Volleyball
Sep 12 (Fri)
7:00 PM
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- ltui@uw.edu
- Phone:
- (206) 685-7018
โข Led the Huskies to the 2024 NCAA tournament in her second year at the helm
โข Spent 22 years as an assistant coach (2001-22) during which time the Huskies went 552-147 for a .789 win percentage
โข The 2020 AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year
โข Associate Head Coach on 2005 NCAA Championship team
โข Coached Huskies to Seven Pac-12 Championships
โข Helped UW reach five Final Fours (2004, 2005, 2006, 2013, 2020)
โข Has worked with 27 AVCA All-Americans
โข Dominant blocker as a Husky player from 1995-98, totaling 613 career blocks and earning All-Pac-10 honors
The time was finally right for Leslie Gabriel. After devoting over two decades to the perennial success of Washington Volleyball, Gabriel took on the Head Coach mantle in late December of 2022. As a player and then as an assistant, Gabriel was part of 618 wins for the Huskies before she achieved No. 619 and No. 1 as Head Coach on August 25, 2023. In two seasons as Head Coach she has led the Huskies to a 35-27 record, making her a part of an incredible 643 total Husky victories.
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The 2020 AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year, Gabriel (formerly Leslie Tuiasosopo) helped lay every foundational brick as she worked with previous head coaches Jim McLaughlin and Keegan Cook to build the Huskies into a national power. In her twenty-two seasons on the UW staff as an assistant, Gabriel helped the Huskies finish ranked in the top-10 nationally fourteen times.
The University of Washington is home for Tui, and all who join her Husky Volleyball family
โ Washington Volleyball (@UWVolleyball) June 15, 2024
6?3?4? wins as a player and coach speaks for itself!#PointHuskies pic.twitter.com/ago1ZVTS9N
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As a player for the Huskies from 1995-98, Gabriel was one of the best blockers in Pac-12 history. She joined McLaughlin's staff when he took over the program in 2001, rising to Associate Head Coach, and helping develop a legacy of Husky All-Americans at every position. In her more than two decades at UW, Gabriel has worked with twenty-seven AVCA All-Americans.
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Gabriel is the ninth Head Coach in Washington history. She is the fourth female Head Coach, but the first since Debbie Buse in 1991. Buse is also the only other former Husky player to serve as Head Coach.
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During Gabrielโs time at Washington, the Huskies have reached five Final Fours (2004, 2005, 2006, 2013, 2020) winning the 2005 NCAA title, and advanced to 21-straight NCAA tournaments from 2002-22, averaging 25 wins per year. The Huskies won seven Pac-12 Conference titles in Gabrielโs tenure (2004, 2005, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2020, 2021) and had seven more second-place finishes (2006-09, 2014, 2017, 2019).
In her second season as Head Coach, Gabriel helped the Dawgs makeย a successful transition into the Big Ten Conference. The Huskies returned to the NCAA tournament in 2024, marking a 22nd postseason appearance in the past 23 years with Gabriel on staff. The 2024 squad went 19-12 overall and placed ninth in the Big Ten with a 9-11 mark. Washington hit the ground running with a 10-0 nonconference that included wins over Georgia, Colorado, Washington State, Long Beach State, and Pepperdine. It was UW's first perfect nonconference since 2015. Emoni Bush and Kierstyn Barton earned All-Big Ten Second Team honors, while middle blocker Julia Hunt was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team, and was the AVCA Pacific North Region Freshman of the Year.
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The Dawgs earned a winning record in her first season at the helm in 2023, despite one of the smallest and youngest rosters in her tenure that was further depleted by injuries. Top returning scorer Emoni Bush redshirted the season and UW started three freshmen, but the Dawgs still finished with a 16-15 overall mark. Kierstyn Barton and Katy Wessels both made the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team and senior transfer May Pertofsky earned All-Region honors in spite of missing significant time with a foot injury.
For a decade prior to taking over the head role, Gabriel worked closely with the Husky middle blockers and Washington's blocking as a whole. The Huskies ranked in the top-20 nationally in blocks per set in seven times from 2011-21, leading the NCAA in 2012. In 2021, middle blocker Marin Grote earned AVCA Second Team All-America honors, while Lauren Sanders capped her career as one of the best blockers in conference history, finishing fourth in career blocks all-time in the Pac-12 with 649.
