Teams: Volleyball: Team Overview

• Summer Volleyball Clinics

Tufts University Volleyball has developed into one of the most consistently successful programs in New England under Coach Cora Thompson. Since the 2004 season, Tufts has compiled an outstanding 99-34 record for a .744 winning percentage. Also in that span, the Jumbos have posted a 32-7 record in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) play and earned an NCAA Tournament berth.

With just one senior on the court last season, the Jumbos were 19-13 overall and placed third in the competitive NESCAC with a 7-3 mark. The team rebounded from a slow start to win 11 out of 12 matches down the stretch, including key regional victories over Brandeis and Wellesley. Tufts advanced to the semi-final round of the conference tournament for the third time in the last four years.

Thompson earned the 100th victory of her career during the 2006 season, and currently has a stellar 120-45 mark (.727) during five seasons at the helm. A four-year member of the team and an assistant coach after graduating from Tufts in 1999, Thompson has enthusiastically guided the Jumbos to their current place among the region's best.

The 2005 season under Thompson was the best season in team history. Tufts reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and set a school record for wins with a 29-7 overall record. They were the runner-up during the conference season with a 9-1 record for the second straight year, and were also the NESCAC Tournament runner-up for the second consecutive season.

Thompson recruits nationally to bring the best talent to Tufts. Last fall, middle hitter/blocker Katie Wysham from Washington was an All-NESCAC First Team pick and an American Volleyball Coaches Association Honorable Mention All-American. Along with Northeast players from Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut, the Jumbo roster also includes players from California, Texas, Nevada, Illinois and Maryland for great geographic distribution.

As members of NESCAC, Tufts plays in the nation's most competitive small college conference academically and athletically. The NESCAC is a group of highly selective liberal arts colleges and universities that share an academics-first philosophy for intercollegiate athletics. Volleyball players at Tufts have consistently received recognition for their academic efforts. Three team members earned NESCAC All-Academic Team honors in 2007.

Located right outside of Boston, Tufts offers a well-rounded collegiate experience to student-athletes. Within its picturesque small-college campus, Tufts is a major university with "an unprecedented diversity of programs, exceptional faculty and staff, and bright and talented students," according to President Lawrence S. Bacow. The Athletics Department sponsors a varsity program of 28 sports that is among the most competitive in the NCAAs Division III. Tufts finished 15th in the 2008 U.S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup, the award presented annually to the best overall collegiate athletics programs in the country. The University's proximity to a world-class city renowned for its academic institutions is also a major draw.

Thompson has been associated with the Volleyball program for 13 years since coming to Tufts from Half Moon Bay, California in 1995. A defensive specialist for the Jumbos, she was a sophomore on the 1996 Tufts team that qualified for the NCAA Tournament. She also played in three NCAA Tournaments as a four-year starter at shortstop on the softball team. She earned her master's in education from Tufts in 2001.

This is the 28th season of Tufts Volleyball. Since gaining varsity status in 1981, the Jumbo program has built a solid reputation in New England by playing a competitive schedule and regularly qualifying for the post-season. Along with NESCAC competitors Williams and Amherst, Tufts plays regional powerhouses MIT, Coast Guard and Wellesley on a yearly basis. The team has posted just two losing seasons in its history and each year the Jumbos aspire to be the best in New England.

The Tufts schedule often includes out-of-region travel, including a season-opening trip to California to play in the Pacific Coast Classic last season. This year, the team will host its fifth annual invitational at historic Cousens Gymnasium. With its arched roof and bench seating, Cousens is one of New England's oldest and most charming sites for indoor sports. During the summer 2005 it was featured in the NCAA News as a "One of a Kind" facility.

Former Jumbo All-American Courtney Evans returns to Tufts this fall as Thompson's graduate assistant coach. Co-captain and middle hitter of the 2005 "Sweet 16" team, she has been teaching history and coaching volleyball at a prep school in Houston for the past two years. She coached a team for the elite Houston Juniors Volleyball Club as well.