Leslie Gabriel (née Tuiasosopo) (born August 2, 1977) is the head women's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

coach at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

. From 2001 to 2022, she served as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator for Washington's women's volleyball team. In addition to assisting head coaches Jim McLaughlin and Keegan Cook with all administrative responsibilities, Gabriel worked with the team's setters and defense. Gabriel was four-year letterwinner who started for the Huskies from 1995 to 1998.

Early life

Raised in

Woodinville Woodinville is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 13,069 at the 2020 census. It is a part of the Seattle metropolitan area and is east of Bothell. Woodinville has waterfront parks on the Sammamish River, a wine ...

, east of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, she helped

Woodinville High School Woodinville High School is a public secondary school in the northwest United States in Woodinville, Washington, a suburb northeast of Seattle. Serving grades 9 through 12, it educates the eastern portion of the Northshore School District and is a ...

to back-to-back

Class AAA Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL). ...

(now 4A) state volleyball tournament appearances as a sophomore and junior and one trip to the state basketball tournament before dropping the sport as a sophomore. In 1995, the three-time All- KingCo volleyball pick was the state's top volleyball recruit by her senior year, and considered one of the top recruits in the country.

Collegiate career

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 The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

blocking rankings in 1997. A

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

first-team selection as a junior, Gabriel ranks in the UW career top-10 in five categories, including total blocks (second - 613) and block assists (second - 520).. She also ranked in the top-25 nationally in blocks per game in each of her four seasons at Washington. After completing her eligibility in 1998, Gabriel trained with the

United States women's national volleyball team The United States women's national volleyball team participates in international volleyball competitions and friendly games, and is governed by USA Volleyball. Their last head coach was three-time Olympic gold medalist and retired dominant be ...

program and was selected to participate at the 1999

Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a Blend word, portmanteau of the wor ...

(also known as the World University Games) in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. She returned to Washington to complete her degree and graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor of Psychology degree and a minor in speech communications. From August 2000 until May 2001, Gabriel played professional volleyball in

Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

, Spain.

Coaching career

Since 2001: Washington

Gabriel started as the associate head coach in 2001, first alongside McLaughlin and then Cook. In December 2022
the UW announced that Gabriel would take over as head coach
of the program, which boasts 21 years of consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. During her tenure as a coach at the University of Washington, she played a key role in developing Washington's setters, which ranked among the nation's elite during Gabriel and McLaughlin's tenure. In 2006, Gabriel helped guide senior setter Courtney Thompson to one of the best individual seasons in Husky history. Thompson was named First Team All-America by both the

American Volleyball Coaches Association The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is an organization of over 9,000 members, incorporated as a private non-profit educational corporation in 1981, as the Collegiate Volleyball Coaches Association. It is currently headquartered in ...

(AVCA) and ''Volleyball Magazine''. In addition, she was named the CVU.com (Collegiate Volleyball Update) National Setter of the Year, and was a finalist for the Honda Award after winning the award in 2005. In 2008, Jenna Hagglund led the Pac-10 and ranked second in the nation in assists per set with 12.17, and finished her career as a two-time AVCA All-American, and was 10th in Pac-10 history in career assists. Gabriel also aided in the development of Tamari Miyashiro (2006–09) into the top libero in the nation. Miyashiro was twice named the Volleyball Magazine National Defender of the Year in 2007 and 2008, and was a three-time AVCA All-American from 2007-09. She set the school digs record with 2,382 which ranks her ninth in NCAA history. Prior to the 2006 season, Gabriel worked with the team's middle blockers.

Personal

She was born Leslie Tuiasosopo, a daughter of former NFL defensive lineman,

Manu Tuiasosopo Manu'ula Asovalu Tuiasosopo (born August 30, 1957) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons. He played college football at UCLA and was the 18th overall ...

, who played collegiately at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, then professionally from 1979 to 1986 for the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

and

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

, being a starter at

nose tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the Guard (American football), offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive Tackle (gridir ...

and winning

Super Bowl XIX Super Bowl XIX was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

. She is the oldest of five children, including former UW starting

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Marques Tuiasosopo Marques Tavita Tuiasosopo (born March 22, 1979) is an American college football coach and former player. He played as a quarterback for eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets. Tuiasosop ...

.
. ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

'' She married Anthony Gabriel, an academic advisor at the University of Washington, in the summer of 2010, and has three children, Daylon, Myles, and Lanea.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Gabriel on gohuskies.com/Washington Volleyball Facebook/Washington Volleyball Twitter/Washington Volleyball Instagram/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gabriel, Leslie Living people 1977 births American expatriate sportspeople in Spain American volleyball coaches American female sports coaches People from Woodinville, Washington Sportspeople from Washington (state) Washington Huskies women's volleyball coaches Washington Huskies women's volleyball players