20 Years Still Feels 'Like Yesterday' For '05 Champs
October 21, 2025 | Volleyball
By MARK MOSCHETTI
For GoHuskies.com
On a night when they celebrated 20 years since winning the NCAA volleyball championship …
… it still felt, in some ways, like it happened just yesterday for various members of that talent-laden University of Washington squad.
"The photo when we won, it was so beautiful," said setter Courtney Thompson, who was a junior that year. "I have my hands on my head and even at that point, it felt so surreal – and honestly, it still does."
That feeling, in the immediate moments after the No. 3-seeded Huskies completed a 3-0 sweep of No. 1-seeded Nebraska, was perhaps even more pronounced for Christal Morrison, a sophomore outside hitter.
It was Morrison who reached up with her right hand for a solo block on match point to complete the conquest of the Cornhuskers at the Alamodome in San Antonio, capping a 33-1 season.
"When (the ball) went down, I felt like I went into outer space," said Morrison, who had seven blocks, 15 kills, and nine digs in that match, and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. "It was like, 'What is happening?' The emotions were flowing. The celebration – I can't put into words the euphoric feeling when you win something like that."
Thompson, Morrison, and their teammates were back in town this past weekend to relive some of those moments and visit with the current Huskies ahead of Saturday's match against 18th-ranked Minnesota. All of them were introduced prior to the starting lineups, throwing towels and miniature balls into the crowd of 3,589 fans. This year's squad then took the court wearing purple-and-gold 2005 throwback uniforms.
"Just seeing all the girls in here the last two days, they came to serve-and-pass (drills), and you look at it and I said, 'Why don't you come and play?' said head coach Leslie Gabriel, who was the associate head coach (known then as Leslie Tuiasosopo) to coach Jim McLaughlin. "It brought back a lot of great memories from that time and that journey during their four or five years at Washington."
"Journey" was a common theme among those who shared memories during a gathering at The Founders' Club inside Hec Edmundson Pavilion prior to the Minnesota match.
Perhaps the most significant step of that journey began as the Huskies walked off the court in Long Beach, California, following their loss to Stanford in the 2004 NCAA semifinals.
"It was a commitment of attention, and of course all the physical stuff," said Thompson, who's 40, living in Salt Lake City and serving as the head of Player and Coach Experience for League One Volleyball, a professional women's league heading into its second season. "But we liked that part anyway. We loved hard things. This team was like, 'Bring it on' – we want it to be hard because we're ready.
"It was the grittiness of getting close (in 2004), but knowing we didn't do the thing we wanted to do."
Senior outside hitter Sanja Tomasevic, who won a pair of 2005 national Player of the Year awards, said commitment was possibly the biggest 'X' factor throughout that amazing autumn.
"That was unmatched. I've played a lot of matches and coached a lot of teams, but I have never seen the commitment like that team had," said Tomasevic, now 45 and the head coach of Houston in League One Volleyball. "There were really hard days and hard times and hard conversations. But it was never to a point of we were going to walk away or quit.
"It was like, 'We're in this together. We're gonna figure it out – we have to figure it out.' That was the difference between that team and most other teams that I was a part of."
A ROLE FOR ALL 17
Being in it together included not just the stars and the starters, but the entire roster of 17 players. A few didn't see abundant match time, but were in action every day during practice, helping to mold the regulars into a national powerhouse.
"It was so hard to put a ball down in practice," Tomasevic said. "If I even hit even remotely positive – if I hit 10 percent in practice – it was like, 'I'm going to have an amazing weekend.' Carolyn (Farny) was blocking every ball, and after I passed Carolyn, then Danka (Danicic) would defend. I could not put a ball down in practice and it was so frustrating. But that prepared us for the weekend."
Any one of those reserves quite possibly could have been a starter in any other program. But they chose to be part of the Huskies.
"I think back to our bench players and they were so dedicated to everything they did to push us to be better every single day in practice," said Morrison, now 40 and living in Big Bear Lake, California with her husband and three daughters. "That was the day-to-day competitiveness in our gym of having girls who were committed to pushing us as hard as we could be pushed."
One of those players was freshman Tamari Miyashiro, who was redshirting that year.
