Filling in the blanks for Washington’s 2012 volleyball schedule

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This latest update (below) for Washington’s 2012 volleyball schedule should be about 98% dependable.

Washington’s Krista Vansant
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

  • We now know that the other two teams invited to the the Penn State Tournament are Eastern Illinois and Duquesne. At the end of last season, the RPI for Eastern Illinois was 275; for Duquesne it was 133.

  • Notice how many conference matches are on Wednesdays and Sundays. The Wednesday match against UCLA (September 26) and the Thursday contest at Stanford (November 8) are likely to be televised, possibly nationally.

  • Teams have long complained about having to play in Pullman one night, then Seattle the next. This schedule seems to address that concern by adding an extra day in between, with similar consideration given for travel between Salt Lake City and Boulder.

What do you think about the Huskies’ lineup?

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON VOLLEYBALL
2012 SCHEDULE
as of May 14, 2012
DAY
DATE
LOCAL TIME
OPPONENT
LOCATION
NORTHWEST CHALLENGE
Friday
Aug 24
4:30PM
Gonzaga vs. Portland St.
Seattle
Friday
7:00PM
Boise St. @ Washington
Seattle
Saturday
Aug 25
10:00AM
Portland St. vs. Boise St.
Seattle
Saturday
12:00PM
Gonzaga @ Washington
Seattle
Saturday
4:30PM
Boise St. vs. Gonzaga
Seattle
Saturday
7:00PM
Portland St. @ Washington
Seattle
LSU TOURNAMENT
Friday
Aug 31
12:00PM
vs. Purdue
Baton Rouge
Friday
7:00PM
@ LSU
Baton Rouge
Saturday
Sep 1
11:00AM
vs. Rice
Baton Rouge
THE INVITATIONAL AT SEATTLE
Thursday
Sep 6
7:00PM
Seattle U @ Washington
Seattle (UW)
Friday
Sep 7
7:00PM
L Beach St. @ Washington
Seattle (UW)
Saturday
Sep 8
7:00PM
Long Beach St. @ Seattle U
Seattle (SU)
PENN STATE TOURNAMENT
Friday
Sep 14
1:00PM
vs. Eastern Illinois
State College
Friday
7:00PM
@ Penn St.
State College
Saturday
Sep 15
1:00PM
vs. Duquesne
State College
PAC-12
Wednesday
Sep 19
Washington St.
Seattle
Saturday
Sep 22
@ Arizona
Tucson
Wednesday
Sep 26
UCLA
Seattle
Friday
Sep 28
USC
Seattle
Friday
Oct 5
8:30PM
@ Utah
Salt Lake City
Sunday
Oct 7
3:00PM
@ Colorado
Boulder
Friday
Oct 12
@ Oregon St.
Corvallis
Saturday
Oct 13
@ Oregon
Eugene
Friday
Oct 19
Stanford
Seattle
Sunday
Oct 21
California
Seattle
Friday
Oct 26
@ USC
Los Angeles
Sunday
Oct 28
@ UCLA
Los Angeles
Friday
Nov 2
Colorado
Seattle
Sunday
Nov 4
Utah
Seattle
Wednesday
Nov 7
@ California
Berkeley
Thursday
Nov 8
@ Stanford
Palo Alto
Friday
Nov 16
Oregon
Seattle
Saturday
Nov 17
Oregon St.
Seattle
Wednesday
Nov 21
Arizona St.
Seattle
Saturday
Nov 24
@ Washington St.
Pullman
NCAA TOURNAMENT
Thu-Sat
Nov 29-
Dec 2
NCAA 1st/2nd Rounds
TBA
Fri-Sat
Dec 7 &
Dec 8
NCAA Regionals
Berkeley, CA
Austin, TX
Lincoln, NE
W Lafayette, IN
Thu-Sat
Dec 13 &
Dec 15
NCAA Championships
Louisville, KY

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Who are volleyball’s giants?

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Are the Washington Huskies one of volleyball’s “giants?”
Here’s how I began a post last week about Washington’s 2012 schedule:

Two volleyball giants—Washington and Penn State—will square off this September in State College, Pennsylvania.

