Utah State University Athletics

BIO: One of just four volleyball players in school history to earn multiple All-America honors, Lucia Chudy was a great middle blocker for Utah State during its glory days in the late 1970's. A two-time Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) All-American, Chudy helped Utah State volleyball to its only national championship in 1978 followed by a national runner-up finish in 1979, to go along with a 10th-place finish at the AIAW National Tournament in 1977. During the 1977 season, USU set the school-record for wins as it finished the year with a 46-11-2 record, including a 10-1 mark in the Intermountain Athletic Conference (IAC), as it went on to take first-place at the AIAW Regional Tournament. During its national championship run in 1978, USU posted a 42-4-2 record and began the season by winning its first 26 matches. USU also went 10-2 in conference play that season and concluded its national championship run by defeating UCLA in four sets in the AIAW National Championship match in Tuscaloosa, Ala. During the 1979 season, USU went 10-0 in conference play and finished with a 35-5-2 mark as it lost to Hawai'i in five sets in the national championship match. Chudy, who was also a two-time all-IAC selection, helped Utah State to a 123-20-6 (.846) record during her three-year career, including a 30-3 (.909) conference mark. While at Utah State, Chudy also excelled as a track & field athlete and placed third in the high jump at the prestigious Jessie Owens Invitational during her senior season. Chudy's success in volleyball continued after her college career, as she was a member of the U.S. Olympic Team in 1980-1981. She played professional volleyball in Italy for 10 years and was an assistant volleyball coach at Brown University from 1999-2004, helping the Bears win Ivy League championships in 2000 and 2002. In 2008, Chudy and the rest of the 1978 National Championship volleyball team were inducted into the USU Athletics Hall of Fame, the first-ever team inducted.