Olympic Games | Which USA Olympians had the most collegiate success?

Two-time Olympians Akinradewo and Thompson telegraphed their later success

Court & Spark now available on Amazon and iTunes

Courtney Thompson (3) sets Foluke Akinradewo during a 2014 World Championships victory over Russia
-photo courtesy FIVB

Is there a correlation between success in college volleyball and future Olympic glory?

We took a look at collegiate national honors for all 12 members of USA’s Rio Olympics women’s volleyball roster. We tallied four categories: The Honda Sports Player of the Year (awarded to the nation’s best volleyball player across all collegiate divisions and organizations), the AVCA Player of the Year (for NCAA Division 1, where all the Olympians played), AVCA First-Team All-Americans and NCAA D1 National Championships. What did we find?

• Two players—Stanford’s Foluke Akinradewo and Washington’s Courtney Thompson—took home more collegiate awards than any other current Olympians. Both were Honda Players of the Year, both were 3-time AVCA First Team All-Americans. Akinradewo was the AVCA Player of the Year, but never won an NCAA championship. Thompson’s Huskies won the 2005 title.
• On the other extreme, Kayla Banwarth never won any of these four honors while at Nebraska. Liberos are crucial to the modern game, but still don’t get much respect.
• Megan (Hodge) Easy of Penn State was easily the most honored player of her generation: 2009 Honda Player of the Year, 2009 AVCA Player of the Year, four time First Team AVCA All-American (2006-09) and three time NCAA Champion (2007-2009). Hodge was a member of the 2012 London Olympic roster, but battled injuries late in the Rio quad and was not selected for 2016.
• Nicole Fawcett, also of Penn State, was just a hair behind Easy in national collegiate awards. She was the 2008 Honda and AVCA Player of the Year, a three time First Team AVCA All-American (2006-08) and two time NCAA Champion (2007-2008). Fawcett, an opposite, has been a key member of the National Team for the past two quads. She just missed making either the London or Rio rosters.
• When it’s time to look forward to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the players with the most national collegiate honors of the next generation of National Team members are Washington’s Krista Vansant, Penn State’s Micha Hancock, Wisconsin’s Lauren Carlini and USC’s Natalie Hagglund.
• So who were the other recent Players of the Year not on the Olympic roster?
  2005: Christiana Houghtelling, Nebraska (AVCA)
  2006: Sarah Pavan, Nebraska (AVCA & Honda) [Pavan is Canadian]
  2010: Blair Brown, Penn State (Honda)
  2011: Alex Jupiter, USC (AVCA & Honda) [Jupiter is French]
  2012: Alaina Bergsma, Oregon (AVCA & Honda)
  2013: Krista Vansant, Washington (AVCA & Honda)
  2014: Krista Vansant, Washington (Honda) & Micha Hancock, Penn St (AVCA)

• Who is the most honored collegian of all time? Stanford’s Logan Tom, a four-time Olympian (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012) was Honda POY and AVCA POY in both 2001 and 2002, and a four-time First Team All-American (1999-2002). Stanford won the NCAA title in 2001, and was runner-up in 1999 and 2002.

COURT AND SPARK NOW AVAILABLE IN NEW FORMATS

We’re happy to report that Court & Spark, the one-hour documentary Courtney Thompson, and featuring many of her teammates and coaches, is now available for rent or purchase on both iTunes and Amazon. All proceeds go to Puget Sound Region of USA Volleyball, a nonprofit umbrella for female and male youth, adult, indoor, sand and sitting volleyball. A great gift idea for players who have just completed summer volleyball camp!
starring

College | Washington volleyball's Lianna Sybeldon honored (twice)

UW senior is First Team All-American for both AVCA and Volleyball Magazine 

• Tonight | 4:30PM (Pacific) | #3 Texas vs. #4 Nebraska | National Championship 

College | All-American slights and other Final Four musings

Washington libero Cassie Strickland deserves to be an AVCA All-American 

• Tonight | 4:00PM (Pacific) | #9 Kansas vs. #4 Nebraska | ESPN2 
• Tonight | 6:30PM (Pacific) | #3 Texas vs. #2 Minnesota | ESPN2 

College | 48 down, 16 to go, including Washington volleyball

How do the Huskies stack up against the remaining contenders? 

• Fri, Dec 11 | 4:30PM | #1 Washington vs. #14 Ohio State | ESPN 3 

College | Pac-12 Volleyball's Postseason Award system explained

Why wasn't Washington's Cassie Strickland named Pac-12 Libero of the Year? 

College | Washington volleyball ranks high in preseason polls

Coaches predict Huskies will finish 3rd in Pac-12, #10 in first national AVCA poll

Third team All-American Lianna Sybeldon will be a Washington senior in 2015
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

Volleyball coaches like Washington’s chances in 2015.

In the annual preseason Pac-12 coaches’ poll, Washington finished third, behind Stanford and Arizona State. Stanford got 11 first-place votes, Washington got the other top nod. Because coaches cannot vote for their own teams in this poll, we know Stanford’s John Dunning picked UW for the top spot, and that Washington’s Keegan Cook joined every other coach in choosing Stanford. Stanford will be without All-American middle blocker Inky Ajanaku, out for the season with a knee injury sustained while playing with the US National Team this summer in Peru. (see: Stanford volleyball All-American Inky Ajanaku injured.)