Washington celebrates its 2005 title
after defeating Nebraska
I soon heard back from a reader who disagreed. Without offering his/her own list, the reader thought the Huskies do not deserve to be mentioned among volleyball’s elite.
Realizing I had lauded Washington based on gut reaction rather than research, I decided to crunch some numbers to see if my description was justified.
And so, I checked data from the past ten years, and came up with my own ranking of Division 1 women’s volleyball top ten over the past decade. I then tried to cobble a list of those who might deserve to be in the next ten—not quite giants.
Check out my rankings, then weigh in with your own list!
DIVISION 1 VOLLEYBALL: 2002-2011
NATIONAL
CHAMPS
FINAL
FOURS
ELITE
EIGHTS
W-L
PCT.
1.
Penn State
4
4
5
315-37
.895
Four consecutive national titles, compete in nation’s second-toughest conference
2.
USC
2
6
6
260-60
.813
Six Final Fours, two titles (’02 & ’03), compete in the nation’s top conference
3.
Stanford
1
5
6
278-55
.835
Five Final Fours, finished first in ’04 and second in ’02, ’06, ’07 & ‘08
t4.
Nebraska
1
3
7
296-32
.902
’06 champs, seven Elite Eights; impressive W-L record built largely before 2011 move to Big-10
t4.
Washington
1
3
6
258-61
.809
’05 champs, 2-1 vs. Nebraska, eight matches every season vs. Stanford, USC, UCLA, Cal
6.
UCLA
1
2
5
239-95
.716
’11 champs, lots of wins against other teams in this Top Ten
7.
Texas
0
3
6
247-60
.805
Three Final Fours, six Elite Eights, conference even easier now that Nebraska gone
8.
Minnesota
0
3
4
261-87
.750
Three Final Fours, usually among top three in tough Big-10
9.
Hawai’i
0
3
4
306-36
.895
Three Final Fours, tons of wins in a second-tier conference, rarely allowed to host playoffs
10.
Florida
0
2
4
296-37
.889
Two Final Fours, a weaker conference, many bitter playoff losses, several at home
next 10 teams
(alphabetical)
California
Colorado State
Illinois
Long Beach State
Michigan
Oregon
Pepperdine
Wisconsin
San Diego
Tennessee
close, no cigar
(alphabetical)
Arizona
Ball State
Iowa State
Kansas State
Ohio State
Purdue
Santa Clara
UC Santa Barbara
Utah
Western Kentucky

How would you rank ‘em? 

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Pac-12 Volleyball: An RPI upgrade?

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Teams seem to be trying to schedule tougher preseason opponents


During last season’s Selection Sunday—November 27—USC Coach Mick Haley famously compared the frustration of Pac-12 fans, coaches and players with the frustration of those who were part of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
USC Coach Mick Haley
Responding to the shockingly low seeds handed to the Pac-12’s volleyball teams by the NCAA Tournament Committee, Haley joked that “occupy NCAA may be the way to go.”
Earlier that same week, Washington Coach Jim McLaughlin called the NCAA Selection Committee’s use of RPI ratings “hocus pocus” and a “joke.”
The NCAA’s use of Ratings Percentage Index (see: RPI Primer) to seed the top 16 teams in last year’s tournament fired a shot across the Pac-12’s bow. In essence, the NCAA was telling the conference to: (1) schedule tougher preseason opponents, and (2) beat those opponents.
Of course, the Pac-12 got the last laugh, as (once again), half the Final Four teams were from the conference, including eventual national champion UCLA.
Now that a number of 2012 preseason schedules have been released, it seems evident that the conference—however reluctantly—has kept an eye on the hated RPI.
Based on last season’s final RPI, the preseason schedule includes such heavyweight matchups as:

#4 USC vs. #9 Northern Iowa & #19 Texas A&M
#5 UCLA vs. #6 Nebraska, #10 Hawai’i & #15 Pepperdine
#21 Stanford vs. #10 Hawai’i, #13 Penn State & #16 Florida
#31 Washington vs. #8 Purdue & #13 Penn State
#32 California (2012 schedule not yet released)
#33 Oregon vs. #11 Kentucky

Several decent matches there. But it should be pointed out that the conference always schedules several marquee nonconference matches. For example, last season Oregon beat Penn State, Stanford beat Penn State, Penn State beat USC, USC beat Minnesota, Minnesota beat Oregon, UCLA beat Hawai’i, Hawai’i beat Arizona.

Once you get past the top-20 matchups, you notice (see below) that most schedules include many more opponents in the RPI 20-100 range than in recent seasons. If the conference can do well in those contests, it will have a multiplier effect: a win against a high-RPI Stanford team, for example, gives its Pac-12 opponent a bigger RPI boost than if Stanford were rated lower. And so on. (That may help explain why the Big-12 Conference had such an inflated RPI last season.)

