GSU's Kim Young Named UNO Volleyball Head Coach

NEW ORLEANS, LA - University of New Orleans interim athletic director Amy Champion announced the hiring of Kim Young as the school's new head volleyball coach on Wednesday afternoon.

Young comes to UNO after spending the last six years in a similar role at Grambling State University, where she compiled a 128-79 overall record and an impressive 45-2 mark in Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) play.

In five of the last six years, Young's season has come to a conclusion in the league tournament's championship game with all six campaigns highlighted by a SWAC West Division championship.

"Kim has a very successful track record as a coach and recruiter here in the state of Louisiana," said Champion. "When she came in for her interview, the energy and enthusiasm that she had for becoming our next volleyball coach was recognized quickly by our staff."

"We are excited to have Kim as part of our staff and feel that the experience she provides, both as a head coach and a former student-athlete and will give her the tools to build on the recent success of our volleyball program."

An accomplished player during her time at Grambling, Young was a three-time SWAC Player of the Year for head coach Fredrick Payne from 1996-1998, leading the Tigers to league titles in 1996 and 1997.

Her success as a collegiate player led to a stint at the next level with the United States Professional Volleyball League. The East St. Louis, Illinois native had the opportunity to play for the nearby St. Louis Quest while also participating in professional competition in Japan and the Dominican Republic.



Coach Young was a 2009 inductee into the Grambling State University Alumni Hall of Fame Gallery of Distinction.

Young returned to Grambling as an assistant coach in 2003 and earned her Masters' degree in Sports Administration in 2004 before rising to the position of head coach later that year.

"I've had a vision of coaching outside the SWAC," said Young. "UNO has available what I need to complete that vision from great facilities to a great education."

"I believe competing in Division III at UNO will afford me the opportunity to compete for national championships. The school has the heritage, recent success and location that will assist in getting quality student-athletes."

This year, UNO will compete as a Division I Independent in all sports as part of a multi-year transition to Division III status.

Young has already began working to finalize a roster that currently includes returning starters Cassidy Asebroek and Edina Dobi at setter and outside hitter, respectively.

The 2009 Privateer volleyball team posted a 20-13 overall mark while winning the Sun Belt Conference West Division title under then-head coach Jozsef Forman.

The new head coach will make her UNO debut against a familiar foe from her days in the SWAC as the Privateers open the 2010 campaign at Jackson State on Aug. 27.

By: Jason Plotkin
Director of Athletic Media Relations
University of New Orleans
Office: (504) 280-6284
www.UNOPrivateers.com
On Twitter @UNOPrivateers

Alabama A&M 0, Florida State 3

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida State head volleyball coach Chris Poole couldn’t have asked for a better time to earn his 600th career win. The No. 12 Seminoles’ second-year coach reached the milestone Saturday afternoon as his third-seeded team swept Alabama A&M (25-10, 25-19, 25-10) in the first round of the NCAA Championship at Tully Gym to move on to Sunday’s second round game. The straight-sets win is FSU’s (29-2) 16th sweep of the season and is the second NCAA Tournament victory in program history. At 2-10 all-time in the Big Dance, it is also the Seminoles’ first ever NCAA Tournament win in Tallahassee.

”I certainly was pleased the way we played most of the match,” said Poole, who became the 16th active Division I coach to reach 600 victories. “We’ve really have worked hard the last few weeks to try to limit our errors as much as possible and to go three sets and only have seven hitting errors is very good. We also limited the amount of serving errors we had and that’s something else that we’ve really been trying to focus on is to really play in more control on our side of the net.” Senior Jordana Price paced the balanced FSU attack against the Bulldogs (22-13) with seven kills. She also had a team-best six total blocks.

After running away with 25-10 win in the first set – a score that was the ’Noles second largest margin of victory all year – FSU was pushed by an Alabama A&M team that won the Southwestern Athletic Conference in the second. The Seminoles will now play a Jacksonville State team that defeated Florida A&M in an exciting five-set match earlier in the day. FSU and JSU will match up for the first time in the history of both volleyball programs on Sunday at 5 p.m. in Tully Gym.

Final Stats

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Florida A&M 2, Jacksonville State 3

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Faced with a 2-1 deficit, the Jacksonville State volleyball team rallied to win the final two sets and claim the Gamecocks’ first-ever NCAA Tournament win in the form of a 3-2 defeat of Florida A&M in Saturday’s first round. The Gamecocks (27-7) won their 12th-straight fifth-set match but had to rally to force the deciding game. After claiming a 25-22 win in the opening set, the Lady Rattlers (17-10) rolled to wins in the second and third sets and put JSU’s backs against the wall. A late fourth-set rally forced the match into the deciding one, a place the Gamecocks are a perfect 10-0 in 2009.

The Lady Rattlers were led by Maria Gomez’s double-double of 19 kills and 11 digs. Gomez hit .375 in the win, while Jovana Blazeski added 16 kills on 58 swings and 14 digs on the back row. In the opening set, neither team led by more than three points until a late 9-1 JSU run turned an 18-15 deficit into a 24-19 Gamecock lead. The Rattlers rattled off the next three points before a Whitten kill gave Jax State a 25-22 win. The victory was the Gamecocks’ first ever set win in their NCAA Tournament history.

FAMU stormed out of the gates in the second set to build an early 11-5 lead. JSU never pulled any closer than three points before the Rattlers tied the match with a 25-18 win. JSU hit for a slightly better percentage in the second set than the first but saw the Rattlers commit just two errors and hit .429 en route to tying the match. In the third set, the Gamecocks built an early 8-5 lead, but FAMU put together a 9-1 run that put the Rattlers in control of the set with a 14-9 lead. JSU slowly cut into the lead before pulling to within one at 16-15 and tying it at 17-17. The two exchanged points twice before a FAMU error gave JSU a 20-19 lead. With the Gamecocks trailing 23-22, an Alyx Schulte attack was ruled in by the line judge but overturned by the lead official setting up a 25-23 FAMU win that put the Gamecocks’ backs against the wall.

BOX SCORE



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