The Washington volleyball team’s reshuffled lineup looking stronger as NCAAs begins

If adaptability indicates competitive strength, keep an eye on the Washington volleyball team.

The NCAA tournament launches this weekend, and the eighth-seeded Huskies (24-7) — to host Northeast Conference champion LIU Brooklyn (20-9) Friday at 7:30 p.m. — have navigated a rocky regular-season path to get there. Yet UW’s shuffled and reshuffled lineup now appears to be as near an optimal state as it has all season.

“If we can get through this first weekend, I have total confidence we can be a team that can compete for a national championship,” said third-year coach Keegan Cook, who has guided Washington to the regional finals, one step from the Final Four, in each of his first two seasons. “But I also think this is a team that is going to need to work to win this first weekend.”

Chief among the crosswinds that have vexed UW: injuries. Two led to prolonged absences for a pair of 2016 second-team All-Americans: outside hitter Crissy Jones (bad ankle; 11 matches missed) and setter Bailey Tanner (broken right pinkie; four matches missed, then restricted blocking for multiple weeks thereafter).

Inconsistency has hampered the Huskies, too. Sophomore Kara Bajema, expected to be UW’s primary power source this season, sat out multiple midseason matches while trying to rediscover her stroke.

Yet much mending has occurred.

Jones has returned and switched to middle blocker, where she can focus on quick attacks instead of run-ups from the 10-foot line. Tanner can block now, allowing her to stay on the floor for six rotations and permit Cook to switch to a single-setter offense. And Bajema, who returned as a starter with 21 kills at Utah on Nov. 4, is drilling the ball again.

“Our biggest challenge has been getting all of our strongest players on the floor and healthy at the same time,” said Cook. “To have your starting setter out for the middle of Pac-12 play disrupts your team’s progress. To not have Crissy Jones for six weeks to start the season was a pretty tough situation.

“But we’ve been flexible and resilient, and we’ve developed some character because of it. We know what we can and can’t do because we’ve tried a lot of different lineups. We’ve got a really good understanding now of who can make plays in tough situations.”

When it comes to being flexible, senior Tia Scambray has been UW’s multi-tool supreme. An aggressive outside hitter throughout her career, it was her defensive skills that caught Cook’s eye during spring workouts and a summer tour to Europe. It ultimately led to a gear-grinding, even teeth-grinding, switch from hitter, volleyball’s glory position, to libero — a defensive player who is not allowed to attack or block.

“We saw a huge jump in her back-row play,” Cook said. “Her serve-receive all of a sudden reached this elite level that no one else in the gym came close to matching. That’s when we started experimenting with the libero role.”

For someone accustomed to playing a ferocious brand of offense, it was a tough move.

“I could see Tia was winning the libero position, that she was by far our best option there. But as a player, I think she was looking at it like she was losing the outside hitter position,” Cook said. “It was a long process. It was emotional at times. Any time you ask a player to change their identity, it’s tough.

“Tia plays with the same level of excitement and aggression as Cassie Strickland (who switched to libero as a junior in 2014). She’s a tremendous blocker, a good out-of-system hitter. She’s had some big moments on offense. But I said maybe this change could put you in the Final Four. Would you do that? She said yes. She’s always been an absolutely team-first player.”

Scambray ranks fifth in the conference in digs and earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention recognition as a libero.

“It’s always hard changing positions to something you’ve never played before, but it’s what my team needed,” she said. “If that’s what they need, then I’m going to go all out and play libero like I’ve been playing it all my life. I’m going to be just as aggressive going for balls as I would be hitting them.”

Cook switched Scambray back to hitter for nine matches at midseason (when she became just the fifth UW player to record career totals of 1,000 kills, 1,000 digs and 100 aces), then switched her back to libero for the season’s final seven matches, when UW went 6-1.

Has she found contentment in her new role?

“Yes,” she said. “If we’re winning, I’m happy.”