Do-It-All Schwan Leaving Big Shoes To Fill
November 27, 2017 | Volleyball
By Rich Myhre
SEATTLE - In the last days of her University of Washington volleyball career, Courtney Schwan is thankful for the many meaningful experiences and relationships along the way.
And if wishes come true, she would also be thankful for one final highlight in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
"I think we could do something special," Schwan said of the postseason. "And knowing everything my team and teammates have been through this season, all the adversity we've faced … it'd be extremely special."
Special indeed for one of the program's top all-time players. Schwan, a 6-foot-1 senior outside hitter from Auburn, was the Pacific-12 Conference Player of the Year in 2016, as voted by league coaches after the season. It made her the fourth Washington player to receive that award in the last 12 years, joining Sanja Tomasevic (2005), Christal Morrison (2006), and Krista Vansant (2013 and 2014).
Schwan, a graduate of Tacoma's Bellarmine Prep, was also a first-team All-American a year ago, as determined by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. She is one of 11 Huskies in history to be so honored.
"She was a first-team All-American last year, and how many of those do you get to coach throughout your career?" said UW coach Keegan Cook, explaining Schwan's impact on his program. "If a team is really good they'll have a couple of outside hitters that are pretty special, and for us that's been Courtney."
Schwan arrived at Washington in the summer of 2014 with an impressive volleyball résumé. In her final two high school seasons, she not only led Bellarmine to back-to-back Class 4A state championships, she was also a two-time selection as the state's volleyball Gatorade Player of the Year.
It made her a coveted recruit, and Schwan was wooed by a number of schools from across the country. Preferring to stay in the Pac-12, she narrowed her final three choices to Washington, Washington State and California before deciding to become a Husky.
"I'd been a big fan of this program for a long time," she said. "I started coming to (Washington) camps when I was like 12 years old, and I looked up to (former Husky greats) Courtney Thompson and Christal Morrison. I grew up watching those players, I was from (the Seattle area), and this just seemed like the right place for me."
But even the best high school players sometimes struggle while transitioning to the college game and so it was for Schwan, at least at the outset. For one, she was joining a Washington team with a strong group of veterans, including Vansant, the most decorated player in UW history. Under then-head coach Jim McLaughlin, Schwan played as a freshman, but not a lot, and she had moments of frustration.
As it turned out, there was more uncertainty to come. After the season, McLaughlin left to take the head coaching job at Notre Dame. Cook, previously a Husky assistant, was subsequently named Washington's new head coach.
Schwan played more in her second season, but at times she was still unhappy. She had arrived at Washington expecting to get more playing time than she was, and she had also anticipated that McLaughlin would be her coach. Midway through her college career, neither was unfolding as planned.
It was difficult, Schwan said, "coming from high school and being one of the better (prep) players in the country, and then having things not go exactly how you wanted them to go and having to fight through that stuff."
"What we had was a kid who was scared," Cook said. "Whose dream was kind of shattered. What she thought was going to happen didn't happen, and far from it. So the first six months (after the coaching change) were tough. It was a hard time for us."
But there was a turning point and it came in the offseason between the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Rather than giving in to doubt and discouragement, Schwan vowed to get better. Indeed, she showed a relentless determination to improve. She heeded coaching input from Cook, who was always pushing, and she dedicated herself to the demanding and often tedious work that is the path to excellence.
"After her sophomore year, I don't think she was the player she wanted to be yet," Cook said. "So she made the decision between her sophomore and junior years that she was going to leave no stone unturned, and that she was going to push herself to another (level)."
It meant, Cook said, putting in "the quiet hours that nobody sees."
At times in that offseason he would look in the weight room and see Schwan, all alone, straining through a workout. Other times he would see her in the gym, honing her skills in serving and passing. Whatever her shortcomings, she attacked them with a vengeance.
"Becoming that caliber of (elite) player takes a tremendous amount of work," Cook said. "Courtney came (to Washington) with high accolades … but for all the kids that come into this conference, everyone around you was the best player in their city and some were the best players in their state.
"There are dozens of players (in the country) with more accolades than Courtney had (as an incoming freshman) and some of them don't last more than a year or two years," he said. "It's talent not fulfilled, and it happens every year on every team."
The fruits of Schwan's offseason diligence showed up in her third season and the improvement was startling to behold, even for Cook. She had shown glimpses of stardom the year before, but as a junior her game soared to new heights. She had developed into a superb all-around player, and not only on her own team but also in the highly competitive Pac-12 and even nationally, with the latter evidenced by her selection to the All-America team at the end of the season.
