When it comes to building championship volleyball programs, gender isn’t an issue for Jim McLaughlin.

The Washington coach proved he can mold a title winner with both female and male student-athletes after the Huskies defeated top-ranked Nebraska, 30-26, 30-25, 30-26, in the finals of the Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship in San Antonio December 17.

McLaughlin, who led the Southern California men to the 1990 NCAA title, becomes the first coach to win Division I volleyball championships with men’s and women’s teams.

The Huskies also accomplished a rare feat by becoming only the second women’s team to sweep all of its opponents in NCAA tournament play. Washington won six consecutive matches without dropping a game. The Huskies joined the 1988 Texas Longhorns, who posted five straight sweeps to win that title.

“We never thought about winning or streaks,” McLaughlin said. “We just talked about meeting our standards, and if you do, those things will happen. It is a feather in our caps for sure.”

Most impressively, Washington downed a Nebraska team that was ranked No. 1 the entire season. It was the first time the Huskers have been swept since the 2002 NCAA tournament.

“We played our best match of the year against them,” McLaughlin said. “It was just a good match from start to finish. I’m just unbelievably happy for this group. The time they put in — it’s a little bit of a payoff — but more gratification for an awful lot of hard work.”

Leaving the Alamodome with the program’s first national championship in volleyball also was satisfying for Washington. When McLaughlin took over the Huskies, they were coming off a last-place finish in the Pacific-10 Conference.

The Huskies (32-1) entered the final match with a chip on their shoulders.

“All we’ve been hearing about for the last three months — that Nebraska is huge; they’re big; they’re King Kong,” said Washington senior outside hitter Sanja Tomasevic. “We’re not intimidated by that. We played some good teams in the Pac-10.”

Washington junior setter Courtney Thompson knew early on it was going to be a good night for her club and trouble for Nebraska.

“From the first point,” Thompson told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “Throughout the match, we had control. They were on their heels.”

The Huskers (33-2) had trouble finding a rhythm on offense for the entire match. Nebraska was limited to a .185 hitting percentage against Washington.

“It was just kind of a weird feeling the whole match,” Nebraska freshman Jordan Larson told the Lincoln Star-Journal. “I don’t know. It was just this weird, hard-to-explain feeling. You work so hard, and they played great. They dug everything.”

Nebraska overcame its slow start and led, 10-7, at one point in Game 1.

But Washington put together some strong scoring streaks to win the first game by four points.

The Huskies broke open a close Game 2 by scoring six straight points to grab a 24-16 advantage. Nebraska was never able to recover.

Washington trailed, 23-22, in the final game before closing out the match with an 8-3 run to clinch the title.

The Huskies became the fifth consecutive national champion from the Pacific-10.

Nebraska was denied its third championship.

“It just felt like Washington was playing as more of a unit than we were,” said Huskers coach John Cook. “We were just discombobulated a lot.”

Washington’s Christal Morrison was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. She led the Huskies with 15 kills and nine digs in the championship match.

Thompson and Tomasovic joined Morrison on the all-tournament team.

Nebraska’s Sarah Pavan, Jennifer Saleaumua and Christina Houghtelling, the American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Year, also earned all-tournament recognition.

But Washington walked away with the biggest spoil by focusing on the basics of serving well and receiving serves well.

“It’s the No. 1 correlation to winning,” McLaughlin said. “It’s just not a very glamorous part of the game.”

Semifinals

Washington def. Tennessee, 30-25, 30-19, 30-21; Nebraska def. Santa Clara, 30-24, 30-19, 30-21.

Championship match

Washington      30        30        30

Nebraska         26        25        26

Washington      K         E          TA       Pct.      A         SA       D         BS

Alesha Deesing 6          2          14        .286     1          0          0          0

Courtney Thompson     1          0                   1     1.000           41        1          10        0

Christal Morrison          15        7          44        .182     0          0          9          1

Darla Myhre     6          0          11        .545     0          0          1          1

Danka Danicic  0          0          0          .000     1          1          11        0

Sanja Tomasevic          12        5          34        .206     1          0          13        1

Ashley Aratani  0          0          0          .000     0          1          4          0

Brie Hagerty     10        5          27        .185     0          0          3          0

Candace Lee    0          0          0          .000     2          1          10        0

Totals   50        19        131      .237     46        4          61        3

Nebraska         K         E          TA       Pct.      A         SA       D         BS

Maggie Griffin   0          0          0          .000     25        0          1          0

Chris Houghtelling         10        7          38        .079     1          0          11        0

Melissa Elmer   7          5          23        .087     0          0          1          0

Sarah Paven     16        4          28        .429     2          2          5          0

Jordan Larson  1          5          20        .000     1          1          12        0

Jennifer Saleaumua       12        0          22        .545     1          0          9          0

Rachel Schwartz           0          0          0          .000     0          0          1          0

Dani Mancuso  2          1          6          .167     1          0          4          0

Tracy Stalls      3          2          9          .111     4          0          0          0

Dani Busboom  0          0          0          .000     0          1          7          0

Totals   51        24        146      .185     51        4          51        0