INDIANA, Pa. - Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) has hired Lorelle Hoyer as the ninth head women's volleyball coach in program history, Director of Athletics Todd Garzarelli announced Tuesday. 

"We are very excited to welcome Lorelle Hoyer to the Crimson Hawk family as our new women's volleyball coach," said Garzarelli. "After an extensive search process, her combination of coaching experience, recruiting, and passion for teaching stood out to me and the search committee, and made her a perfect fit for us. We look forward to watching her grow as a head coach, compete at a high level, and lead our women's volleyball program to success."

Hoyer joins the Crimson Hawks with seven years of Division I coaching experience, spending the 2021 season at the University of Idaho, where she served as an assistant coach and the Vandals' recruiting coordinator. In addition to managing all aspects of recruiting, she also served as a lead scout on the coaching staff, and was responsible for server training as the Vandals increased their team service aces by 34 percent. 

"Thank you to Todd Garzarelli, the committee, and Indiana University Pennsylvania for this outstanding opportunity," said Hoyer. "From my first conversation with Todd, I knew there was something special about IUP and I am honored to be the next head coach of Crimson Hawk Volleyball.

"I cannot wait to work with the amazing young women we have in our program. We will do everything within our power to be champions on the court, in the classroom, and throughout the community. We will focus on developing strong confident women leaders who will have all the tools and resources to positively impact the world while at IUP and beyond. My family and I are already loving Indiana and cannot wait to integrate ourselves into the campus and community."

Prior to Idaho, 'Lo' spent three seasons as an assistant coach, recruiting coordinator, and learning specialist at Southern Utah University. She assisted in all facets of the Thunderbirds program, including scheduling, travel logistics and budgeting. As the recruiting coordinator, Hoyer also worked to improve regional and national scouting. Her efforts as a learning specialist led to a major jump in team grade point average, increasing from 3.23 to 3.62.

At Southern Utah, Hoyer recruited the first Big Sky Newcomer of the Year (Shannon Webb) and first back-to-back All-Big Sky member in program history (Stacey Hone). She also helped the Thunderbirds achieve the best regular season Big Sky finish in program history, the most conference wins in a single season, and a +.329 increase in win percentage from season one to season three. 

Prior to SUU, Hoyer was the director of volleyball operations at the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) for the 2017 season. While in Texas she also served as an assistant program coordinator for the Alamo Volleyball Association. Hoyer spent two years as the Assistant Director for Triangle Volleyball Club in Raleigh, N.C. (2015-17), where she handled large scale travel, marketing, social media and supported on court training at multiple age and skill levels as both head coach and assistant. She also served two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at North Carolina Central prior to joining Triangle.
 
Lo is a 2009 graduate of the University of Connecticut, where she was multi-year letter winner before injury sidelined her for her final two seasons. A native of Minnesota, she has a background in non-profit education where she flourished in fundraising, volunteer management, creative education planning and organizational development before re-joining the volleyball community. She earned her master's degree in physical education from North Carolina Central in 2020.

Pete Hoyer joins the staff
Joining Lo as an assistant coach is her husband, Pete Hoyer. Hoyer boasts extensive Division I coaching experience, including 207 wins and a .585 winning percentage in 12 seasons as a head coach. He most recently sat in the head chair at Southern Utah from 2018 through the spring 2021 season, leading The Thunderbirds from seven wins the year before he arrived to the program's first ever Big Sky Conference Tournament victory in year three.

Hoyer was also the head coach at the University of Dayton from 1994-2002, leading the Flyers to six Atlantic-10 tournament appearances, four 20-win seasons, and two A-10 regular season titles. He was also named the A-10 Coach of the year in 2001. 

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For up-to-date information, visit IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP women's volleyball on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUPVB.