California University of Pennsylvania

Melissa Myers was head coach of the women's volleyball program from 2002-07.

At Cal U, Myers compiled a 161-49 cumulative record with five NCAA Tournament appearances, three regional finals, two PSAC Championships and one NCAA Atlantic Region Championship.

She joins three of her former players as a member of the Cal U Athletic Hall of Fame: Dingding Lu ´04, ´06, Katie Barker-Collins ´06 and Joanna Nist-Haupt ´10.

"Wow was my initial reaction and I am honored, shocked and humbled by this," said Myers about her Hall of Fame honor. "Cal U is a place that provides excellent resources that help you to be successful and for me it was a great opportunity to begin my career as a head coach."

Myers' initial Cal squad went 16-14 overall and made the program's fourth NCAA post-season appearance.

Following a 19-14 showing her second season, Cal U improved to 28-7 overall in 2004 and advanced to the NCAA Atlantic Regional Championship.

As she reflects on her time at Cal U, Myers said the early years stand out.

"I remember my hiring process and the challenge of making a lot of difficult decisions early on trying to do what I thought was best for our team and the future of the program," she said.  "There's always some anxiety when you make changes, but I was grateful for the administrative support."

In 2005, the Vulcans went 33-3 overall and capped a 3-0 PSAC Tournament run by rallying from a 2-0 deficit on the road to defeat two-time, defending-champion Lock Haven in the finals, 3-2.

Cal U rolled to another 30-win season in 2006 and reached the finals of both the PSAC and NCAA Atlantic Region Tournaments.

The 2007 team went 35-4 overall and achieved the program's first undefeated PSAC West season in 25 years. Along the way, the team enjoyed a school-record winning streak of 33 matches.

Cal U won its second PSAC title in three years and then posted three-consecutive 3-0 victories to win the program's second NCAA regional title. That season ended with a loss to eventual-National Champion Concordia-St. Paul (Minn.) in the national quarterfinals.

Myers received PSAC West and American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Region Coach of the Year honors in 2004, 2005 and 2007. Today, Myers is tied with current Cal U volleyball coach Peter Letourneau for the most career wins in school history at 161.

"Those were very good teams," she said. "The first championship was a turning point after coming back from an 0-2 deficit.  We had some quality players and people and it was the student-athletes who really turned things around and took us to the next level." 

Myers' players share her fond memories such as Collins, who was a three-time all-region and all-conference outside hitter and MVP of the 2005 PSAC Tournament.

"I had a great experience at Cal U for all four years I played there and loved playing under Melissa," Collins said. "I learned so much from her and she was a great coach who always promoted the team and her players." 

Haupt, a three-time All-American outside hitter, played her first two years at Cal U under Myers.

"She's the main reason why I chose to come to Cal U and really made me feel that I could become better and help our team," said Haupt. "She really stressed the importance of working together as a team and set the foundation of my success there."

Myers earned her bachelor's degree in human behavior and communications from Juniata College in 1998. She earned a Cal U master's degree in exercise science and health promotion with an emphasis on performance enhancement while coaching in 2005.

"Cal U recognized early on that online education was the future. That was a really good program and another wonderful opportunity for me," Myers said. "It made for some long nights that season."

Originally from Hastings, Pennsylvania, Myers is a graduate of Northern Cambria High School, where she was a multisport standout.

She was inducted into the Juniata College Sports Hall of Fame in 2009 as the only two-sport All-American in the college's history.

Myers was named the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Volleyball Player of the Year and an AVCA First-Team All-American in 1997.

In track & field, Myers earned NCAA Division III All-America honors in 1998 with a sixth-place finish in the shot put.

Before coaching at Cal U, Myers served assistant coaching stints at Lock Haven for three years and one year at Juniata.

Now a resident of Normal, Illinois, Myers is in her 10th season as the head coach of the NCAA Division I women's volleyball team at Illinois State University but leaving Cal U was bittersweet.

"I thought I'd coach at Cal forever and the administration was tremendously supportive," she said. "It was so difficult because we had such a great group of young women who I knew were going to be good for several years and they certainly were."

She guided the Redbirds to a 27-6 record in 2014, winning the program's first Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) regular-season and tournament titles since 1997. That season, Illinois State made its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2007 and won its first NCAA Tournament match since 1996. Myers owns a 168-116 overall record heading into the 2017 season.

She credits her time at Cal U for paving the path to her latest coaching success.

"Coaching at Division I is so different, but Cal U prepared me so well because I was hands-on with every aspect of the program and learned everything.

"It was a great experience." 

Myers is understandably looking forward to returning to the Cal U campus.

"I'm so excited to come back and check Cal out again," she said. "I have never seen the Convocation Center, but I just can't wait to see everything because it's been 10 years and this will be so neat.

"Cal will always be special."

updated 04/18/17