"I knew what my role was and I knew I had to do my job, for whatever little fraction of the pie there was, to the best of my ability," Miyashiro said. "My goal was to make the practice the hardest practice for the starters.
"Part of it was we knew each other so well," added Miyashiro, 38, part of three Olympic medal teams for the U.S. (silver as a player in 2012 and as assistant coach in 2024; gold as assistant coach in 2021) and now head coach of Salt Lake City in League One. "Credit to the staff – Jim and Tui and Keno (assistant coach Jose Gandara) that they were able to teach us so well at a young age how to play the game, even though we were 18, 19 years old and were playing against older girls."
"EVERY PLAY, EVERY DAY"
The obvious goal coming into 2005 was to win it all. But while it was always looming, it didn't often come up in conversation, even as the Huskies were logging 29 of their 33 victories in 3-0 sweeps. That included an unprecedented – and still unmatched – all six in the NCAA Tournament.
"We didn't think title-or-bust. We had a mantra: Every play, every day," Gabriel said. "Jim (McLaughlin) was always about, 'Let's just take care of each day and give it everything we have.'"
After navigating through the Pac-10 gauntlet (six schools made the tournament) and winning the College Station Regional to reach the Final Four, the Huskies were still looking no further ahead than the next match: a semifinal against No. 15 seed Tennessee.
"They showed a video of us at the banquet (the night before the semis), and Courtney has two fingers up: Two more to go," Tomasevic recalled. "We're all nodding like soldiers. We have two more to go; nothing is done. Of course we were excited to be at the Final Four, but nowhere close to being done."
Then three nights later, they were done after dispatching Nebraska, 30-26, 30-25, 30-26.
"Being in the locker room (beforehand), everything was the same and the confidence going in was so high," Morrison said. "If we just did what we could do, we would win."
Thompson, a three-time All-American and a two-time Olympic medalist with the U.S. (silver in 2012, bronze in 2016), said it ultimately came down to more than just taking one match at a time.
"To get what you want, the most efficient way is to be where your feet are and be all-in on every point – and we did it," she said.
"It felt like we just expressed ourselves in that moment, we played well, and it was awesome."
For GoHuskies.com
On a night when they celebrated 20 years since winning the NCAA volleyball championship …
… it still felt, in some ways, like it happened just yesterday for various members of that talent-laden University of Washington squad.
"The photo when we won, it was so beautiful," said setter Courtney Thompson, who was a junior that year. "I have my hands on my head and even at that point, it felt so surreal – and honestly, it still does."
That feeling, in the immediate moments after the No. 3-seeded Huskies completed a 3-0 sweep of No. 1-seeded Nebraska, was perhaps even more pronounced for Christal Morrison, a sophomore outside hitter.
It was Morrison who reached up with her right hand for a solo block on match point to complete the conquest of the Cornhuskers at the Alamodome in San Antonio, capping a 33-1 season.
"When (the ball) went down, I felt like I went into outer space," said Morrison, who had seven blocks, 15 kills, and nine digs in that match, and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. "It was like, 'What is happening?' The emotions were flowing. The celebration – I can't put into words the euphoric feeling when you win something like that."
Thompson, Morrison, and their teammates were back in town this past weekend to relive some of those moments and visit with the current Huskies ahead of Saturday's match against 18th-ranked Minnesota. All of them were introduced prior to the starting lineups, throwing towels and miniature balls into the crowd of 3,589 fans. This year's squad then took the court wearing purple-and-gold 2005 throwback uniforms.
"Just seeing all the girls in here the last two days, they came to serve-and-pass (drills), and you look at it and I said, 'Why don't you come and play?' said head coach Leslie Gabriel, who was the associate head coach (known then as Leslie Tuiasosopo) to coach Jim McLaughlin. "It brought back a lot of great memories from that time and that journey during their four or five years at Washington."
"Journey" was a common theme among those who shared memories during a gathering at The Founders' Club inside Hec Edmundson Pavilion prior to the Minnesota match.
Perhaps the most significant step of that journey began as the Huskies walked off the court in Long Beach, California, following their loss to Stanford in the 2004 NCAA semifinals.
