The UW volleyball team enters the NCAA tournament tomorrow night ranked fifth in the nation with a 24-4 record, but that slate will get wiped clean as the Huskies will try to make their way through six rounds of tough competition to take the NCAA crown.

The Dawgs start off hosting Portland State in the first match of the NCAA tournament at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

When the Dawgs last played Portland State in August, they won a commanding 3-0 sweep and will look to repeat that performance.

In that match, junior Jill Collymore smashed 21 kills — a game high. The Huskies will need a strong performance from her again tomorrow but will hope to enhance their team play as well.

As a team, the Huskies have improved dramatically since that August match and are looking to show it on the court.

“I think the team has improved so much since then,” freshman Bianca Rowland said. “Our blocking has gotten better. Our communication has gotten better. We’ve just grown so much as a team.”

Portland State has improved too, and with the memory of being upset by unranked BYU in last year’s playoffs still close at hand, the Huskies are making sure to take Portland State very seriously.

“We saw what happened last year and we are definitely not taking anyone lightly,” senior Jessica Swarbrick said.

But this year’s Husky team is different than the one that lost a year ago, and it enters the tournament with a better mindset.

“Last year we were confident, but we were looking ahead too much,” Swarbrick said. “And this year we know that it is a one-game season like [coach Jim McLaughlin] always says.”

Washington is still playing and practicing well despite pressures of the playoffs, finals and fatigue from a long tough season.

“It’s a lot, school and volleyball,” Swarbrick said. “I think everyone’s doing a good job. It’s rough, we’re all tired, but that’s why we do it. Nothing is easy.”

But their season’s hard work paid off, as the Huskies will have home court advantage for the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, playing in front of a purple and gold crowd at Hec Ed.

“We really lucked out,” Rowland said. “When we found out that we were playing at home this weekend we got really excited, so I think it will work out good.”

Overall, the Huskies are excited and ready to start the playoffs in front of their home crowd.

“We know what we need to do,” Swarbrick said. “We don’t take any teams lightly, and Portland State is a good team and we all feel really good about it.”

Reach reporter Zach Ruby at sports@dailyuw.com.