Swarthmore College Athletics

HIGHLIGHTS

• Coached at Swarthmore since 2002
• Reached NCAA National Quarterfinals in 2017
• Highest national ranking #18 (11/22/2017)
• Career record of 358-263 (.576 win percentage)
• Centennial Conference Coach of the Year: 2022
• 10 consecutive Centennial Conference postseasons
• Played volleyball and basketball collegiately at Trinity (Conn.)

The Swarthmore volleyball program has been under the direction of Harleigh (Leach) Chwastyk since 2002, and she has guided the program to a record of 358-263 during that time. Swarthmore has qualified for the Centennial Conference postseason 15 times, including each of the past 10 seasons. Swarthmore appeared in eight consecutive ECAC tournaments and won the championship matches in 2015 and 2016.

The Garnet have advanced as far as the NCAA Elite Eight in 2017. The Garnet, ranked as high as No. 18 nationally that year, took home the regional crown with wins over Randolph-Macon and nationally-ranked Carnegie Mellon and Johns Hopkins. Swarthmore made another NCAA Tournament appearance in 2022.

Coach Chwastyk reached the 200-win mark early in the 2015 season followed by #300 in 2021. She has the most in school history, and the fourth-most wins in the Centennial Conference. The 2012 season was highlighted by a program-first win over a nationally-ranked opponent, No. 10 Eastern University, and received votes in the AVCA top 25 national poll. Chwastyk’s charges set new program watermarks for best conference finish and five postseason ECAC tournament appearances. Her peers within the conference recognized Chwastyk by naming her the Centennial Coach of the Year in consecutive seasons (2009, 2010) and again in 2014.

Through dedicated recruiting efforts, Chwastyk has brought players in from all over the United States and the globe. Fourty-six of her players have landed on the all-conference lists, and three, Sarah Wallace '18, Emma Morgan-Bennett '20 and Mehra den Braven '20, have earned All-America recognition. The 2015 season marked the first time three Garnet players - Sam DuBois '16, Sarah Girard '19 and Wallace - were All-Centennial First Team selections.

The student-athletes at a demanding academic setting have responded, and from 2016 to 2019, all eligible members of the team qualified for the Centennial Academic Honor Roll by having a GPA of 3.4 or higher. The team has earned the AVCA Team Academic Award (team grade point average is above 3.3) 18 times, including 15 consecutively, and has accumulated 13 CoSIDA/CSC Academic All-District selections, one Academic All-American (den Braven) and 15 PhillySIDA Academic All-Area members.

Chwastyk is the current chair of the Centennial Conference volleyball coaches’ committee and represents the 11-member Division III conference in several aspects: ECAC championship selection committee, an AVCA national poll voter, and most recently chaired the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division III All-America Awards committee. 

At Swarthmore, one of the top private liberal arts colleges in the country, Chwastyk is an active participant in the College community. She is the coordinator of the Physical Education program within the Athletics Department and, as an instructor, introduced to the student body Pilates and Orienteering classes. Her committee work on campus is extensive, serving on the steering committee in the Physical Education & Athletics’ department review, the Swarthmore Foundation, Garnet Hall of Fame Nominating Committee and the Physical Education & Athletics Advisory Committee.

Prior to Swarthmore, Coach Chwastyk was an assistant at Smith (Mass.) College from 2000-02 for two years while she completed a Master of Science degree in exercise and sport studies.  Her head coaching resume includes stints with the men’s club program at Swarthmore, the Liberty Belles Volleyball Club 17-under team and the boys’ junior varsity program at Conard (Conn.) High School. Her summer technician docket sees Chwastyk as camp director of the Chwastyk Volleyball Camps at Swarthmore and the Cape Cod Volleyball Camp run by legendary Barnstable (Mass.) High School two-time national coach of the year Tom Turco.

Chwastyk’s collegiate playing career saw her serve as the two-year captain of the Trinity (Conn.) College volleyball team, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 2000. An All-NESCAC performer in 1999, Chwastyk still holds three blocking records at Trinity. A two-sport athlete, Chwastyk was a forward on the Bantams’ women’s basketball team that captured the ECAC New England Championship in 2000. Over the years, Chwastyk also captained the Adirondack team in the Empire State Games and made the adult club circuit with various USA Volleyball teams.

An ardent believer in community and service, Chwastyk’s most recent endeavor is serving as co-director of the Snell-Shillingford Coaching Symposium, an opportunity for undergraduate female student-athletes to explore career and leadership opportunities in athletics. After serving as a participant and a coach in the Cathy D’Apice Memorial Volleyball tournament in an effort to aid breast cancer research, Chwastyk started a similar effort within the Centennial Conference in 2006 with the Dig for a Cure service project. To date, the now-conference wide effort has raised over $50,000.

Chwastyk resides in nearby Rutledge, Pa. with her husband, David, and their son, Logan, and daughter, Calleigh.