Photo by Kurt Howard
Shayne McPherson of the Huskies dives for a ball. McPherson is a graduate of Kennedy Catholic High School as well as the UW.
Success follows Husky volleyball
By Tim Clinton
Success has come with the territory for the University of Washington volleyball team.
The Huskies netted one national championship in 2005 and advanced all the way to the NCAA Final Four a total of four other times. Those trips came in 2004, 2006, 2013 and 2020.
The UW has racked up 30 NCAA tournament appearances in all starting with 1979 and 1980 for the program founded in 1974. That included an appearance just last fall in 2024 in the Huskies' first season in the Big 10 Conference.
That team went 19-12 overall including a 9-11 conference record and a 3-2 opening round loss to Loyola Marymount.
Washington won seven regular season conference championships previously playing out west in 1980, 2004, 2005, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2020.
The 2005 national championship Huskies team finished with a stellar 32-1 overall record, including a 16-1 mark in conference action.
Washington swept its way through all six of its NCAA tournament matches that year, defeating the top-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers in the championship played at San Antonio's Alamodome.
The UW was coached by Jim McLaughlin, who led the way from 2001 through 2014.
Keegan Cook took the reins from 2015 through 2022 and Leslie Gabriel has coached from 2023 to the present.
Other NCAA tournament appearances in non-conference championship years not previously listed were made in 1986, 1988, 1989, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022.
Washington has also fielded a spring beach volleyball program since 2014 that played in the Pac-12 before switching to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation this year.
Photo by Kurt Howard
Carly DeHoog (12) of the University of Washington spikes the ball against Washington State University defenders Claire Martin (12), Abby Phillips (15) and Ashley Brown (19) in a 2017 match.