Washington has a long history of scheduling overmatched preseason opponents. Notable exceptions include wins against Florida and Minnesota in 2009; a loss to Hawai’i in 2008; a loss to Texas in 2006 and a two match sweep of Hawai’i in 2005. But in each case, the Huskies had to travel; powerhouse teams have been reluctant to spend the money to fly all the way to Seattle, forcing Washington to sacrifice limited training days (and budget) to get higher-caliber opposition.
As we reported yesterday, McLaughlin emphatically denies that the RPI influenced his 2012 scheduling decision. Of the RPI, he says, “We’re not going to follow some formula that isn’t sound.”
Here, then, is a preliminary peek at how the Pac-12 preseason is coming together. Please note:
  • We’ve not yet heard from California, Arizona, Utah or Colorado
  • We still don’t know the names of two of Washington’s opponents at the Penn State Tournament
  • Oregon and Arizona State have each posted just three of their four preseason weekends
  • All of these schedules are still subject to change, especially if television gets involved
  • The number to the left of each school is its final 2011 RPI, calculated by the NCAA after the Final Four:

see also:
USC Coach Mick Haley jokes: It’s time to “Occupy NCAA”
Selection Sunday RPI primer
Washington volleyball schedules powerful Penn State in preseason

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Washington volleyball schedules powerful Penn State in preseason

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Huskies will also face Purdue and Long Beach State

Two volleyball giants—Washingtonand Penn State—will square off this September in State College, Pennsylvania.
The marquee match promises both a peek back at history and a preview of college volleyball’s future.
The two teams last met on December 9, 2006 in Washington’s Hec Ed Pavilion. The Huskies were defending national champions; the Nittany Lions would later prove to be heir apparents. Favored Penn State came in with a record of 32-2; the winner would head to the Final Four.
December 9, 2006–Huskies Janine Sandell, left, and Jessica Swarbrick
combine to block a shot by Penn State’s Megan Hodge
photo by Mark Harrison, Seattle Times
Washington, led by All-American setter Courtney Thompson, defeated PSU in four sets. The Seattle crowd of 6,549 went wild—particularly when Thompson led a line of her teammates through the arena, high-fiving fans from courtside all the way to the cheap seats.
Penn State wouldn’t lose another postseason match for more than four years, earning a quartet of national titles from 2007-10.
Washington coach Jim McLaughlin and Penn State coach Russ Rose have remained friends, and often speak by phone. During the past several months, the Huskies have had a tough time finding teams willing to fly to Seattle for preseason matches. The invitation to head to Happy Valley came at the last moment.
“This gives us a chance to get ready for the Pac-12 season by matching up with a great team like Penn State,” McLaughlin told Volleyblog Seattle. “We’re looking forward to it.”
The match will be the weekend of September 14-15, and will be part of a round-robin tournament involving two other teams. Names of those teams were not yet available.
The Huskies open the 2012 Pac-12 season just three nights later, with a Tuesday night home match against Washington State on September 18. They then fly to Tucson for a Saturday night contest with Arizona.
Every Pac-12 team will play just 20 conference matches this season; Washington and Washington State will each skip a match with Arizona and Arizona State. The Huskies will host ASU the final week of the regular season.
The 20-match conference schedule was created, in part, to give Pac-12 teams an extra week to schedule top teams in the preseason. It became a huge issue last season when the NCAA selection committee decided that the league had not played enough top-tier matches outside of the conference. The committee penalized the Pac-12 by seeding conference teams surprisingly low in the 64-team tournament. USC—the consensus number one team at the end of the regular season—was seeded seventh. The Trojans reached the Final Four, and UCLA—seeded ninth—won the title.
The NCAA’s Pac-12 putdown led many to speculate that its teams would work hard to schedule tougher teams, in hopes of improving the conference’s Ratings Percentage Index, or RPI (see: Selection Sunday: RPI(round two) | A Primer).
“We are absolutely not trying to schedule for the RPI,” McLaughlin said, emphatically. “We are doing what we are every season: trying to get our players ready for the Pac-12 season.”
“All of our preseason scheduling is based on what’s best for our training, and what’s best for getting us ready once the conference starts.”
Even so, there is talk of creating an annual made-for-TV Pac-12 vs. Big-10 preseason challenge. The past 13 consecutive NCAA titles have all been won by teams who are currently in one of the two conferences (Washington, Penn State, Stanford, UCLA, USC and Nebraska.)
The Huskies open the 2012 preseason August 24-25 by hosting the annual Northwest Challenge, featuring Gonzaga, Portland State and Boise State.
On August 31, they’ll fly to Baton Rouge to face host LSU, plus Rice and Big-10 powerhouse Purdue.
September 6 & 7, the Huskies return home for matches against Seattle University and Long Beach State. The Penn State Tournament is September 14 & 15.
“Heading back East, we lose a day of training,” McLaughlin says. “We had to see whether we could get decent flights there and back. It was the only way we could make this happen.”
Washington’s 2012 Pac-12 Schedule
(subject to changes for televised matches):
9/18       Washington State
9/22       @ Arizona
9/26       UCLA
9/28       USC
10/5       @ Utah
10/7       @ Colorado
10/12     @ Oregon State
10/13     @ Oregon
10/19     Stanford
10/21     California
10/26     @ USC
10/28     @ UCLA
11/2       Colorado
11/4       Utah
11/6       @ California
11/7       @ Stanford
11/16     Oregon
11/17     Oregon State
11/21     Arizona State
11/23     @ Washington State

