.
ABOUT THE SERIES
The Huskies own the historical edge over the Bulldogs, having won 13 of 15 meetings all-time and the past eight in a row. The first match-up was in 1983, a win for UW. Last year Washington swept Gonzaga in the Northwest Challenge in Portland by scores of 25-15, 25-15, 25-16 led by the 11 kills of Becky Perry.
HUSKIES IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Washington converged on the No. 9 spot in the national rankings this week, moving up one spot in the Volleyball Magazine poll and down one spot in the AVCA poll. The Huskies opened the season ranked in the Top-10 in both preseason polls. The AVCA coaches poll ranked the Dawgs eighth, the second-highest Pac-10 team behind No. 4 Stanford. Volleyball Magazine started the Huskies 10th. Penn State is the top-ranked team in both polls. Stanford is the lone Pac-10 team ahead of the Huskies, coming in at No. 3 in the AVCA poll, though No. 10 USC and No. 11 California are right behind UW, none of which will matter much when the teams settle it on the court. Seven Pac-10 teams were ranked in the AVCA preseason poll, easily the most of any conference, leading the four from the Big Ten.
REPORTING FOR DUTY
Four new faces have joined the Husky family this season, three freshmen and one transfer, and two more Dawgs have discarded the redshirts and moved from the bench to the starting lineup early on this season. Jenna Orlandini and Kylin Muñoz had to wait a long time for their collegiate debuts, each redshirting the 2009 season, but they put the extra time to good use, and both have earned starting roles thus far. Orlandini becomes just the third different Husky to start at libero since 2001, following All-Americans Candace Lee and Tamari Miyashiro. Muñoz has made her starting debut on the outside with six kills on 11 error-free swings and is improving each day. Entering into the same waiting game as Orlandini and Muñoz is junior Amanda Gil, who joined UW from Pac-10 rival UCLA and must redshirt the season due to transfer rules. Gil was second in the NCAA and led the Pac-10 in blocks last year, and will make UW better every day in practice. Of the three freshmen, Gabbi Parker of Eugene, Oregon saw first playing time, checking into UW's match against Eastern Washington and earning her first kill against the Eagles. Setter Anna Cesari of Woodway, Wash. and middle blocker Stephanie Stoll of Issaquah, Wash. project more long-term but have bright futures.
NEXT UP
Washington will continue its non-conference tournament run, heading across the country to Athens, Georgia for the Bulldog Invitational, hosted by Georgia. UW will have three matches in two days once again, playing the host Bulldogs on Friday, Sept. 10, then taking on Georgia Tech and Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday, Sept. 11.
UW ON THE TUBE
Washington fans will have three chances to catch the Huskies on television this year no matter where they live. Matches will air on a delayed basis on FSN as well as Fox College Sports (FCS). The first televised match for the Huskies will be the October 8 in-state battle when Washington State visits Hec-Ed Pavilion. Washington will be the match of the week again the very next week, as UW's visit to Stanford on Oct. 15 will be taped. The Huskies will then be featured in another road contest when they arrive in Los Angeles to face USC on Oct. 30. Official broadcast dates and times will not be available until the week of the matches. Of course, UW fans can watch every home match live on GoHuskies.com and archived on Comcast OnDemand.
COACHES PICK HUSKIES SECOND IN PAC
In a vote by the conference head coaches, Washington was chosen to place second in the Pac-10 Conference for the 2010 season. The Huskies received two out of 10 first place votes. There was a consensus top three teams in the polling, with defending champion Stanford earning the top spot with the Huskies right behind. The Cardinal, who edged UW for the 2009 Pac-10 title by one game, picked up 77 points and six first-place votes for the top spot, while UW had 72 points, followed by USC, fifth in the league a year ago, with the remaining two first-place votes and 70 points overall. Behind Washington was a sizeable gap to Arizona which was picked fourth with 52 points. California was fifth with 48 points, Oregon comes in sixth with 39, seventh was UCLA with 37, and eighth is Arizona State with 22 points. Washington State and Oregon State ranked ninth and 10th with 17 and 10 points, respectively. Last season the conference sent a record-tying eight teams to the NCAA Championships.
