Matt Sonnichsen Last College: UCLA Position: Head Coach E-Mail: matt@latech.edu Graduated: 1994

Coach Matt Sonnichsen now enters his second season as the Lady Techster's head women's Volleyball coach and carries an impressive resume with him from both his playing career as well as coaching.

Sonnichsen earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1994. While at UCLA, he was a member of the two-time NCAA Champion Bruins men's volleyball team, playing from 1986-89. He was a three-time All-American and was a NCAA All-Tournament selection from 1987-89 while also being named NCAA Tournament MVP in '89.

After college, Sonnichsen joined the United States National Volleyball team from 1990-91 and played in the Goodwill Games in Seattle, Washingtonin 1990. Sonnichsen also played for two seasons in the Swiss Professional Indoor Volleyball League with two different clubs; LUC Lausanne and MTV Nafels.

In addition to the indoor game, Sonnichsen played for four years on the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball tour where he was a top 30 ranked competitor.

Sonnichsen's first career head coaching position and longest tenure as head coach came during his eight seasons at the helm of the University of Tulsa Hurricanes where under his guidance he raised the program's RPI to top 75 after inheriting a team that was ranked in the 300's. Tulsa also had its first winning season in over 20 years in 2000 while finishing with 20 wins or better three separate seasons under Sonnichsen. His team finished in second in the Eastern Division WAC in 2004 and earned a third place finish in C-USA in 2005. Sonnichsen had four teams receive the Academic All-American Team Award as well as coaching over 30 Academic All-Conference selections while at Tulsa.

Sonnichsen's successes have earned him respect outside the U.S. borders, as well. In 2006, he became the first coach from the United States to coach a team in the Puerto Rican Women's Professional Volleyball league.

"We are certainly privileged to have Coach Sonnichsen as our head coach," Tech Deputy Athletics Director and Senior Woman Administrator Mary Kay Hungate said. "He's the complete package. First, he's an individual the women will enjoy playing for. Second, he's a proven head coach who has taken two programs who were not winning and turned them into winners. And third, he was a three-time All-American while competing on two NCAA National Championship teams at UCLA and was named MVP of the 1989 National Championship. A person with that kind of playing and coaching experience knows what it takes to win and obviously has the work ethic, mental toughness and focus needed to turn our program around."