Stonehill head coach recognized for second-straight season by the AVCA

Lauren Amundson

EASTON, Mass. (February 23, 2012) – Stonehill College head volleyball coach Lauren Amundson has been selected as a recipient of the 2012 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Thirty Under 30 Award. Established in 2009, the award honors emerging coaching talent younger than 30 years old at all levels of volleyball.

Amundson earns the award for the second time in her career in as many seasons after leading the Skyhawks to their first-ever trip to the NCAA Division II Tournament this past fall. Amundson piloted Stonehill to a 27-7 record overall, tying the program mark for most wins in a single season which was set in 1996 (27-8), and also led the squad to a program record 14 conference wins (14-1). For her efforts, Amundson was named the Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) Coach of the Year for the first time in her career.

Amundson, one of three NCAA Division II coaches honored this year, has compiled a 58-31 record overall (.652 winning percentage) in three seasons and a 34-11 mark in NE-10 play, good enough for a .756 winning percentage. Over the course of her three-year career, Amundson has coached seven All-Conference players, two All-Rookie selections and one Rookie of the Year. Three of the seven NE-10 All-Conference selections have been first team honorees while sophomore Sydney Maxey (Hutto, Texas/Hutto) and freshman Emily Iverson (Elmhurst, Ill./York) became the first players in program history this past season to earn AVCA All-East Region honors. Junior Erin Kelly (Tinley Park, Ill./Marist) also earned honorable mention recognition by the AVCA.

As successful as her teams have been on the court, the Stonehill College women's volleyball team has also been recognized for its hard work in the classroom, garnering the Fred C. Petti Team Academic Award in 2009 for having the highest combined grade point average (GPA) among Stonehill women's teams during the academic year.

Most recently, the Stonehill women's volleyball team had two student-athletes, Kelly and Maxey, selected as NE-10 Academic All-Conference members, nine student-athletes named to the 2011 Fall Athletic Director's Honor Roll and ten student-athletes receive NE-10 Fall Commissioner Honor Roll accolades.

The Skyhawks were also honored by the AVCA for their work in the classroom during the 2010-2011 season with an AVCA Team Academic Award. The award, which was originated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team GPA on a 4.0 scale or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale.

Prior to Stonehill, Amundson spent two years as an assistant coach at Bryant University as the program transitioned to Division I, helping the Bulldogs to a combined 48-32 overall record and an appearance in the 2007 NCAA Division II East Regional championship game. As a collegiate player, she was a standout setter for Christian Brothers University in Memphis, where she holds four program records including the single-season and career assist marks.

Of the thirty recipients, 19 are head coaches and 11 are assistant coaches. Ten are NCAA Division I women's coaches, four coach NAIA squads, four are NCAA Division III and another four for high school. There were also three Club coaches and two Two-Year College coaches recognized. To qualify for the award nominees had to be 30 years old or younger in 2011.

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