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

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College | Washington volleyball enters Bruins’ den facing history

Undefeated Huskies on same campus where longest streak ended

• #2 Washington @ #16 UCLA | Fri, Oct 31 | 6:00PM | live Internet stream

Life after college volleyball: some make millions

Playing overseas, elite American volleyball players can earn like a pro

Pac-12 | Competition wraps up in Italy and China

Washington now sightseeing in Rome, Pac-12 in Beijing

NCAA | Volleyball rising, basketball “stagnant”

NCAA White Paper highlights women’s basketball troubles, sets up volleyball comparisons

Final Four | NCAA Championships in Seattle/Tacoma: A Rare Event

2013 Women’s Volleyball Final Four will be just the 18^th D1 Championship, and the 4^th for women

[04.17.13 CORRECTION made: this will be the 18th NCAA Championship in Seattle/Tacoma, not the 19th]

When the 2013 D1 NCAA Volleyball Championship comes to Key Arena this December, it will be an opportunity more rare than those in Western Washington may think.

This will be just the 18^th NCAA D1 Championship ever held in Seattle/Tacoma, and just the fourth-ever for women.

6 of the previous 17 championships were all held on the University of Washington campus between 1949 and 1971. After a 13 year hiatus, Seattle/Tacoma saw its NCAA heyday, hosting 8 championships in 11 years, in men’s soccer and in men’s & women’s basketball. Each of those competitions were held in either the Kingdome or the Tacoma Dome.

The 1995 men’s basketball Final Four in the Kingdome was the last truly big NCAA event in our region.

Want your kids to see a national championship? Better not wait for the next ones to roll around …

VOLLEYBALL DOCUMENTARY UPDATE

“Court & Spark,” a one-hour volleyball documentary premiering during Seattle’s 2013 Final Four, is wrapping up production in the next few weeks, with shoots at the USA Training Center in Anaheim and at the 2013 Emerald City Classic at the University of Washington.

A preview video is now available, highlighting some of the sights and sounds of our location shoots with Courtney Thompson in Poland. Let us know what you think.