And as Cook pointed out, her contributions came in many ways. Actually, in every way.
There are, he explained, six primary skills in volleyball -- serving, blocking, passing, hitting, digging and setting. To play at the NCAA Division I level, most players are proficient, and maybe even exceptional, at a few of those. Very few players stand out in all six.
But Schwan does. In fact, Cook said, "Courtney is held at a pretty high standard in all of them."
To build an elite program, he went on, "you have to have some pretty big pieces in place. And one of hardest things to put in place is an outside hitter who can affect the game in a positive way in all the skill sets. They're pretty rare …and that's the ultimate recruit we're trying to find."
Yet as good as she was a year ago, Schwan was still not satisfied. "Even though I was the Pac-12 Player of the Year," she said, "there were so many things that I wanted and needed to get better at this season. I definitely needed to improve on a lot of skills."
That said, the Pac-12 award "was pretty cool because I was not expecting it at all. And it means a lot. But it's not something you work for. It's something where if you work hard, then it happens."
Already one of the most well-rounded players in the league as a junior, Schwan went back to work to develop her serve into a huge weapon this year. She had 41 career aces heading into 2017 and has equaled that with 41 this season to rank among the Pac-12 leaders. She's also averaging a career-high 2.94 digs per set and her 60 blocks are a career-best.
There have been other highlights in Schwan's years at Washington, beginning with trips to the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight in 2015 and 2016, and the Sweet 16 in 2014. There were also Pac-12 championships in 2015 and 2016. And she remembers a 2014 home match against Stanford when Washington defeated the Cardinal, ranked No. 1 nationally at the time, in four sets before a Pac-12-record crowd of 8,646 in Alaska Airlines Arena.
"That was one of the best experiences I've had here," Schwan said. "Even now in my senior year, I can look back and say that's one of my favorite matches. And winning (two) Pac-12 championships was pretty sweet, too."
But among her most treasured memories, what truly stands out is "the people you meet," she said. "We talk about this all the time (as a team). We get on each other when we're on the court, but that doesn't matter because they're still the people I'd want at my wedding. They're the people I want in my life because they're good people."
Likewise, she said, the coaches, support staff and administrators in the UW athletic department "are great. More than just caring about you as a volleyball player, they care about you as a person."
In her years as a Husky, Schwan said, "I've grown so much and not just as a volleyball player. … If not for this program, both in volleyball and in general, I think I'd be a lot more selfish. I've learned that there's a lot more that goes into things than you realize, so to be thankful is a big deal."
Schwan will graduate in the spring with a degree in the Comparative History of Ideas, which according to a departmental description is "an interdisciplinary program that draws on a wide variety of disciplines within the College of Arts and Sciences to examine the interplay of ideas and their cultural, historical and political contexts."
After graduation, she wants to continue playing volleyball, both professionally overseas and with the United States national team program. She played on the U.S. collegiate national team last summer, "so I'm already involved in the pipeline," she said.
As far as a post-volleyball career, she hopes to be a wedding videographer, initially partnering with wedding planners and then perhaps having her own company someday. The work has a special appeal for Schwan because "somebody is asking you to be a part of one of the biggest days of their life." Also, she admitted, "I'm a hopeless romantic. I love love."
But in the meantime there is the little matter of the NCAA Tournament, which has become something of a yearly tradition for Washington. Since 2002, and including this season, the Huskies have qualified for 16 consecutive tournament appearances. In that span Washington has 11 trips to the Sweet 16, nine to the Elite Eight, four to the Final Four, and a national championship in 2005.
Can the Huskies make another prolonged run this season, and perhaps reach the Final Four in Kansas City, Mo. If so, it would be a great career-ending highlight for Schwan and fellow UW seniors Carly DeHoog, Jade Finau, Marion Hazelwood, Crissy Jones, Tia Scambray and Bailey Tanner.
The tournament, Schwan said, "is competitive, for sure. And every team gets a clean slate. But what's awesome about this program is that we're still trying to get better. The season's not over, and we're still thinking of things we can improve on. Each week we're trying to get better."
For Schwan, and for all the Washington seniors, there is a particular significance to this postseason. "You know if you lose (a match), it's not just your season that's over," she said. "Your college career is completely over. So I think a lot of it is the mindset of, 'How much can I give tonight because this might be the last time.'
"Every single game I play I get extremely nervous," Schwan said, "so for me (the tournament) definitely nerve-wracking. But it's also definitely exciting, and particularly because you know this is your last chance, your last run, your last go-round."
