Custom Search NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State volleyball program and first-year head coach Dave Albaugh have welcomed several new faces to the staff.
Keith Betts and Ciara Strickland will serve as assistant coaches with the program beginning this year. Lindsay Heath will be a volunteer assistant coach, while Victoria Shannon will help out as the volunteer director of operations.
“The players and I are excited about the new additions to our coaching staff,” said Albaugh. “Keith’s background as a player and head coach at the high school and club level allows him to bring a wealth of knowledge to the court. Ciara’s return brings a lot of youthful energy to practice, and her Navy background brings focus to the program. Lindsay knows Norfolk State volleyball well, and because she has been coaching with me in juniors, it has been a seamless transition.”
Betts has been a high school and juniors level coach in the Hampton Roads area since 2008. He most recently served as the boys’ varsity head coach at Great Bridge in 2014 and ’15, leading the program to the state 4A semifinals while garnering the Conference 17 and Virginia High School League (VHSL) East Region Coach of the Year awards. He also served as the girls’ varsity head coach at Portsmouth Christian School from 2012-13 and as the JV head coach from 2008-12.
In addition, Betts coached the Coastal Virginia Volleyball Club U-14 team in 2011 and the U-16 team from 2012-15. He has also served as the head coach of the U-16 Outbreak Volleyball Club team since 2014.
Strickland volunteered with the Spartan program in 2015 before joining the team in a more official capacity this year. She has assisted Albaugh with the Coastal Virginia Volleyball Club since December of 2014. She also served as an assistant coach for Landstown High School in the fall of 2014 and was a member of the All-Navy Team during the early part of 2015.
Heath served as an assistant coach with the NSU program in 2013 under former head coach Brandon Duvall, a year when the Spartans won 11 matches and had a pair of all-conference performers. She has also been an assistant coach under Albaugh with the Coastal Virginia U-18 Volleyball club team since 2008, helping lead the program to a pair of fifth-place finishes at the national tournament in 2013 and ’16.
Shannon will assist Albaugh in various functions away from the court.
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