see also:
Selection Sunday: RPI (round two) | A Primer
Pac-12 Finalizing 2012 Conference Volleyball Schedule

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Summer rain: fact-checking sand volleyball’s appeal

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DID RAIN REALLY DRIVE SUMMER ROSS AWAY?

Yes, it does get soggy in Seattle.
Even so, I took a double-take when I picked up the latest issue of Volleyball USA, the public affairs magazine of USA Volleyball. On the cover: Summer Ross. Inside, “Too much rain for Summer.” On page 29, this excerpt:

 “Having grown up in Southern California, Summer Ross knew she’d have to adapt to wet weather when she agreed to play volleyball at the University of Washington, but she figured it would be okay.

 “’We rarely get rain at home, so I was thinking it would be really exciting,’ she said. ‘But it wasn’t quite what I thought. It was just too much rain.’”

Ross–who just won (with teammate Caitlin Racich) the first-ever collegiate sand volleyball pairs championship–has offered several reasons for swapping her indoor scholarship at Washington for a sand scholarship at Pepperdine, most of which are detailed in the article: homesickness, the desire to join her older brother at Pepperdine, the lure of attending a Christian school, the chance to play sand volleyball whenever she wants. All fine explanations.
But the weather?
Ross lived in Seattle the final five months of 2011. August, September and October are typically the most glorious months on the Northwest calendar.
I looked up last year’s weather records, and found that Seattle’s rainfall during Ross’s tenure was below—far below—historic averages. That was particularly true in November and December, traditionally the wettest two months on Seattle’s calendar: last year’s total for those two months was more than a third lower than normal.
I next checked out the National Weather Service (NWS) records for Malibu, home of Pepperdine. Yes, Malibu is gorgeous, and yes it is warmer, drier and less lush than Seattle. But the NWS stats reveal a couple of interesting facts:
  • From August-December 2011, both Seattle and Malibu each had the same number of days of “heavy rain” (3)
  • During the same period, Malibu recorded just 7 fewer days than Seattle of “moderate rain” (12 vs. 5)
  • Seattle led the number of days with “light rain” (70 vs. 12). But Malibu had more days of “heavy fog” (13 vs. 3) and of “moderate fog” (58 vs. 31). And in the NWS category of “haze,” Malibu skunks Seattle (91 vs. 0).

 The sand volleyball season spans three months, February, March and April. Pepperdine’s first big 2012 tournament was hosted by USC in Santa Monica, and was played in driving wind, rain and cold. Pepperdine’s first home dual meet at Zuma Beach, against Long Beach State, was held in a relentless wind.
USC Sand Volleyball Tournament, March  17, 2012
Throughout the first half of the season, photos and videos out of Pepperdine showed practices under cloudy skies. The NWS reported that Malibu skies were cloudy or partly cloudy on 27 days during February through April, including 21 days with rain (11 were heavy or moderate rain.) There was fog on 38 days (7 of those “heavy fog”), and haze on another 31.
Yes, it was colder and wetter in Seattle during that same stretch. But few Southern Californians spend time at the beach during the months coinciding with the collegiate sand volleyball season. I well remember one spring weekend during my college freshman year. My friends (one of whom played for John Wooden) and I headed out to Santa Monica beach, where we ran across Bill Waltonand his teammate, Greg Lee. Although the sun was out, we shivered in the wind. Lee—dressed in sweats—memorably remarked, “Boys, you can’t rush summer.”
If collegiate sand volleyball expands in years ahead, it will eventually reach colder climates (of the 16 schools fielding teams this inaugural season, Pepperdine is at the northernmost latitude.) Northerly schools will have to use (or build) sand volleyball fieldhouses, which might, ironically, offer warmer and drier (or less-humid) venues than those who play outdoors in California, Florida and other sunbelt regions.
And so—some recruits are attracted to Seattle’s mountains, coast and greenery; others are scared off by stories of rain. But sometimes … those stories are more cliché than credible. And, hey … there’s always Tempe, where the AVERAGE high temperatures last August was … 109.

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