Pass it on

When Courtney Thompson is on the court, she does her job with a certain swagger. It is this certain stride that tells opponents, teammates and everyone else watching that she is only concerned with one thing. The way she moves reveals that she does not care about how many assists she obtains that night. And when she delivers the perfect pass, she is not thinking about the rewards for her play. For the Washington volleyball sophomore setter, the only thing she wants, every time she steps on the court, is to get a win for the Huskies. "I am a competitive person, and I hate to lose more than anything," Thompson said. "I hate when people are better than me." During her time at Kentlake High School, Thompson appeared not to have a superior opponent, helping her team to three state championships, and earning herself the title of Washington State Player of the Year in 2002. Coming to Washington, she joined a program that had a winning record (20-11) for the first time since 1997 and looked to be getting better under head coach Jim McLaughlin. Thompson was a perfect fit to continue building the winning tradition McLaughlin had started. "She stepped in last year as a freshman and was named captain by the rest of the team because of her abilities to lead," said freshman Christal Morrison. Last year, as a true freshman, Thompson started all 32 matches at setter for the Huskies. She became an integral part of the UW squad that reached unprecedented heights, finishing the season 23-9 and advancing to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament for just the second time in school history. She finished the season with 1,590 assists, second in the nation, placing her ninth on the UW list for assists in a career. Her 14.20 assists per game led the Pac-10, along with making her third in the nation. For her quality play, Thompson was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman team and was an All-Conference honorable mention. Even with so much individual success early in her collegiate career, Thompson is still not satisfied with her personal accolades. Only until she and the Huskies can be at the top of the college volleyball world will her objective be completed. "My goal for the four years is to win three national championships," she said. "I already have one year gone, so I still have three more shots to win." This year, that goal looks like a realistic possibility. The team has opened the year with 15 straight wins, Washington's best season start since the 1977 squad won its first 21 games. The streak propelled the Huskies to the No. 1 ranking for the first time and the team has maintained its position there for the past three weeks. All the talk of win streaks and rankings interests Thompson, but none of that will matter to her unless Washington is at the top when it really matters -- at the end. "It sounds cool, and it's fun because a lot of people recognize it and you get to talk about volleyball a little bit more, but it doesn't mean anything yet," she said. "Right now, we're just focusing on getting better everyday and becoming the best team that we can be. We all believe that if we do that, we can win the national title." As a setter, her contributions go unnoticed by fans when her team wins because her work does not come up with overpowering kills. Her teammates always know she is a vital reason to their success. "She is our quarterback," Morrison said. "She's an amazing leader, and I think she was just born with the skills, knowing how to lead." Her competitiveness and determination are not the only things that make her a great volleyball player. She does the little things that setters need to do to help their team. "The best setters in the world locate the ball to the pins," Thompson said of her position. "They locate the ball to the middle, they serve, play defense and block, in that order." She does all that at a high level which has helped her team get better week after week. "I think that the greatest thing about volleyball is that you need a good pass to get a set off, and you have to have hitters to put it down," she said. "Right now, we have the best passers, and the best hitters in the country, and that is making my job pretty fun." While her job is fun right now, it will get tougher as the Huskies' season continues. But every game, with every point, the swagger remains, and it will continue to until the goal is accomplished.

Pass it on

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