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UW ranked 2nd in college volleyball preseason poll

Coming off their first appearance in the national semifinals, the University of Washington volleyball team is ranked No. 2 in the 2005 CSTV/AVCA preseason coaches poll released Monday. The Huskies, who were top-ranked for several weeks last season and finished at No. 3, received 15 first-place votes. Nebraska, with 35 of the 60 first-place votes, is ranked No. 1. Stanford, which beat the Huskies in the national semis, is No. 3, followed by Hawaii, Penn State, Minnesota, Southern California, Florida, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

Washington returns six starters and four All-Americans. One of those players who fits into both categories is setter Courtney Thompson, a Kentlake graduate who helped the Falcons win three straight Class 4A state titles. The other All-Americans are outside hitters Sanja Tomasevic and Christal Morrison and libero Candace Lee. The Huskies are the only team in the country with four All-Americans on the court. Also back for the Huskies are first team All-Pac-10 outside hitter Brie Hagerty and All-Pac-10 honorable mention middle blocker Darla Myhre.

"This is a nice tribute to the accomplishments of our past few teams," said Jim McLaughlin, who was last year`s national Coach of the Year and is starting his fifth year at the Husky helm. "It also shows that our program has gained some respect based on our recent success."

The Huskies open the season at home Aug. 26-27 when they host Wyoming, Montana State and Gardner-Webb in the Husky Challenge at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. Washington finished the 2004 season with a 28-3 record and won its first Pacific-10 Conference championship, going 16-2. The Huskies set program records for best start and consecutive wins when they opened the season with 22 straight victories.