"It was a commitment of attention, and of course all the physical stuff," said Thompson, who's 40, living in Salt Lake City and serving as the head of Player and Coach Experience for League One Volleyball, a professional women's league heading into its second season. "But we liked that part anyway. We loved hard things. This team was like, 'Bring it on' – we want it to be hard because we're ready.
"It was the grittiness of getting close (in 2004), but knowing we didn't do the thing we wanted to do."
Senior outside hitter Sanja Tomasevic, who won a pair of 2005 national Player of the Year awards, said commitment was possibly the biggest 'X' factor throughout that amazing autumn.
"That was unmatched. I've played a lot of matches and coached a lot of teams, but I have never seen the commitment like that team had," said Tomasevic, now 45 and the head coach of Houston in League One Volleyball. "There were really hard days and hard times and hard conversations. But it was never to a point of we were going to walk away or quit.
"It was like, 'We're in this together. We're gonna figure it out – we have to figure it out.' That was the difference between that team and most other teams that I was a part of."
A ROLE FOR ALL 17
Being in it together included not just the stars and the starters, but the entire roster of 17 players. A few didn't see abundant match time, but were in action every day during practice, helping to mold the regulars into a national powerhouse.
"It was so hard to put a ball down in practice," Tomasevic said. "If I even hit even remotely positive – if I hit 10 percent in practice – it was like, 'I'm going to have an amazing weekend.' Carolyn (Farny) was blocking every ball, and after I passed Carolyn, then Danka (Danicic) would defend. I could not put a ball down in practice and it was so frustrating. But that prepared us for the weekend."
Any one of those reserves quite possibly could have been a starter in any other program. But they chose to be part of the Huskies.
"I think back to our bench players and they were so dedicated to everything they did to push us to be better every single day in practice," said Morrison, now 40 and living in Big Bear Lake, California with her husband and three daughters. "That was the day-to-day competitiveness in our gym of having girls who were committed to pushing us as hard as we could be pushed."
One of those players was freshman Tamari Miyashiro, who was redshirting that year.
"I knew what my role was and I knew I had to do my job, for whatever little fraction of the pie there was, to the best of my ability," Miyashiro said. "My goal was to make the practice the hardest practice for the starters.
"Part of it was we knew each other so well," added Miyashiro, 38, part of three Olympic medal teams for the U.S. (silver as a player in 2012 and as assistant coach in 2024; gold as assistant coach in 2021) and now head coach of Salt Lake City in League One. "Credit to the staff – Jim and Tui and Keno (assistant coach Jose Gandara) that they were able to teach us so well at a young age how to play the game, even though we were 18, 19 years old and were playing against older girls."
"EVERY PLAY, EVERY DAY"
The obvious goal coming into 2005 was to win it all. But while it was always looming, it didn't often come up in conversation, even as the Huskies were logging 29 of their 33 victories in 3-0 sweeps. That included an unprecedented – and still unmatched – all six in the NCAA Tournament.
"We didn't think title-or-bust. We had a mantra: Every play, every day," Gabriel said. "Jim (McLaughlin) was always about, 'Let's just take care of each day and give it everything we have.'"
After navigating through the Pac-10 gauntlet (six schools made the tournament) and winning the College Station Regional to reach the Final Four, the Huskies were still looking no further ahead than the next match: a semifinal against No. 15 seed Tennessee.
"They showed a video of us at the banquet (the night before the semis), and Courtney has two fingers up: Two more to go," Tomasevic recalled. "We're all nodding like soldiers. We have two more to go; nothing is done. Of course we were excited to be at the Final Four, but nowhere close to being done."
Then three nights later, they were done after dispatching Nebraska, 30-26, 30-25, 30-26.
"Being in the locker room (beforehand), everything was the same and the confidence going in was so high," Morrison said. "If we just did what we could do, we would win."
Thompson, a three-time All-American and a two-time Olympic medalist with the U.S. (silver in 2012, bronze in 2016), said it ultimately came down to more than just taking one match at a time.
"To get what you want, the most efficient way is to be where your feet are and be all-in on every point – and we did it," she said.
"It felt like we just expressed ourselves in that moment, we played well, and it was awesome."
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