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During the 2020 season, in her 20th season with the program, Gabriel was named the AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year. She helped the Huskies return to the Final Four and win another Pac-12 title, finishing No. 4 in the final rankings. Gabriel worked with Sanders and Grote who both earned AVCA All-Region Team honors and went on to compete on the U.S. Collegiate National Team. In 2019, Sanders and Avie Niece were both named All-Pac-12 honorable mention and the Huskies ranked second in the Pac-12 with 2.65 blocks per set.
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The 2017 season saw Washington rank seventh in the NCAA in blocks per set with 2.98, while Sanders quickly developed into a force at net, ranking 16th nationally and second in the Pac-12 with 1.45 blocks per set as she made the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team.
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In 2015, middle blocker Lianna Sybeldon earned AVCA First Team All-America honors and was a Seattle Sports Star of the Year nominee. She led the Pac-12 in conference play with 1.46 blocks per set and finished her career third in school history and first in the rally scoring era with 546 career blocks, while her .450 attack percentage was fourth-best in Pac-12 history. Melanie Wade also completed a stellar career in 2015 as a two-time All-Pac-12 honorable mention and was fifth in UW history with 484 total blocks.
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Washington led the NCAA in blocks per set in 2012 with 3.36 per set, as Amanda Gil set the single season school record with 1.82 blocks per set. The Huskies also ranked fourth nationally in 2011 with 3.12/set, as Bianca Rowland earned Second Team All-America honors in the middle.
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Before focusing on the block, Gabriel worked closely with the setters and defensive specialists, and helped develop three players who became fixtures on the U.S. National Team: Jenna Hagglund, Tamari Miyashiro, and Courtney Thompson. Hagglund finished her career as a two-time AVCA All-American, 10th in Pac-10 history in career assists, and made her first Team USA rosters in 2013. Miyashiro, a two-time National Defensive Player of the Year, and Thompson, the NCAA career leader in assists per set and Honda Award winner, made the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team, winning silver medals in London. Thompson concluded her Team USA career with another Olympic bronze medal in 2016 in Rio.
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Prior to the 2006 season, Gabriel again worked with the team's middle blockers. In 2005, middle blocker Darla Myhre led the Pacific-10 Conference with a .417 hitting percentage, while Alesha Deesing ranked second with a .402 clip. Deesing earned All-Pac-10 honors and became the first Washington middle blocker to be named to the first team since Gabriel and Makare Desilets earned the award in 1997. Myhre was also named to the All-Pac-10 honorable mention team in 2005, picking up her third consecutive award.
Gabriel, along with All-American Makare Desilets, formed one of the nation's best blocking tandems, leading the Huskies to the top of the NCAA blocking rankings in 1997. An All-Pac-10 Team selection as a junior and twice more an honorable mention, Gabriel ranks in the UW career top-10 in four categories, including total blocks (3rd - 613) and block assists (3rd - 520). She also ranked in the top-25 nationally in blocks per game in each of her four seasons at Washington.
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After completing her eligibility in 1998, Gabriel trained with the USA National Team program and was selected to participate at the 1999 World University Games in Spain. She then returned to Washington where she earned her bachelor's degree in psychology with a minor in speech communications in 2000. From August 2000 until May 2001, the Woodinville, Wash., native played professional volleyball in Murcia, Spain.
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Gabriel is the oldest of five children, including former UW football players Marques and Zach Tuiasosopo. Marques played quarterback eight years in the NFL, while her youngest brother, Matt, played five seasons of Major League Baseball, making his Major League debut for the Seattle Mariners in September 2008. Younger sister Ashley also played softball at Washington and was a member of the 2009 NCAA Championship team.
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Leslie married Anthony Gabriel, an academic advisor at Washington, in 2010, and gave birth to the couple's first son, Daylon, in May of 2011, followed by a second son, Myles, in March of 2013, and a daughter, Lanea, in October of 2014.
