Aug. 16, 2006

By Lara Boyko

Special to CSTV.com

It's no wonder that in the birthplace of Starbucks, Washington coach Jim McLaughlin likens his 2006 women's volleyball team to his favorite morning pick-me-up.

"This team is venti-sized, with a couple of extra shots, a little bit of cream and regular, not decaf as we're loaded and ready to go," McLaughlin said, who is now the first coach to win Division I titles in both men's (USC in 1990) and women's volleyball.

The analogy may be tongue in cheek, but for the defending national and Pac-10 champions, who finished 2005 with a 32-1 overall record and a 17-1 mark in the Pac-10, it's not entirely unreasonable. After losing four highly talented seniors to graduation, it will be up to the veterans who know what it takes to win a title and newcomers who are thirsty for action, to live up to McLaughlin's expectations this year.

"I am fired up that we won it, now we are going to try to do it again," McLaughlin said, who enters his fifth season at Washington. "We are going to attack it the same way as last year since I don't feel that we are defending anything. Last year we were not defending anything and we are not going to defend anything this year. It's really not pressure, but more of a really neat opportunity to go win another championship."

While the road to the final four started this week as players returned from summer vacation to begin practices, the super-sized nature of this team is found in the veteran trio of 5-8 senior setter Courtney Thompson (2005 Honda Award recipient and All-American), 6-2 junior outside hitter Christal Morrison (MVP of the 2005 Final Four and All-American who was accepted into an infant primate laboratory program to help complete her Psychology degree) and 6-1 junior middle blocker Alesha Deesing (All Pac-10).

"Thompson is a player who like any other year, we expect big things from again this year," McLaughlin said. "Morrison is another player we expect to get better this year. After the spring she was passing better, hitting with better range and hitting harder, now we want her to be a better blocker and server. Deesing will be expected to carry more of the load in the middle, but we need to know if we can set to her more, if she can hit with better numbers and can serve better."

The extra shots complimenting the strength of the team look to be found in 5-9 redshirt junior outside hitter Stevie Mussie, and 5-7 redshirt freshman libero Tamari Miyashiro.

"Mussie is a physical player who is learning how to control her game," McLaughlin said. "Miyashiro learned from (libero) Candace Lee (5-7 All-American, Asics Defensive Player of the Year and Academic All-American) last year and also had a very good spring at the libero position."

Other players to watch for include 6-2 freshman outside hitter Becky Perry and 5-11 senior outside hitter Janine Sandell. Sandell, who is originally from London, England, transferred to Washington after being named the Big West Conference Player of the Year while at Santa Barbara.

"People define pressure different ways, but I don't know if there is any pressure in being the defending champions," McLaughlin said.

"I think we have some talent and will be physical enough, fast enough and are powerful enough. I sure like this team as they have good depth, have good competition in practice and have a good core group of kids that we are going to rely on them early to teach and show us the way. I think we have good pieces, we just need to put them together."

Before learning how to put the pieces together at home and on the road during Pac-10 regular-season play, the Huskies start defending their title at the Davidson Tournament in Davidson, N.C. This tournament is followed by their home opener on Sept. 7, when they kick off the Husky Classic.

As UW gets set to begin a new year, McLaughlin hopes that the character he witnessed in his team during a 12-day trip they took to China in June will spill over into the season.

"We played this one team at the Olympic volleyball center and I remember thinking, wow, this is a very good team that has good arms, can pass the ball and the coach really knows what he is doing," McLaughlin said.

"We went out there and beat them in five games with a very young team. To beat a team like this with five new kids on the floor I thought we have a really good chance to beat some good teams this year."

As the 2006 Huskies gear up for the upcoming season, for McLaughlin, they are ready to go like his first cup of coffee in the morning.

"The players get tired of it, but during and at the end of the season, I tell them that last year is going to buy us a half cup of coffee this year," McLaughlin said.  "They have heard it many times, but that's the beauty of it because it is a whole new season and if we approach it right, make progress, and focus on the improvement issue, the wins will come. The journey will be a little different, but it will be great."