In the first weekly AVCA national coaches’ Top 25 poll, Washington is ranked #10. Penn State is #1 and Stanford #2. Other Pac-12 teams include #13 Oregon, #16 Arizona State, #17 Arizona, #20 UCLA, #22 USC, #23 Utah and #24 Colorado. Oregon State is not in the top 25, but received enough votes to rank #29. Only two Pac-12 schools—California and Washington State—did not receive votes.

Over the past two seasons, the Huskies have won a combined 63 of their past 69 matches, losing just twice each season to Pac-12 foes (once at Stanford, once at Utah, twice at Colorado). The other two losses were to eventual national champion Penn State in the 2013 NCAA Final Four, and to Nebraska in the 2014 NCAA Round of 16.

AVCA Week 1 Poll			Pac-12 Preseason Poll
1	Penn State (54)		1	Stanford (11)
2	Stanford (6)		2	Arizona St
3	Texas (1)		3	Washington (1)
4	Florida		4	Oregon
T-5	Nebraska		5	USC
T-5	Wisconsin (1)		6	Colorado
7	North Carolina		7	Arizona
8	Illinois		8	UCLA
9	Florida St		9	Oregon St
10	Washington		10	Utah
11	BYU		11	California
12	Colorado St		12	Washington St
13	Oregon
14	Ohio State
15	Kentucky
16	Arizona St
17	Arizona
18	Hawai'i
19	Michigan St
20	UCLA
21	Iowa St
22	USC
23	Utah
24	Colorado
25	Duke

College | Stanford volleyball All-American Inky Ajanaku injured; 2015 season in question [VOLLEYBLOG SEATTLE EXCLUSIVE]

Stanford coach John Dunning says knee injury “very hard to deal with”

College | Nwanebu leaving USC; Matt West honored

Seattle’s West earns First-Team All-American award; Ebony Nwanebu says “I miss my home”

Pepperdine's Matt West and Southern California's Ebony Nwanebu

Sand | Washington volleyball “excited” to start sand season in Sacramento

A short season kicks off this weekend against Keegan Cook’s alma mater, St. Mary’s

• Sat, Mar 21 | 11:00AM | vs. St. Mary’s @ Sacramento State
• Sat, Mar 21 | 2:00PM | vs. Pacific @ Sacramento State
• Sun, Mar 22 | 11AM | @ Sacramento State
• Mon, Mar 23 | 4:00PM | @ Pacific (Stockton)

NCAA | Vansant, Nelson, Sybeldon, Mussie and scenes from volleyball's Final Four

Notes from Oklahoma City 

NCAA | Impressive tournament pedigrees for four volleyball teams headed to Seattle

Seattle Region foursome boasts consistent postseason success and recently-honored athletes

• #12 BYU vs #8 Florida State| Fri, Dec 12 | 4:00PM | Alaska Airlines Arena
• #11 Nebraska @ #3 Washington| Fri, Dec 12 | 6:30PM | Alaska Airlines Arena
• Regional Final | Sat, Dec 13 | 8:30PM | Alaska Airlines Arena

College | Washington volleyball on record run, will fans respond?

Huskies lead Pac-12 in attendance, but next five home matches are key

• #11 Oregon at #2 Washington | Fri, Nov 7 | 7:30PM
• Oregon State at #2 Washington | Sun, Nov 9 | 5PM

College | After Showdown in Seattle, Washington volleyball climbs in polls

Huskies now ranked in the top 4; Vansant and Scambray named Pac-12 Players of the Week

• Washington State @ #4 Washington | Wed, Sept 24 | 7:30PM
• #4 Washington @ California | Fri, Sept 26 | 8PM

NCAA | Washington vs Penn State played memorable match the last time out

“Courtney Thompson just kicked our butts,” remembers a former Penn State star

• #12 Wisconsin vs. #1 Texas | December 19 | 4:30 PM (Pacific) |Key Arena, Seattle
• #2 Penn State vs. #3 Washington | December 19 | 6:30 PM (Pacific) |Key Arena, Seattle

NCAA | A coach who should know makes his Final Four volleyball picks

Kevin Hambly’s Illinois team played all four of this year’s finalists. So who does he think will win this week in Seattle?

• #12 Wisconsin vs. #1 Texas | December 19 | 4:30 PM |Key Arena (NCAA Semifinal)
• #2 Penn State vs. #3 Washington | December 19 | 6:30 PM |Key Arena (NCAA Semifinal)

NCAA | Media, coaches, RPI all concur: Washington volleyball close to a top NCAA seed

RPI and standings could favor Huskies in bid to be one of four #1 seeds

• next Oregon State @ #3 Washington | November 27 | 6PM

NCAA | Washington volleyball remains in the Top 5

Despite loss at Stanford and squeaker at Cal, UW poised to capture Pac-12 crown

• next: Oregon State @ #3 Washington | November 27 | 6PM

NCAA | Washington volleyball’s next two opponents impress rankings and RPI

Huskies remain high in ratings, but Stanford and Cal not that far behind

• next: #3 Washington @ #5 Stanford | November 20 | 7:30PM | Pac-12 Networks

NCAA | With two more victories Washington volleyball continues RPI climb

A week without upsets leaves coaches’ poll largely unchanged, but UW opponents boost Huskies’ RPI

NCAA | Washington volleyball still among elite of weekly RPI and polls

Huskies remain among top four in all rankings