Contenders again

SEATTLE – Washington a basketball school? Not so fast.

Sure, the Huskies’ men’s basketball team is riding a huge wave of popularity right now and is being heralded as one of the top programs in the country. But for all the hype surrounding the hoops squad, the best it has done is reach a Sweet 16.

If you go strictly by success, the UW is a volleyball school.

For the second consecutive year, Washington has reached the NCAA volleyball tournament’s Final Four. The third-seeded Huskies (30-1) meet No. 15 Tennessee (25-8) at 4 p.m. today in the semifinals at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The contest is being televised via tape delay at 8 p.m. on cable’s ESPN2.

“We’re at a point now where we believe we belong here,” said Washington coach Jim McLaughlin, who has led the remarkable turnaround of the program. “Last year, we might have been a little overwhelmed. This year we know what to expect from the whole experience. We won’t be as wide-eyed.”

With a win over the Volunteers, the Huskies would likely meet top-seed Nebraska (32-1) in the championship at 3 p.m. Saturday. The Cornhuskers play unseeded Santa Clara (27-4) in today’s other semifinal.

Washington played in the NCAA Tournament six times between 1986 and 1997, but when McLaughlin took over five years ago, the Huskies were coming off of a season in which they finished tied for last in the Pacific-10 Conference. Since then, McLaughlin, who previously led Kansas State to the Sweet 16, has compiled a 112-40 record and reached the NCAA Tournament four times, including last year’s trip to the Final Four, the first in the program’s history.

“It was just a matter of instilling the right attitude here,” McLaughlin said. “We needed an attitude of confidence. Great players want to play in a program where winning is expected. When you get to that point, then recruiting great players gets easier, and ultimately, great players are what you need to succeed.”

No question Washington has great players. Senior outside hitter Sanja Tomasevic is the Pac-10 Player of the Year. She is joined by Candace Lee, Courtney Thompson and Christal Morrison on the All-Pacific-Region first-team. Those four and Alesha Deesing were first-team Pac-10 all-stars.

Four Huskies were named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America team on Wednesday: Tomasevic and Thompson (first team); Lee (second team); and Morrison (third team).

“More than anything, the best players want to play with the best players,” McLaughlin said. “Great hitters want to play with great setters. A great libero gives the rest of the team confidence. They all realize that playing together, as a unit, gives them the best chance to win.”

All of that talent has come together to form a tremendously dominant unit. Washington has swept 26 of 31 matches behind a nation-best .348 hitting percentage. The Huskies have lost only 10 games all season. In last week’s regional, Washington swept No. 14 Purdue and No. 11 Wisconsin, giving it sweeps in all four tournament matches. But McLaughlin said getting sweeps is not the goal.

“It’s nice in that we’re able to get a little more rest,” McLaughlin said. “And it means we’re playing really well, especially in the tournament when you’re playing very good teams. But a win is a win, regardless of how it comes. And especially at this point, we’ll take it however we can get it.”

Today is Tennessee’s first appearance in the Final Four. The Volunteers defeated second-seeded Penn State on the Nittany Lions’ home floor last week after getting a tournament at-large bid. Tennessee, which is 5-3 against Top 25 teams this year, is led by a pair of solid hitters in Yuliya Stoyanova and Kristen Andre.

“They are a balanced team, like all of the teams in the tournament,” McLaughlin said. “They’re obviously playing very well to beat Penn State and to get to this point. No matter who we would play, it would be a big challenge. But it’s one we’re prepared for, probably a little more so than last year. It’s just an exciting time for us.”