UAA volleyball gets ready for life after All-America setter Morgan Hooe

Madison Fisher spent all last volleyball season, her first at UAA, studying under the master.

Fisher watched how Morgan Hooe, a senior setter, orchestrated the offense and so often fed hitters the ball where they wanted it, when they wanted it. She saw Hooe grind through every practice to become better. She accepted Hooe's pointers about the tiniest details. And she heard Hooe demand much of her teammates, and encourage them too.

"I learned from her how to be an incredible leader and role model,'' Fisher said.

She learned from the woman who finished last school year as the West Region and Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year, an All-American, and UAA's Athlete of the Year, all after leading the Seawolves (34-3) to a national runner-up finish in NCAA Division II.

Now, Fisher has the chance to take the reins this season, which UAA opens Friday with the first of four matches at the Point Loma Invitational in San Diego, California.

The sophomore, along with freshman setter Casey Davenport, is vying to become the catalyst of a Seawolves attack that returns powerful, proven hitters in All-America Leah Swiss and Chrisalyn Johnson, both juniors, and Diana Fa'amausili, a sophomore. Besides Hooe, All-GNAC middle blocker Erin Braun also finished her eligibility — Braun is a volunteer assistant coach this season.

Fisher, who said she's still honored coach Chris Green even recruited her, said there's definitely pressure in replacing Hooe, one of the greats in program history and a linchpin in UAA's record of 103-22 in her career.

"There are some big shoes to fill there,'' Fisher said. "She's an incredible player and an incredible person. In my mind, I need to remember to fill my own shoes.''

Green likened losing Hooe to a football team losing its four-year starting quarterback. He isn't certain whether he'll favor a one-setter offense – that's what Hooe directed – or a two-setter formation employing both Fisher and Davenport. Time will tell, Green said, particularly with a wicked schedule that opens with eight straight California opponents.

"It's a work in progress,'' Green said. "We don't want them to be Morgan. We want them to be themselves. Morgan came to practice every day to get better, and that's what these two are doing.

"We don't know. That's kind of what we're doing right now.''

Fisher last season gave the Seawolves a glimpse of what she can furnish. The plan last year was for Fisher to serve as Hooe's apprentice but not play in a match, and thus save a season of eligibility as a red-shirt. That plan became moot in the West Region championship match, when Hooe suffered a knee injury and missed parts of two sets before returning. In Hooe's absence came Fisher, who selflessly surrendered her red-shirt season and kept the Seawolves afloat.

"She showed us all she could play at this level,'' Swiss said.

Fisher, who spent the summer back home in Colorado playing in doubles volleyball tournaments, said her short playing stint last season, and a year under Hooe's tutelage, prepared her for pressure.

"It's nothing I don't feel I can handle,'' she said.

It helps that Fisher has weapons – Swiss, Johnson, Fa'amausili – at her disposal. All three were voted to the GNAC preseason all-conference team by league coaches, and Green expects big things from them this season.

"Those three hitters are going to have to do their job better than last year,'' Green said.

Conference coaches also made UAA a slight favorite to win its third straight GNAC title. And the Seawolves were ranked No. 4 in the nation in the American Volleyball Coaches Association's preseason poll.

The Seawolves are also supported by the biggest crowds in Division II volleyball. UAA last season averaged 1,387 fans per home match to lead Division II in attendance for the second straight season — no other team averaged as many as 1,000 — and drew a program-record 2,710 to the Alaska Airlines Center in its West Region championship victory over Western Washington.

So, expectations are high for a program that has advanced to the NCAA tournament four straight seasons, and in seven of the last eight seasons. UAA is 193-72 (.728 winning percentage) in Green's nine seasons. The Seawolves set elite goals too, Swiss said, starting with another conference title, and with aims at region and national supremacy.

As the Seawolves wrapped up a three-hour practice that was a testament to work ethic one afternoon last week, Fisher said that session was standard stuff.

"We grind and grind,'' she said. "We hold ourselves to a really high standard in practice so we can match that standard in matches.''